Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: My wife has left with my kids

I would require some additional information before

responding in full. I would be happy to speak with

you regarding this matter at no cost to you.

C. Michael Bradshaw

(410) 721-2954

[email protected]

Wife gave me a bill and left with my kids

There are considerable areas requiring further information.

You should obtain the service of an attorney as soon as practicable

if you truly want to protect your rights to ensure access to your

children. Even a separation agreement should be reviewed by an attorney

so as to ensure you are adequately protected.

Maryland, as most states, follows the standard of the "best interest of the child(ren)" .

Although this standard may seem obvious, the numerous details with applying it make the service of an attorney

essential. Recent trends with regard to the passive spouse being provided custody are changing. Preference

for the mother is not Maryland law but practical points often differ. Split custody, as you have agreed, is

rarely given and for the reasons that are now becomming obvious to you.

As for the $20K, this is marital debt and should be accounted for during your upcoming divorce.

Contact me for assistance.

G. Joseph Holthaus III

(410) 799-9002

(410) 619-5918 (pager)

DISCLAIMER: This response is not intended to be legal advice and should not

be received as such. Rather, this response is information about the law. No attorney-client

relationship is formed through this correspondence and no reliance thereon should be made.

When confronted with a legal issue, the best advice is to obtain the service of an attorney.

Re: My wife has left with my kids

Do you have the original signed AND NOTARIZED agreement regarding the children and child support? If so you can submit that as a court order. Without a court order your custody agreement really means nothing. You must have the court approve the agreement and the court's order is the court's agreement.

The other issues, such as the marital debt, the house and other assets and liabilities need to be addressed in a property settlement agreement. You can draft the agreement yourself, although I do not recommend this because I've read too many agreements drafted by the parties without an attorney and many do not even begin to cover the liabilities that exist when two people are separated. When children are involved it's even more dangerous to draft it yourselves.

That being said, if you are comfortable with the agreement you have already signed, present that to the court for as a consent motion and order and have the court issue a child custody and support agreement.

If you have any questions, feel free to call me at 301-652-0663.

Re: My wife has left with my kids

If the separation agreement includes your agreement to take on your wife's 20K debt, you are almost certainly stuck with that debt. If the debt is on a joint credit card, you will be liable along with her regardless of any agreement. If the agreement is only concerned with custody and child support, the property issues will need to be dealt with at the time of a divorce, and unless you have clearly agreed to pay the debt, or have transferred it to your name, you should not be liable. The house, titled to you before the marriage, remains yours in any case, but if you have paid mortgage payments on it during the marriage, there will be a marital property interest in it which may result in some money being paid to your wife for a share of the equity (again, that is so unless the agreement deals with the property issues and she has given up any marital property interest in the house). You don't indicate whether the separation agreement was prepared by a lawyer, or whether you both were represented by counsel. I would recommend that you see a lawyer soon to review the agreeement and make sure it does what you intended. It's easy to make very serious mistakes.

Now, about the children: any agreement concerning custody, child support and/or visitation will always be subject to the jurisdiction of the court to modify the agreement in the interest of the children. Whatever you agreed to, the court can change it or disregard it if there is a good reason to do so. You may be doing away with your right to equal custody of the children by your current schedule with them of every other weekend and one night per week. If you want equal and joint physical custody, and if a 50/50 schedule is best for the children, you would be wise to have the children with you on a regular basis for half of the time. At the time of a divorce the judge will look at what is actually happening, not just what the agreement says.

Frankly, in my experience a 50/50 custody arrangement is not often good for children, who may need to have a primary home which they identify as their home. I suspect, since you are not conforming now the terms of the agreement, that it is because it doesn't really work. Give it some thought. You might be wise to nail down in a revised agreement something closer to what really works, or to insist that you actually have the children with you fifty per cent of the time.

Do find a lawyer in your area who has, as a major part of his or her practice, family law and with whom you feel confident and comfortable.