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United States District Court for the District of Maryland
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ABA
Bar Association of Montgomery County, Maryland

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What happens when a Maryland child wants to be adopted, but his biological parents are still hoping for reunification? Usually courts assume that continuing a parental relationship and eventual reunification is in the child’s best interests, but there are some circumstances in which it is appropriate to terminate the relationship.

In a recent case, the parent and child had different goals. The child in question was a five-year-old boy with two older siblings. The mother had been granted a protective order against the abusive father, and this prompted an investigation by the department of social services. Meanwhile, the mother expressed numerous paranoid claims to the police and jumped out of a window. She was sent to a psychiatric unit and when asked, claimed that the father and his mother had been trying to poison her. The kids were placed in a shelter.

The child and his siblings were found to be children in need of assistance (“CINA”) and he was separated from the other two when they were all placed in foster care. CINA proceedings happen when a department of social services is called regarding child abuse or neglect. The court must determine whether the allegations are true and determine which of five “permanency plans” is appropriate with reunification being the preferred plan. The court reviews this permanency plan every six months.

The social services department worked hard towards reunification. But the child spent 27 months in foster care (the majority of his life), and he did not progress towards reunification with his parents. Nor did his relatives get actively involved. As a result, the court changed the permanency plan to one of adoption by a non-relative. Continue reading

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Divorce is favored over annulment when ending a marriage in Maryland, but unlike some other states, Maryland divorce laws sometimes present more hurdles. When ending a marriage, it is wise to consult a family law attorney to see whether divorce or annulment is more appropriate for your particular situation. The requirements for divorce and annulment vary from state to state.

An annulment is essentially a decree that renders a marriage null and void. The court is required to hear testimony from the plaintiff (person bringing the annulment proceedings) in open court in order to make a final determination as to whether annulment is proper.

A valid marriage in Maryland is one in which both parties were competent when they got married and both understood and consented to the change in marital status. Maryland requires individuals to apply for a license from the clerk of the county in which they marry. At least one of the partners must provide information about the full names of the couple, their residence, age, degree to which they are related (if any), their marital status and social security number. Occasionally, in spite of these precautions being taken, a couple will get married under circumstances that are different than their perceptions. Continue reading

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Child custody arrangements can be difficult under the best of circumstances, but when one parent’s circumstances change, arrangements that may have been appropriate just after the marriage or separation may no longer be suitable. In Maryland, the circuit court may modify a custody order when a parent’s circumstances change. What circumstances warrant a modification?

A two-step process is used to determine whether it is appropriate to modify a custody arrangement. First, is there a material change? By “material change,” the court means is there a change that affects the child’s welfare If so, the court must ask, what are the best interests of the child just as it did during the first custody hearing.

One material change that has occurred in some cases is the mental well-being of a parent. A parent with a major psychiatric condition may face more challenges parenting with the level of care than a parent who does not. Of course, since around 1 in 5 Americans have a diagnosed psychiatric condition, there are many parents with psychiatric conditions who need no intervention. There are, however, some who may be erratic in how they interact with their child and those cases require special attention and understanding from attorneys and judges. Continue reading

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Recently our office was retained by a busy professional who had been separated from his wife for several years.  After the separation, he had continued to reside in Maryland, but his wife had returned to Thailand to live permanently.  By the time he came to our office, the client had accepted that there was no hope of reconciliation and he wanted help filing for an absolute divorce on the basis of a one year separation.

Serving a Party who is residing outside of the United States can be tricky.  If not accomplished in the proper manner, it’s not only money that’s wasted, but also months and months of valuable time.  Our knowledgeable family law attorneys have extensive experience successfully serving Parties in countries all over the world and have spared countless clients the headache of attempting this on their own.

The first step in serving a Party who resides overseas is to thoroughly research the rules governing proper service in that country.  In Maryland, if the person being served resides outside of the state, service is proper if done by any method allowed under the Maryland Rules or by any method that is considered proper by the foreign jurisdiction.

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In Maryland, there are two statutory schemes that govern whether paternity testing should occur. One of them, the Paternity subtitle of the Family Law Article, describes procedures that allow the state to establish paternity and require fathers to pay child support.

Under this section, there is a presumption that a child is the child of the man to whom the mother was married when he or she was conceived. This presumption can be rebutted. The mother, father or child can be required to take a blood or genetic test to see if the person being claimed to be the father may be excluded.

The Estates and Trusts Article presumes that the child born or conceived during a couple’s marriage is the legitimate child of each spouse. The purpose of the presumption is to reduce the cost of administering an estate. The trial court has the discretion to decide whether testing requested by a motion is in the child’s best interests or not. Continue reading

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A fraudulent conveyance is controlled by Maryland’s Uniform Fraudulent Conveyance Act (MUFCA), a statute which states that an action is fraudulent as to creditors if it is made by a person who is insolvent or who will be rendered insolvent by the transfer. When a couple is going through a divorce, they should not transfer any properties until the court has had a chance to determine the ownership status of the properties. In a recent case, the Maryland appellate court looked at the issue of fraudulent conveyance in the context of a divorce.

A couple married in 1998 and moved into a home owned by the wife’s father. The wife’s father had owned the home since the 1970s and the couple lived there rent-free. When the wife’s father retired he agreed with the couple to let them purchase the house from him. They assumed the remaining mortgage and agreed to pay him $30,000 on the first of three possible events (the house’s sale, sixty days after his death, or a date in 2015).

The transfer of the house was made only in the wife’s name and, in exchange for the foregoing, her father could live in the house rent-free or have the couple provide him with other rent-free housing. The couple started to have problems and the wife told the husband she wanted a divorce. Continue reading

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Maryland has a diverse population that includes many people from foreign countries and transplants from other states. Problems can arise when child custody arrangements are determined in other countries or other states within the United States, but must be implemented in Maryland. There have also been problems when parents or family members look for more favorable custody decisions in another jurisdiction. In order to combat competition between states for control of custody issues, in 2004, the Maryland Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (MUCCJE) was enacted (replacing the Maryland Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act.)

Under the MUCCJEA, a circuit court in Maryland has jurisdiction to hear a child custody complaint if Maryland is the home state of the child. Ordinarily Maryland honors child custody determinations made in foreign countries, but it is not required to do so if the child custody laws of the other country violate fundamental principles of human rights. Continue reading

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Under Maryland law, parents are required to provide for their “adult destitute children”. “Adult destitute children” are adult children with mental or physical disabilities that make it difficult for them to obtain sufficient income to be able to meet their reasonable living expenses. The court examines assets, eligibility for disability and earning capacity to determine whether a person qualifies for this label.

A parent who divorces must be aware that the statutory child support guidelines apply not only to their minor children, but also their adult destitute child or children. In the case of an adult destitute child, there may be special needs, such as medical or training needs that a court will need to consider. Sums an adult destitute child receives, such as disability dependency benefits, may be set off against the support obligation. Parents may elect to make payments into trusts in order to avoid reducing the adult destitute child’s public benefits. Continue reading

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Family law cases regarding child custody frequently turn on the best interests of the child. While parents have a Fourteenth Amendment right to raise their children without the State’s interference, this isn’t an absolute right. It must be balanced against society’s responsibility towards the child’s welfare.

In Maryland, when children are abused or neglected by their parents or have a disability that their parents are not able to attend to, social services may ask the juvenile court to designate them “children in need of assistance” or “CINA”. The court must make factual findings as to whether the allegations of social services are correct and determine a course of action to protect the child.

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There are child support guidelines that govern how child support is awarded in Maryland. The guidelines require that a trial court determine each parent’s monthly adjusted income.

Before October 1, 2010, the child support would be calculated with the guidelines only if the parents’ monthly income did not equal $10,000 or more when added together. If the parents had more than $10,000 monthly income, the court exercised its discretion. After October 2010, the sum was increased to a $15,000 monthly income.

Under Maryland law, a child who is eighteen and enrolled in secondary school has the right to receive support until one of the follow occurs: (1) he or she graduates, (2) he or she turns 19, (3) he or she is emancipated or (4) he or she marries. While the conditions are relatively clear, a 2012 case considered what the statute means by “secondary school”. Continue reading

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