Maryland Divorce Lawyer Blog

I recently represented a Respondent (the person against whom the protective order has been filed) in a Final Protective Order hearing in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, where the Petitioner alleged that he was placed in fear of serious imminent bodily harm by his wife, the Respondent. When representing the Respondent in such a proceeding it is imperative to know what the other side must prove in order to have a final order granted by the Court and how to gather evidence to refute those allegations. In this case, it was the husband’s burden to prove by clear and convincing evidence the alleged abuse had occurred (see August 16, 2009 blog for specific statutory criteria). By the nature of the protective order process, there often is not enough time in between a client coming in to meet with you to represent them and the Final Hearing date, which can impede obtaining necessary information in a complicated matter. In this situation, although time was an issue, I was able to obtain the 911 calls, the transcript of the Temporary Protective Order hearing, and issue subpoenas to various witnesses, which included friends, family members, police officers, therapists and physicians.

In this particular case, the Husband’s Petition was dismissed at the conclusion of his case after the Court heard argument on my oral Motion for Judgment. Pursuant to Maryland Rule 2-519, when a defendant moves for judgment at the close of the evidence offered by the plaintiff in an action tried by the court, the court may proceed, as the trier of fact, to determine the facts and to render judgment against the plaintiff or may decline to render judgment until the close of all the evidence. When a motion for judgment is made under any other circumstances, the court shall consider all evidence and inferences in the light most favorable to the party against whom the motion is made. In non-legal jargon, the Court, in my case, concluded that even after looking at all of the evidence presented by the Petitioner/Husband, in the light most favorable to him, there was still not enough evidence to meet the legal standard to enter the Final Protective Order, all before I had to put on a single witness. Albeit, the preparation still paid off in the cross examination of the Petitoner.

Continue reading " Maryland Final Protective Order – Dismissal " »

A common inquiry for Maryland divorce lawyers is how child support is calculated with questions such as, is it based on the custody arrangement, the amount of income of the parties, are the parent’s expenses taken into consideration, and what about expenses associated with the child? The answer, for the most part is all of the above, with the exception of the parent’s expenses, which are generally not taken into consideration unless it is an above the child support guidelines case. The Maryland legislature has enacted guidelines which provide a standard formula for calculating child support. The Maryland Code, Family Law § 12-204 provides that child support shall be calculated based on the parties combined adjusted actual income combined with the number of children the parties share. Not only do the guidelines take into account the parties’ gross income (not net income), but also any health insurance costs the parties are paying for the child or the children, costs of work-related child care either party may be paying for the child or the children, extraordinary medical expenses paid for the child or the children, and existing prior child support obligations.
The guidelines are also based on the custody arrangement the parties have with the child or children. At the present time, if the mother or father has sole physical custody (less than 128 nights with non-custodial parent) than the Maryland child support guidelines will provide for more support for that parent. If the mother and father share physical custody of the child or children (child spends more than 128 nights with each parent) the child support guidelines will provide for less child support to the party seeking it. If one of the parties to the case is unemployed or earning less than their potential(not due to disability, illness or a child under the age of two belonging to the parties) the court may find them to be voluntary impoverishing themselves, and may determine child support based on their potential income. If the parties combined adjusted actual income is over $10,000 a month, the Court has the ability to award child support based on need. The statutory child support guidelines cease providing a sum for support above and beyond a combined monthly income of $10,000.00. However, courts often extrapolate the child support guideline past the $10,000.00 figure and base an award on that number or at the very least take the extrapolated child support guideline into consideration.

Continue reading " How is Child Support Calculated in Maryland – Just the Basics? " »