Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Good morning,

I have recently been served with divorce papers from my estranged husband. We have been separated for six years and are the parents of four children. Our youngest child (16) is the only one that is under the age of 18. He is requesting sole custody and child support out of hatred. I left him along with the kids six years ago because of physical and mental abuse. The children now live between the two homes liberally with no court ordered custody agreement but they use his address because i didn't want to uproot them from their school. Should I obtain a lawyer when filing my response to his divorce request? or is itok to respond on my own and obtain a lawyer once a court date has been set?


Asked on 7/30/14, 6:07 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Sher Wagshal and Sher

If you want legal representation it's best to get it at the earliest possible opportunity. It would be most unwise to file any court papers before consulting with an attorney.

With respect to child support, at his age your son can pretty much dictate where he lives, and if he wants to maintain the ongoing split arrangement that is what will most likely happen. If the overnights are roughly equal, generally the parent earning more ends up paying some support to the other parent. There is a formula in the law that determines the amount.

If there are issues regarding division of marital property, an attorney can help you negotiate those in the hope of arriving at an agreement before the case goes to final hearing. In addition to physical property, retirement assets accrued during the marriage would be subject to division. Pretrial discovery will be used by an experienced attorney to determine the amount and location of these assets.

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Answered on 7/30/14, 11:04 am


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