Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: child custody papers in md

The most effective thing to do is to file a petition with the court for a custody determination (which would require notice to the father). If the court awards you custody it makes it more difficult, but not impossible for the father to challenge later on. You could also try to get the father to relinquish his parental rights so he cannot later petition for custody. Depending on the facts of your particular case there may be a number of other options available. Please give me a call for a free consultation to discuss at 301-652-0663.

Re: child custody papers in md

Although it isn't legally necessary, I would suggest that the first thing you might do is to ask the father to sign an agreement giving you custody. If he does that, you will have a stronger case if you afterwards need to go to court for custody. The next papers involved in seeking court-ordered custody would be a Complaint for Custody, which would have to be served on the father. He would have a chance to contest the custody claim, but if he isn't paying child support and doesn't want to he might deny paternity. If you want to establish his paternity, which you might want to do for reasons of child support and to facilitate a future relationship between your child and his father, you can ask the court (another paper) to order blood tests. If he acknowledges paternity and agrees to your custody, the whole process is fairly simple, but not so simple that I would recommend your doing it without a lawyer.