Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Committing adultery while legally separated can absolutely affect the outcome of a divorce. Having another person around (you!) while children are visiting can harm the father's chances of obtaining custody of the children too. Additionally, money spent on the third party (you!) during the separation may be taken into consideration when settlement and alimony payments are awarded by the judge.

Please note, the wife does not need to prove the father "unfit" in order to get full custody of the child. The wife simply needs to show that it is "in the best interest of the child" for the mother to have full custody. There's a big difference in those 2 standards. Showing that it's in the best interest of the child to live with one parent is MUCH easier than proving the other parent unfit. For instance, if the father has a crazy work schedule, the mother will likely argue that the father should not be entitled to primary physical custody of the children (especially if that means that you will be caring for those kids) because it's not in the best interest of the children. Also, I bet that the court will not agree that the husband has "very strong character" -- there's NEVER an excuse for adultery in the eyes of the law. The fact that the father brought in a woman to care for his children and then had an affair with her while still legally married will not be looked favorably upon by the Court no matter how you try and minimize or justify yours or the father's actions -- you don't mention the age of the kids, but imagine how confusing this must be for them.

With that said, unless there is some sort of abuse claim (against either you or the father), or their is inappropriate activity going on in the house (physical abuse, alcohol, drug use, etc.), it will be VERY difficult for the wife to convince the court to allow only supervised visitation. In short, just because the wife is "a woman scorned" doesn't mean she can use the Court system as a weapon to keep her kids away from their father, UNLESS there is something else going on here that you don't mention in your facts above. Stated differently, in general, the Court is not in the business of punishing parents for adultery by keeping them away from their kids -- this only hurts the kids in the end. The Court would rather punish a parent for adultery through tough alimony payments and division of the marital property.

As always, I STRONGLY recommend that the father hire a Maryland family law attorney to represent him through the divorce process -- the results are likely to be much better for him.

Best of luck.******The above is for informational purposes only and does not create an attorney-client privilege.*******