Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland
Children
If a father has no finacial support to offer either one of his children, but his family pays for everything, from rent to car insurance and even the food that goes into the childrens mouth, but the mother is finacially stable meaning job, home, and own means of transportaion, and she just got back on her feet after getting served with divorce papers, then having it thrown out of court, how big of a chance does she stand getting awarded custody.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Children
The decision to award custody to one parent or the other is a complex one that can't be answered based on the scant facts you presented in your inquiry. The bottom line is what is in the best interests of the children. Both parents have an obligation to provide financial support for the children, which is based on their income or income earning ability. But other factors, such as the ages of the children, home environment, emotional support, etc., are also part of the equation. One thing the court considers important is stability on the children's lives, so if they are already doing well with one parent, the other parent has a higher burden to demonstrate why custody should be changed.