Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: if a husband buys a home after deseration does she have right to it

I need some more information before I can adequately answer your question. Please call my office at 301-652-0663 and I'll be happy to discuss this with you.

Lisa Lane McDevitt, McDevitt Law Office, 2 Wisconsin Circle, Suite 700, Chevy Chase, MD 20815. 301-652-0663

Re: if a husband buys a home after deseration does she have right to it

First, I am sorry that you haven't received answers to your question sooner. I note that you asked your question on June 8, and because LawGuru has been receiving a huge number of questions, it was not until July 29 that your question was posted to my e-mail. By now, you may have found an answer to your question somewhere else, but I will try to answer it anyhow.

The court does have the legal power to order you out of a house owned by you alone and permit your wife to remain there for a period of time after a finding of domestic violence, or even before a finding of domestic violence for a period of seven days on an ex parte order. Under the circumstances of your particular case, the appropriateness of the order would depend on some facts which I don't have. For example, were there any minor children living with you in your home? How long had you been married, and how long had your wife been gone after she deserted? Are there any criminal charges filed against you? Is there a prior history of abuse, or charges of abuse, and if so how severe was the alleged abuse? What alternative housing was available to either you or your wife? What were the financial resources of you and your wife?

There is another matter which is not clear in your question. Frequently people refer to "ex parte" orders when they are really talking about the protective order which may come after a hearing with both parties present in court. The ex parte order is actually the order granted by the judge before the accused person is notified of what is going on. At that point the law views the situation as an emergency requiring an extraordinary response. It is much easier for the judge to put you out of your home for seven days than for the longer period. If you have been ordered out of your home for anything approaching the twelve months maximum, you can file a motion to modify the order if any of the factors I mentioned above were not considered and should have been, or if, for example, you have reason to believe that your wife is trashing your home or in any way abusing the protection the court intended to afford her. This is not a simple matter to deal with, and you really should discuss the situation, with all of the details, with an attorney.