Family Court Jurisdiction

Getting a Maryland Divorce When Your Spouse Lives in Another State

July 10, 2024 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

Maryland, like many states in the eastern U.S., is relatively small (ranking 42nd of 50 in land area,) meaning that anywhere in the state places you close to multiple other states. Montgomery County borders Virginia and the District of Columbia, and is less than 30 miles from West Virginia and Pennsylvania. (Other counties of Maryland border Delaware and sit less than 20 miles from New Jersey.) This means it is highly plausible that a Maryland divorce might involve one spouse who lives here and one who lives out of state. If you find yourself in that position, resolving the issue of the court’s personal jurisdiction over your spouse may represent a key component in getting the divorce you need. An experienced Maryland divorce lawyer can provide essential knowledge, advice, and strategies if you are pursuing a divorce here that presents potential jurisdictional issues.

While not a Maryland case, a recent divorce dispute touches on that question of personal jurisdiction.

The couple at the center of the litigation married in Connecticut in 1982. For several decades, the pair lived together in Nebraska. In 2018, the wife moved to Colorado to assist the couple’s adult daughter during her pregnancy. Over the next few years, the couple bought three homes in the Denver area, one of which served as the wife’s residence.

What to Do When Your Divorce Involves Litigation in Maryland and Out of State

February 14, 2023 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

A skilled Maryland divorce lawyer can provide crucial assistance in most divorce cases. However, there are some types of cases where the aid of knowledgeable legal counsel is especially crucial, and that includes matters that span across multiple jurisdictions.

For one couple in Baltimore County, their divorce spanned multiple countries. The husband was a dual citizen of the United States and Nigeria. The couple married in the Nigerian capital in 2003 but relocated to Pikesville the next year, where they remained until their separation in 2019.

The wife filed her Maryland divorce petition in late May 2021. Three months later, the husband asked the judge to dismiss the petition. The reason? The husband had already filed a divorce petition in Nigeria in October 2020.

What to Do If Your Spouse Files for Divorce in a Different County After You’ve Already Filed for Divorce in Maryland

April 29, 2021 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

Sometimes, a divorce case may be something that is straightforward and involves mostly the resolution of factual issues. Other times, your divorce case may feel like a chess match with a series of dueling procedural moves. Whether your case looks more like the former or the latter, it can benefit from the skillful representation provided by an experienced Maryland divorce lawyer. The right attorney can help you to present your strongest possible factual case and avoid being sidetracked by the other side’s procedural moves.

One of the many decisions that must be made in any divorce case is where to file. Once you’ve made your choice and filed your petition, your spouse is generally not allowed to defeat that by turning around and filing his/her own divorce petition in another county.

Here’s an example. In early August 2019, a Maryland man filed for limited divorce in Baltimore County. Less than six weeks later, the wife filed for absolute divorce in Montgomery County.

Mother and Children’s Exit from the State Leads Maryland Courts to Decline Jurisdiction in Child Custody Case

June 29, 2016 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

Child custody cases’ resolutions are often the result of the specific facts unique to each case. In addition to being fact-intensive, these cases may also become very legally complicated when the residences of the family members involved span state lines. In one such case recently decided by the Maryland Court of Appeals, a Maryland father was unable to pursue a modification to his custody and visitation arrangement because the specific facts in his case indicated that the mother and children no longer had sufficient minimum contacts with Maryland, meaning that Maryland courts no longer had “continuing, exclusive jurisdiction” over the case.

Maryland Court Determines “Home State” In International Child Custody Case

March 14, 2016 | by Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC

A divorce case automatically becomes more complicated when the couple has children. Not only will the parties be expected to address and resolve issues of property division and spousal support, but also they will need to address the emotional and practical issues associated with parenting time and a child custody arrangement. The two most important matters to consider are legal and physical custody. In some unique cases, parents dispute the particular jurisdiction within which to resolve the dispute. In any divorce case, but especially one that involves children, the parties are encouraged to consult with an experienced Maryland family law attorney to be sure their family’s rights are adequately protected.

A recent Maryland divorce case illustrates how tricky a child custody matter can become once the parents begin disputing the jurisdiction of the court. The question centers on the court’s authority to entertain the issue of custody in the first instance. Here, while both parents are United States citizens, the mother is a native of Niger, and the father is a native of Senegal. The couple was living in Maryland when they got married in Niger while on vacation. Soon thereafter, the mother began working for the United Nations. The family moved to New York for her first assignment but maintained residences in Maryland to which they would travel every weekend.