Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: Preventing an out of state move

You can't prevent your wife from moving out of the state, but you can file for custody of your daughter and ask the court for an expedited hearing on a request for a temporary order, pending the outcome of the custody action, preventing the child from being taken out of the state. The judge will consider a number of factors to determine whether the best interest of your daughter is to move with her mother or to remain in your custody. Those factors include the child's ties to your community and to extended family, the fitness of you and your wife to have custody, the wishes of your daughter (she is old enough to tell the judge how she feels about staying or leaving), the environment in your area and in the place where your wife intends to move, and anything else which the judge considers relevant to the decision regarding the child's best interest. Incidentally, if your wife left your daughter at home alone for two hours when the child was under eight, the law considers that to be child neglect. WIth the seizure problem, it may very well be considered neglect while she is nine.