Maryland Family Law Maryland family law opinions and commentary

Some family law attorneys say Maryland’s top court exceeded the appropriate bounds of an appellate panel in its recent landmark decision relaxing the standards for grandparents seeking custody of their grandchildren.

When John J. Condliffe took on a military veteran’s case related to a divorce settlement, he expected to have to take it all the way to Maryland’s highest court, if not further. But a recent Supreme Court decision meant Condliffe’s ...

RICHMOND, VA — A Virginia couple that exchanged their vows on the other side of the Potomac River has learned that their marriage is invalid under Virginia law. Although the pair obtained a marriage license in Virginia, they took part ...

DETROIT — A Michigan judge on Tuesday rescinded his order that gave a convicted sex offender joint legal custody of a child born to a woman who said the man raped her when she was 12. Sanilac County Judge Gregory ...

If a divorcing couple agrees that the father won’t pay child support until he earns $20,000 a year, does it matter if he unexpectedly gets a $56,893.29 settlement after a car crash?

HARTFORD, Conn. — A man who alleged his father was angry with him and adopted two adults to reduce his inheritance lost a legal fight on Thursday to have himself declared the sole beneficiary of a $1.5 million trust fund. ...

An able-bodied immigrant’s lack of work-authorization documents does not excuse him or her from the obligation to pay child support, Maryland’s second-highest court has ruled. In its 3-0 decision, the Court of Special Appeals upheld a judge’s decision to impute ...

ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis County trial court erred in denying a claim for child custody brought by a woman in a same-sex relationship, according to the Missouri Court of Appeals. The Eastern District, noting the “murky state” of ...

MINNEAPOLIS — A military veteran recently went to the Minnesota Court of Appeals to assert that federal law makes a District Court’s judgment directing him to pay his ex-wife 40 percent of his disability compensation unenforceable. And thanks in part ...

OGDEN, Utah — A Utah judge says two married foster parents lacked “just basic human decency” when they abused boys in their care by locking them up and using duct tape and zip-ties to restrain them. District Judge Michael DiReda ...