Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland
Father in Need
My boyfriend has a 14 month old daughter. He is supposed to see her every two weeks and keep her for 2 weeks at a time. When ever it is time for him to see her, the babys mother calls him and tells him he cant have her. She goes out all the time and partys and leaves the baby with its grandmother. I dont believe she really wants the child but is only keeping her because her mother wants her. He is very upset. He wants to get custody ( i believe joint) But what are his chances of receiving full custody of her? They dont even allow the grandparents to see the child. Are there any laws that say they have right to see their grandchild?
Also, they had an agreement, (which was the babys mothers decision) that he does not pay child support...instead she has use of his car (supposed to be for the child) and he makes the payments, he is in the hospital due to a car accident and will not be fully recovered for at least 6 mos...we believe she is going to file for custody/child support because she has brought the car back to him and asked him for his social security number. Is there anything she can do while he is in the hospital?
Please help, he really wants his daughter and her family is making it hell for them.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Father in Need
As far as custody goes, a lot is going to depend
on the agreement they have. Is this agreement in
writing? Is it a court order?
I suspect you are describing a verbal agreement
between the two of them since you said that the
agreement is to pay no support. A court is never
going to decide that no child support is in the best
interest of the child. If this is simply an
agreement between the two of them, it is valuable
as evidence of the intentions of the parties, but that
is all. Of course, failure to pay child support may
not look too good for your boyfriend, unless his
failure is really due to circumstances beyond his
control, or the car payments are about the same
that he would pay in support each month.
As far as the grandparents are concerned, they have
certain visitation rights and they can go to
court to enforce those rights.
Finally, as far as support is concerned, she will get
it. If he fails to pay, she can have his wages garnished or have him hauled into
court. Having been there for those hearings,
they are not happy affairs.
It sounds like your boyfriend really does need to talk
to someone about this and the sooner the better.
He should, at the very least, talk to a lawyer to
find out if he has a case. Many lawyers (myself
included) will talk to a client for free for the
initial consultation.
Good luck.
Lowell
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