Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

My husband filed for visitation of his daughter and modification of child support. we live in MD and when we filed they either lived in MD or moved a week prior. We did this all pro se because of the economy and we're trying to make it easier on all of us money wise. She choose to hire an attorney and filed an answer to both. They are asking for the visitation to be dismissed since she now resides in VA (althought MD law says MD is home state until they have lived in other state for 6 months, which they didn't when we filed) She wants to deny modification of child support because she does not have a job and has not had one for almost a year. Not because she can't find one, but because she feels she is over qualified for just any job. We do not want our case dismissed in MD and do not want modification denied just because she chooses to not work. Do we need to file something asking to not dismiss the visitation case and do we need to counter file something for the attempt to deny modification? Please advise... as far as I know, no court ordered custody or visitation was set up. We were able to see our daughter on and off until she cut all ties with us and would not respond to our pleas to see our daughter, reason being why we are filing through the courts. She also wants us to pay for her attorney fees, from these cases, which we do not want because no one forced her to obtain an attorney. Again, we chose to do this pro se to try and make this easier on everyone. she made that decision to hire an attorney.


Asked on 6/27/10, 9:57 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Scott Strickler

If the ex-wife filed a motion to dismiss, your husband has 15 days to file a written response. (This is set forth in Maryland Rule 2-311.) If the motion was mailed to him, he has an extra three days from the date of mailing to respond. Check the certificate of service at the end of the motion and add 18 days to the date on the certificate of service to calculate the deadline by which his response is due.

Under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, Maryland continues to be the home state until the child has lived elsewhere for six months. However, better than that, even AFTER the child has been in Virginia (or somewhere else) for six months, Maryland still has continuing exclusive jurisdiction as long as one parent lives in Maryland, at least until Maryland chooses to decline to exercise jurisdiction in favor of another state.

Child support is not necessarily based on actual income. The court can impute income to the mother and calculate child support based on what she is capable of earning, if the court concludes that she is voluntarily impoverished. However, if this is a guideline child support case, beware of two issues. First, the good news. If mom is the custodial parent, changes in her income will make only very minor differences in the amount of basic child support. Even if her income is $0, that won't cause dad's child support obligation to increase by other than a small amount. The bad news is that Maryland has new child support guidelines, which are effective with all cases filed after October 1, 2010. These new guidelines will result in increased child support. Be glad that your husband filed now.

I understand that you don't want to incur the cost of legal fees. But when the other side has counsel and there are complex issues, you should at least be consulting with a competent attorney.

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Answered on 6/27/10, 2:08 pm


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