Legal Question in Family Law in New Mexico

In New Mexico, if the child is under fourteen years, the court considers the best interests of the child. If the child is fourteen or order the court is to consider in addition the wishes of the child as to whom he/she wants to live with. Those are statutory requirements, they are flexible enough that the court can consider it such a wish from a child under fourteen, and may decide against such wishes from a child over fourteen.

If the children have been in Md for longer than six months the MD court may have jurisdiction now and the Md. laws would rule, which may give different weight to the wishes of the child. This is a tricky deal when the child leaves the state, whether the child still has "sufficient contacts" here may determine whether the NM court will exercise jurisdiction to make a new child custody determination or it will defer to the court in the child's new home state. Best thing may be to get a Maryland attorney and a New Mexico sttorney to collaborate on this.