Every parent has her or his own specific notion of the experiences that she or he considers to be integral to her or his child’s formative years. This may include discipline-building activities like participating in team sports. It may mean cultural activities like music or dance. It could mean spiritual opportunities like church camp. While a parent might consider any one (or more) of these essential to a child’s development, the law sees them differently when it comes to paying for these activities and determining a parent’s child support obligation. As a non-custodial parent, one of the keys to maintaining a full and vibrant relationship with your child is making sure that you are not financially overburdened by paying a child support obligation greater than what the law really says it should be. By working with knowledgeable Maryland child support counsel, you can give yourself a better chance of achieving a fair outcome in accordance with what the law dictates.
One example of a dispute over extracurricular activities and child support was the divorce case of Elizabeth and Robert. The trial court judge awarded custody of the boys to the father. The court also ordered the mother to pay $840 per month in child support, as well as one-half of the boys’ medical expenses and “all agreed-upon extracurricular activities.”
After the conclusion of the case, the mother appealed, and she won that appeal. The problem with the lower court ruling was the way that the trial court went about setting the mother’s financial obligations. The appeals court was clear that, under Maryland law, a parent’s child support obligation should not factor in a child’s extracurricular activities as an additional form of mandatory support above and beyond the basic support obligation, even if those activities are desirable. The only way that a court can tack on these activities is if they are necessary for a child’s special needs, such as “advanced programming” for a gifted child or remedial tutoring for an academically challenged child.
Today, people’s lives are more portable than ever. For most people, gone are the days when you would grow up, get married, and raise children in one area, coupled with a spouse doing the same. This new reality can be especially true for professionals working in specialized fields. The increase in the geographic portability of people’s lives and careers can play a major role when your spouse and you divorce, and child custody is an issue. Whether you are the parent seeking to relocate with the child, or you are the parent opposing relocation, you have certain rights under the law, so it is extremely important to have a knowledgeable Maryland child custody attorney on your side to protect your relationship with your child.
Resolving family law disputes by agreement can often be a useful and beneficial means of arriving at an outcome. For some parents, resolution by agreement gives them a greater sense of control and makes the outcome more lasting. Even if you intend to try to resolve your family law dispute through agreement, it is worthwhile to have legal representation by an experienced Maryland child custody attorney. Your legal counsel can help make sure any agreement you sign adequately protects your relationship with your child, and they can also assist you if litigation is necessary at a future date.
For some divorcing couples, financial matters may be the key issues in dispute. These can include many things, such as the division of assets and alimony. Some cases may also involve a request that one spouse pay the other spouse’s attorney’s fees. When resolving these disputes, there are certain procedural requirements. If those requirements are not followed, you may be able to use that failure to get the trial court’s order reversed. Family law cases, just like other civil cases, can involve the use of technical legal arguments to achieve the outcome you need, which is why it is helpful to have a knowledgeable Maryland divorce attorney on your side.
Distributing marital property can be one of the most complex elements of any divorce, especially one in which minor children are not involved. Sometimes, in order to achieve a genuinely equitable outcome, it may be necessary for a trial judge to order one spouse to make a monetary payment to the other. There are certain rules that govern monetary awards, though, and if they are not followed, the spouse ordered to pay may be entitled to get the order thrown out. All of these concepts and litigation strategies highlight how having an experienced Maryland property division attorney can provide a substantial benefit to you in your divorce case.
There is the saying that “timing is everything.” While timing may not be everything in your family law case, it certainly is an important thing and can be a “make or break” thing in some cases. Making sure that all of the necessary documents are filed within the required time period is one area in which an experienced family law attorney’s detailed knowledge of the law can pay dividends and allow you to avoid the traps that can defeat your case.
In your alimony case in Maryland, whether you are the potential supporting spouse or the potential recipient spouse, it is important to go into the process understanding what Maryland law says about alimony. Maryland used to view alimony as a means for allowing the recipient spouse to maintain the standard of living she enjoyed during the marriage (or something close to it). Today, the law views alimony as a means to assist the recipient spouse in becoming self-supporting. That change affects many things, including the range of circumstances in which a recipient spouse is entitled to indefinite alimony. For reliable advice about how these legal rules of alimony might affect your case, talk to an experienced Maryland alimony attorney.
When you are going through a divorce and working out the terms of a settlement agreement with your spouse, it is important to make sure that you fully negotiate everything to your satisfaction. Once the agreement is completed and incorporated into your divorce, it becomes increasingly difficult to get a court order making certain changes. If you seek certain types of relief from the judge based upon a claim of fraud, you may be required to prove a very specific type of fraud, as was demonstrated in one 
When you are negotiating a separation agreement, it is important to “sweat the small stuff,” or more advisably, retain an experienced Maryland divorce attorney to “sweat the small stuff” for you. Each detail in your agreement is binding, and small differences can have large impacts down the road in terms of things like alimony payments, child support, or other financial outcomes. With an experienced attorney working for you, you can make a fully informed and knowledgeable decision before you sign off on that settlement agreement.
In Maryland, when a couple divorces, the law allows for an award of alimony to one spouse, but the law will also expect that spouse to do everything reasonable to make herself as self-supporting as possible. If that spouse isn’t making an effort to support herself, the courts are allowed to calculate alimony as if the spouse were earning an income. That can be true even if the supporting spouse earns a million dollars per year, and the recipient spouse has rarely ever made more than $20,000 annually. Thus, even if you make much more than your spouse, you may be able to argue voluntary impoverishment to reduce your alimony obligation. An experienced Maryland alimony attorney can help you navigate the process for litigating the issue of alimony and related matters like voluntary impoverishment.