Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: Divorce Decree Granted

Only a circuit court judge can grant a divorce and the decree is final upon his/her signature and submission of the order into the docket. Sealing of the order has nothing to do with whether the decree is final. Sealing occurs in instances where there is sensitive information that should not become part of the public record and sealing is not something done by the clerk of the court but is part of the judge's order. Court records are public records. Go to the courthouse and submit a request for the decree. Sealed orders require a process to obtain the records rendered into the docket and generally require a showing of cause to obtain the sealed records.

Hope this helps. Contact an attorney if you need assistance.

Re: Divorce Decree Granted

If you had your divorce hearing before a Master as opposed to an actual circuit court judge, the Master would have declared at the conclusion of the hearing that he/she would recommend the granting of a divorce. This is because only a judge can actually sign a judgment of divorce, which is when it becomes official. It may be that the court records were inaccurately quoted to you if you received this information by telephone. If you were before a judge, he/she may have said he/she would "grant" the divorce but for some reason the judgment hasn't been prepared yet for signature.

Re: Divorce Decree Granted

It is possible that the person telling you that his/her divorce is not yet final is not telling the truth, although that is not likely unless you know of some particular motive for the person to tell a lie. More likely the divorce was granted in court but the judgment has not yet been signed. Often, in some courts, the judge will ask the attorney for one of the parties to prepare the judgment, and sometimes that takes a few days. If the judge is preparing it himself, there may be a delay because the judge is busy and puts it off. After the judgment is signed (and a gold seal attached) it is considered final, although either party may file a motion to reconsider within thirty days. This doesn't happen often,but it if does, the divorce is not really final until the court has ruled on the motion and denied it.