How to Divorce in Maryland (part II)

This is the second installment on instructions regarding how to divorce in Maryland. As was stated in the prior post before you can file a complaint for absolute divorce in Maryland you must first establish your grounds for divorce. Maryland recognizes several grounds for divorce some more prevalent than others. I have outlined only those that are most common.

An Absolute divorce in Maryland requires that you stay separate and aprt from your spouse for one year before you can file the complaint for absolute divorce. The only exceptions are if your spouse is committing adultery or treating you with excessively vicious conduct. The absolute divorce is the final divorce and addresses all the issues of the marriage, including, custody, visitation, child support, use and possession, alimony, equitable distribution of marital property and counsel fees.

The grounds available for an Absolute Divorce are:

Adultery; is defined as sexual intercourse with some one from the opposite sex that is not your spouse. It is proven by evidence of propensity to commit adultery and opportunity. A person who commits adultery can not be compelling to testify against themselves for any act occurring with in one year. Adultery can be proven my admission of the adulterous party only under circumstances where the case is hotly contested and there are no indications of collusion.

Desertion; your spouse left the marital home with the intention of ending the marriage and you and your spouse have remained separate and apart for one year and there is no hope you will ever get back together again.

Constructive Desertion: you left the marital home because your spouse made it impossible for you to continue living in the home with your health happiness and self respect intact. And you and your spouse have remained separate and apart for one year and there is no hope you will ever get back together again.

Excessively Vicious Conduct.

Voluntary Separation; you and your spouse agreed it was time to end the marriage and your spouse left the marital home. And you and your spouse have remained separate and apart for one year and there is no hope you will ever get back together again.

If you have questions on how to divorce in Maryland or the grounds for divorce in Maryland or any other subject involving divorce in Maryland please feel free to give me a call I am happy to answer your questions over the phone and will do so at no cost to you. 1-888-760-7339.

How to Divorce in Maryland

To answer the question of how to divorce in Maryland please appreciate there are procedures to be followed. In their simplest form it is necessary that you must establish your grounds for divorce. Once you have established the grounds for divorce you will file a complaint with the court attaching your longform or short form financial statement to the complaint for filing. The court will issue a summons and information sheet with instructions for you to attach your complaint and financial statement to the summons and information statement. At this point you must serve the summons, complaint and information statement on your spouse. Your spouse will then be required to file an answer. Once that task is completed the court will schedule a meeting at the court for a scheduling conference to set dates for additional court resources and other discovery related deadlines. As in all matters of the law there are several distinguishing requirements to be met not only in the drafting of your pleading but also in the service of the pleading and the time frames for the spouse to file his answer. If you have questions regarding any of these procedures please feel free to give me a call I am happy to answer your questions right over the phone and I will do so at no cost to you. 1-888-760-7339

Child Support Maryland Income Defined

In a Maryland child-support case the law has defined what income will be included in calculating the child support obligations. Below is an excerpt from that statute in Maryland law which defines income for child support purposes in a Maryland child support case.
b)(1) "Actual income" means income from any source.(2) For income from self-employment, rent, royalties, proprietorship of a business, or joint ownership of a partnership or closely held corporation, "actual income" means gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary expenses required to produce income.

(3) "Actual income" includes:

(i) salaries;

(ii) wages;

(iii) commissions;

(iv) bonuses;

(v) dividend income;

(vi) pension income;

(vii) interest income;

(viii) trust income;

(ix) annuity income;

(x) Social Security benefits;

(xi) workers' compensation benefits;

(xii) unemployment insurance benefits;

(xiii) disability insurance benefits;

(xiv) for the obligor, any third party payment paid to or for a minor child as a result of the obligor's disability, retirement, or other compensable claim;

(xv) alimony or maintenance received; and

(xvi) expense reimbursements or in-kind payments received by a parent in the course of employment, self-employment, or operation of a business to the extent the reimbursements or payments reduce the parent's personal living expenses.

(4) Based on the circumstances of the case, the court may consider the following items as actual income:

(i) severance pay;

(ii) capital gains;

(iii) gifts; or

(iv) prizes.

(5) "Actual income" does not include benefits received from means-tested public assistance programs, including temporary cash assistance, Supplemental Security Income, food stamps, and transitional emergency, medical, and housing assistance.


If you have questions regarding child support in Maryland please feel free to give me a call at 1-888-760-7339. I am happy to answer your questions over the phone at no cost to you.

Child Support in MD

Child-support in Maryland is based upon a mathematical calculation that is outlined in the child support guidelines. It is essentially adding each spouse's gross income calculating the proportionate share of the income then calculating each parties financial obligation to pauy child support consistent with that percentage of contribution. Health insurance premiums are calculated in too adjusting the gross income. Child care costs are also calculated as well as uninsured health cost and education cost as they relate to, amoung other things, private schools. The court will allow deviations from the child support guidelines to facilitate visitations if it is proven that it is in the children's best interest to reduce the child-support payment. One other additional major factor affecting the amount of the child support to be paid is the number of overnights when the children are with the otherwise noncustodial parent. Once the threshold of 128 overnights is reached the mathematical formula for calculating child support is modified for that shared physical custody arrangement. If you have questions regarding Maryland child-support or child-support arrears or divorce in Maryland please feel free to give me a call. I will answer your questions over the phone at no cost to you 1-888-760-7339.

Adultery in a Maryland divorce

Adultery is one of the few grounds in the state of Maryland that will allow you to file a complaint for absolute divorce without waiting the one-year period of separation required by many of the other grounds for divorce that are available to you. I received many telephone calls every day from people asking if the e-mails and telephone messages between the offending spouse and the paramore are sufficient evidence of adultery. In order to prove adultery in the state of Maryland you must prove the offending spouse and the paramore have a disposition to commit the adultery and an opportunity to commit the offense. So yes the e-mails and text messages and the phone messages are important evidence. However proof of adultery is typically circumstantial evidence. In a divorce in Maryland adultery is required to be proven by a preponderance of the evidence. Opportunity requires some evidence that the offending spouse has been alone with the paramore that is enough to prove opportunity. If you have questions regarding divorce in Maryland please feel free to call me. I will answer your questions for you right over the phone. 1-888-760-7339

Uniform Child Custody Act Maryland

Circumstances arise where parties resident in different states have disputes over the custody of minor children. As a result of the problems most jurisdictions have adopted the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act. The Maryland statute is found in Maryland Family Law section 9.5–101 through 9.5–318. The implementation of the Act has eroded the concept of continuing jurisdiction over child custody issues. Particularly in those circumstances where a party is seeking a modification of a prior custody award and neither party resides in Maryland. In its simplest form the Act provides that the location which provides the most convenient forum for the court to determine the issue of custody in conjunction with the residents of the children for that six-month period of time immediately prior to filing the petition seeking custody shall be considered the home state. There are exceptions in emergency circumstances and in circumstances where the otherwise home state refuses to accept jurisdiction that Maryland will step in and decide issues for the parties. If you have questions regarding custody issues in a Maryland divorce please feel free to call me. I am happy to answer your questions right over the phone at no cost to you. 1-888-760-7339.

Joint Property Statements in Divorce in Maryland

In a divorce in Maryland a very valuable requirement is disclosure in the form 9-207it is the joint statement of property. I have attached the excerpts from the rules below.

a) When required.- When a monetary award or other relief pursuant to Code, Family Law Article, § 8-205 is an issue, the parties shall file a joint statement listing all property owned by one or both of them.
b) Form of property statement.- The joint statement shall be in substantially the following form:

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. If the parties do not agree about the title or value of any property, the parties shall set forth in the appropriate column a statement that the title or value is in dispute and each party's assertion as to how the property is titled or the fair market value.
2. In listing property that the parties agree is non-marital because the property is directly traceable to any of the listed sources of non-marital property, the parties shall specify the source to which the property is traceable.

(c) Time for filing; procedure.- The joint statement shall be filed at least ten days before the scheduled trial date or by any earlier date fixed by the court. At least 30 days before the joint statement is due to be filed, each party shall prepare and serve on the other party a proposed statement in the form set forth in section (b) of this Rule. At least 15 days before the joint statement is due, the plaintiff shall sign and serve on the defendant for approval and signature a proposed joint statement that fairly reflects the positions of the parties. The defendant shall timely file the joint statement, which shall be signed by the defendant or shall be accompanied by a written statement of the specific reasons why the defendant did not sign.

(d) Sanctions.- If a party fails to comply with this Rule, the court, on motion or on its own initiative, may enter any orders in regard to the noncompliance that are just, including:
(1) an order that property shall be classified as marital or non-marital in accordance with the statement filed by the complying party;
2) an order refusing to allow the noncomplying party to oppose designated assertions on the complying party's statement filed pursuant to this Rule, or prohibiting the noncomplying party from introducing designated matters in evidence.

Instead of or in addition to any order, the court, after opportunity for hearing, shall require the noncomplying party or the attorney advising the noncompliance or both of them to pay the reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees, caused by the noncompliance, unless the court finds that the noncompliance was substantially justified or that other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust.

If you have question on the joint statement of property, please feel free to call me to discuss. 1-888-760-7339. I will answer your questions at no cost to you right over the phone.