Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: 3 party child custody case

I just argued a third party custody case on Monday

in Baltimore County so I happen to be more familiar

than usual with the law.

I would take a very close look at Boothe v. Boothe,

which can be found at 466 A.2d 58 or 56 Md. App. 1.

It was decided in 1983 and the fact pattern was

very similar to yours. In that case the judge found

for the grandparents.

There is a presumption in Maryland law that the

biological parents should have custody of their

children. That presumption can be overcome by

showing that: the parent is unfit; or, there are

special circumstances that argue against custody

in the parent.

In your case, since the father is still alive, it

will be tougher for the other side to show special

circumstances and thus give custody to his parents.

Tougher, but not impossible. In my case the mother

had just died and the children had been living with

the mother and her sister for the last 4 years with

virtually no contact with the father. Under Boothe

that meant that there were clearly special

circumstances.

Once they get past that point, then the court does

a best interest of the child analysis. Again, in

my case stability was the key concept. The kids

had just lost their mother, their father was a

stranger who was proposing to take them out of

their school district and away from their friends,

family, church, etc. So cutody to the aunt.

In your case you need to try to avoid letting them

get to that point since it sounds like stability

would work against you. But since the father is

still alive, assuming you're a fit parent, maybe the

judge won't even get that far in his analysis...

Finally, you should definitely *NOT* be going into

a case like this pro se. The law is too subtle and

it's going to be difficult for you to come up to

speed that quickly. But if you're determined

to do it, at least read Boothe and ask a librarian

to show you how to Shepardize so that you can

see the other relevant case law. I would also

look at Fader & Gilbert's Family Law in Maryland.

Lowell Wilson

Law Office of Lowell G. Wilson

8335 Court Avenue