Maryland Child Custody Law

Maryland Child Custody Law revolves around the simple concept of what is in the child's best interest. Custody happens on two different levels, which are themselves further broken down into two levels. You have Legal Custody, further broken into sole and joint, and you have Physical Custody, further broken into sole and shared. It is interesting to note that the Court in Maryland can not enter an order for pendente lite custody when the parties continue to reside together. See Maryland Family Law Article 5-203.

Legal Custody: Sole Legal Custody and Joint Legal Custody. Sole Legal Custody is where only the custodial parent has the right to make the decisions affecting health, education and welfare. Joint Legal Custody is where both parents share equally in decision affecting the health, education and welfare of the minor child.

Physical Custody is more interesting then legal Custody. Physical Custody is where the child lives. Physical Custody is also broken down into two different categories. You have either Sole Physical Custody or Shared Physical Custody. Once a non custodial parent enjoys Shared Physical Custody it means two things (1) he/she has the child with them in excess of 128 over nights per year and (2) the child support obligation is affected by the overnights with the otherwise non custodial parent. You will find many people fight over the 128 overnights. In order for a non custodial parent to reach the 128 number they must establish it is in the child's best interest. The court looks at the factors in a case call Taylor v Taylor to help the judge make the difficult decisions on whether to order sole joint custody or shared physical custody.