Divorce

What the Law in Maryland Does (and Doesn’t) Require of Pregnant Women Who Seek Divorces in this State

May 17, 2024 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

A Missouri lawmaker made headlines in February for proposing a noteworthy change to the divorce laws of that state. The Kansas City Democrat’s bill would alter a five-decade-old law to ease the hurdles facing women who are pregnant and seeking a divorce there. Maryland does not have a similar law on the books restricting a pregnant woman who seeks a divorce, but getting a Maryland divorce while pregnant does present a unique set of issues and challenges. Whatever your situation – but especially if you’re facing unique complexities like needing a divorce while pregnant – an experienced Maryland divorce lawyer can help you navigate the process and get a positive outcome… and get it as efficiently as possible.

As a specific matter, the existing Missouri statute (contrary to some social media claims) does not create a blanket ban on issuing judgments of dissolution to women who are pregnant. Pregnancy is one of eight disclosures a spouse filing for divorce must make in her petition. (Other examples of required disclosures include residency, the date and location of the marriage, and the date of separation.) Once the petitioning spouse discloses her pregnancy, the judge has the discretion to forego issuing a final judgment until that pregnancy has reached its end.

These laws, while discretionary on their faces, sometimes function as de facto bans. For example, Kentucky’s statute shares many similarities with Missouri’s regarding mandatory disclosures. It requires disclosing the date and the place of the marriage, the date of separation, the names and ages of the minor children, and whether the wife is pregnant. A subsequent subsection notes that if the wife is pregnant, “the court may continue the case until the pregnancy” ends.

Maryland Judgments of Absolute Divorce Based on Separations of 12 Months or More

April 30, 2024 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

When decide it’s time for a divorce, you hope that the process will be as amicable as possible. At a minimum, you hope that your spouse will acknowledge that your marriage is, indeed, over, even if they choose to contest issues in the divorce vigorously. Sometimes, though, your spouse may attempt to derail the process by contending that you’re not entitled to a judgment of divorce at all. Whatever kind of pushback you receive from your spouse, an experienced Maryland divorce lawyer can help you navigate and complete the process as efficiently and painlessly as possible.

A recent Baltimore County divorce case provides a practical example of what you do (and don’t) have to demonstrate to the court to be eligible for a judgment of absolute divorce based on separation.

The wife filed for divorce in June 2022, listing a one-year separation as her basis for the divorce. According to the wife, the couple separated nine years earlier but the husband periodically stayed “over [at the wife’s house] on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.” Allegedly, the last of these overnights occurred on New Year’s Eve 2020.

Obtaining Income Information Through Pretrial Discovery as Part of Your Maryland Divorce

March 28, 2024 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

Performing complete pretrial discovery is often an essential part of divorce litigation. Your spouse’s income and earnings are likely a crucial piece of that puzzle. This discovery may be as basic as obtaining a few items documenting wages (like W-2 forms) or a complicated matter involving documentation of multiple streams of present and deferred income. An experienced Maryland divorce lawyer can be vital to getting all the information necessary to provide the court with a full and complete picture of your spouse’s wealth and assets.

The discovery dispute in the divorce of C.B. and R.B. represents a clear illustration of how counsel can help when you’re initially thwarted in your efforts to obtain essential income information.

The couple were two high-powered professionals who married in 2011 and separated in 2023. The couple had prenuptial and postnuptial agreements that resolved most – but not all — of their property issues. Specifically, the spouses disputed issues of a monetary award and division of some personal property and retirement accounts.

Real Property, Divorce, and the Law of Equitable Distribution in Maryland

March 15, 2024 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

The joke about lawyers and math not mixing is an old one, going back at least as far as a 1976 Saturday Night Live skit regarding President Gerald Ford and a debate question about the federal budget. In the real world, many areas of the law are quite math-intensive, not the least of which is equitable distribution in a divorce. Just like all areas of math, equitable distribution math requires not just understanding how to perform calculations, but also choosing the correct formula. In-depth knowledge of these elements can be crucial to getting a genuinely fair outcome from your divorce, which is why advice and counsel from an experienced Maryland divorce lawyer is essential to success.

A recent divorce case originating in Carroll County is a good example of this. The spouses, W.M. and T.M., married in 2014. Sometime before that, they jointly purchased a lot in Westminster where they eventually built their marital home. During the marriage, the couple purchased a vacation home in Ocean City.

4½ years into the marriage, the husband filed for divorce. At the trial’s conclusion, in addition to resolving child custody and child support issues, the court ordered the sale of both homes, with the husband receiving the proceeds of the marital residence’s sale. (The order split the proceeds of the vacation home’s sale between the spouses.)

Fraud in Your Maryland Divorce Case and the Importance of Having Skilled Legal Representation

February 15, 2024 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

As family law attorneys, we see the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to divorce litigation. One unfortunate scenario that occurs regrettably often is a spouse who receives divorce papers from his/her spouse but decides to proceed with the divorce without legal counsel. This choice can have seriously damaging consequences, both financially and otherwise. Don’t make that mistake; instead, retain an experienced Maryland divorce lawyer to be the effective advocate you need.

A divorce case from Annapolis is a strong cautionary tale in this regard. The husband’s complaint alleged that both spouses mutually agreed not to seek alimony and that the spouses had “no marital property or debts that need to be decided by the court.”

At a virtual hearing in 2021, the magistrate judge asked if the spouses had resolved all their issues and distributed all their property. The spouses — neither of whom had attorneys — said yes. The magistrate explained that the spouses’ answers constituted a waiver, meaning “you cannot come back to the [c]ourt at a later date and ask the [c]ourt to grant your relief.” The magistrate asked if the spouses understood, and again both spouses said yes.

Paying for Relatives’ Emergency Expenses and the Risk of a Dissipation-of-Assets Claim in Your Maryland Divorce Case

January 31, 2024 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

An old saying posits that “When it rains, it pours.” Sometimes in life, that can mean having to deal with multiple traumatic events — like your divorce and a relative’s grave illness — at the same time. Whatever the secondary emergency may be, you should take care when it comes to spending money during the pendency of your divorce case, even if it is for something as important as paying for care for a close loved one. What you can and cannot do will depend on multiple factors, like what court orders you’re under and whether the funds you seek to spend are marital or non-marital. One way to enhance your odds of avoiding troubles down the road regarding those expenses is to consult an experienced Maryland divorce lawyer before you act.

A recent divorce dispute from Anne Arundel County is a stark reminder of this notion. The husband filed for divorce in late 2019. In early January 2020, the trial judge issued an “Injunction to Prevent Dissipation of Assets.” That injunction barred the husband from “disposing of… any of the property alleged to be marital property or property acquired during the separation.”

In late 2021, the husband emptied the entire $72,800 balance of his Thrift Savings Plan and put the net proceeds (after penalties and taxes) of $56,800 into his credit union account. The husband eventually spent all of those proceeds to support his father in Nigeria, who had stage IV cancer. The couple also had a Lexus vehicle that the husband sold during the divorce for $18,600, of which the wife received $0.

Litigating Pet Possession in Maryland: Lessons from a Frederick County Divorce

January 17, 2024 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

Most dog owners consider their dogs family members, not mere property like appliances, furniture, or cars. However, in Maryland, that is how the courts will address pets in a divorce case. To get an outcome that will enhance your pet’s best interests, you must understand how Maryland law sees pets and how to use the existing rules to get the result you desire. Part of that process of protecting your pets is retaining the services of a knowledgeable Maryland divorce lawyer.

Last August, we covered a change to D.C. law in which that jurisdiction declared that judges may consider the “best interests of a pet” in determining who gets an animal in a divorce. The amended law also gave judges in D.C. the option to award joint custody of a pet in a divorce judgment.

Here in Maryland, the law is substantially different. As noted above, Maryland law says that pets are personal property. That distinction means that, if you desire to get possession of your pet (or pets) in a Maryland divorce, you have to litigate the case very differently than you might in D.C. Those distinctions were on clear display in a recent divorce case from Frederick County.

Pursuing Alimony in Maryland as the Spouse of a Small Business Owner

December 28, 2023 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

As a spouse going through a divorce in Maryland, you may face many challenges, including concerning alimony and a monetary award. This challenge can become particularly complicated if your spouse is the owner of a small business, especially one that pays for a substantial chunk of his/her personal expenses. Whatever challenges you’re facing in your divorce, you can enhance your odds of getting a fair and appropriate alimony award by retaining an experienced Maryland divorce lawyer.

Skilled counsel can help you persuade the court to look at more than just your spouse’s W2 income when it comes to setting an alimony amount. Take, for example, this recent divorce case from Montgomery County.

The wife filed for divorce in 2021. At trial, the wife asked the court to award her alimony, so the court made findings regarding the spouses’ earning capacity and income.

How Maryland Law Addresses Unconscionability Arguments in Prenuptial Agreement Enforcement Cases

November 22, 2023 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

Prenuptial agreements and postnuptial agreements can be traps for the unwary. Signing an agreement with unfavorable terms can — absent a court judgment invalidating the contract — cost you greatly. (In one recent Maryland case, it cost the husband $7 million.) Before you sign, make sure you understand exactly what you’re getting into. To do that, be sure you’ve consulted with an experienced Maryland prenuptial agreement lawyer.

As another example, there’s D.R. and L.R., a late middle-aged couple who signed their prenuptial agreement in the fall of 1992. The husband’s lawyer drafted the document. The wife’s attorney counseled against signing the agreement, but the wife signed anyway.

The agreement’s terms called for neither spouse to receive alimony and that the couple would not split income or assets. It also said that “the parties expect to reside together in a location, style, and manner mutually suitable to them,” and that ownership “of any homes, residences, or other real property acquired by [husband and wife] shall be held by the parties as Tenants in Common with no rights of survivorship.”

The Impact of Abandoning a Settlement Agreement on Your Maryland Divorce Case

November 10, 2023 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

As a spouse going through a divorce, you’ll face many choices. You may elect to resolve all your issues via a negotiated settlement, all via a trial, or some in each of those two settings. As is true in any negotiation setting, it is exceptionally important to understand when you have a complete agreement, when you have a partial agreement, and when, under the terms of the law, you have no binding agreement at all (even if you and your spouse seemed to reach some consensuses during the conference.) To understand what your legal rights and options are, be sure to get skillful advice from an experienced Maryland divorce lawyer.

Although the central issue driving a recent divorce case from Prince George’s County was child custody, the lessons it teaches are universal across many family law disputes.

A.W. and B.W.’s was a short-term marriage. They wed in 2014, had a child in 2018, and the wife filed for divorce in 2020. In early April 2021, the court convened a remote settlement conference over Zoom.