Maryland Family Law Maryland family law opinions and commentary

State-funded attorneys would represent indigent parents in child custody disputes in Baltimore, Prince George’s County and the lower Eastern Shore under legislation likely to be proposed during the 2015 General Assembly session.

Thousands of Central American children have crossed the southern border in the past year, many fleeing violence in their home countries, only to face complicated immigration proceedings without an attorney by their side.

Dementia, developmental disabilities and other health issues make it impossible for millions of Social Security recipients to manage their own benefits. In those cases — more than 8 million a year — the Social Security Administration generally appoints a friend or family member to serve as the beneficiary’s “representative payee.” But in 21 percent of such cases there’s another problem: no friend or family member can be found. And, as the population ages, the agency expects the problem to get worse.

A push for collaboration rather than litigation in divorce and child-custody cases gained steam last month when the Maryland Judiciary’s rules committee gave preliminary approval to a proposal spelling out attorneys’ responsibility before, during after a collaborative law process. The ...

Mr. B. thought he had defeated a bid to terminate his parental rights when the judge in the CINA case kept reunification as his children's permanency plan. But the Department filed a TPR action anyway, and prevailed.

Could the biggest impediment to divorce and remarriage among devout Catholics be a thing of the past? Almost certainly not — not yet, that is. But the notion that divorced Catholics who remarry are living in sin, and therefore ineligible to participate in the sacraments, is up for debate at the international meeting of bishops and cardinals Pope Francis convened this week in the Vatican City.

When negotiating a divorce or separation agreement, a bigger toolkit is always better.

A high-school/vocational-services graduate who was unable to support himself due to a mix of autism, ADHD and oppositional-defiant disorder was entitled to child support from his mother, the Court of Special Appeals held.

Best-interest attorneys in Maryland got a welcome shot of support from the Court of Special Appeals, which rejected a father’s argument that parents should be given special leeway in seeking to disqualify them.

By moving away from the traditional adversarial approach to one that emphasizes the circumstances facing each family, educators hope to give students a range of skills apart from litigation with which to address their clients’ needs.