Howard County custody lawyers are occasionally invited to take the excellent Best Interest Attorney seminar/training that is offered by the Howard County Circuit Court Family Law Coordinator’s office Ms. Lisa Mohink.

Her office, located in the Ellicott City Court Complex, is among the most energetic, informed, and helpful family law coordinator’s offices I have ever had the pleasure to deal with.

The last seminar I attended included experts from Howard County Family Services as well as esteemed members of the bench and of the family law bar. Both ethical and practical strategies were discussed. I noticed many faces particularly from Columbia.

In cases where the court orders a Best Interest Attorney” to be appointed on behalf of a minor child (or children) it is a pretty safe bet that the matter is a high conflict situation. Make no mistake, best interest attorneys are appointed in cases where the need for a best interest attorney or a child’s attorney does not flow from a high degree of conflict.

Children’s attorneys are most often appointed in cases where the child’s privileged communications or feelings that were conveyed to a mental health professional is important to the case. While these can be high conflict cases to be sure, they can also be cases where the children have special or unique emotional or developmental needs.

The “Waiver Attorney”

The Maryland courts have determined that, while children are minors in the custody of their parent(s), they enjoy the same right to enjoy a privilege of confidentiality with their counselor, psychiatrist or psychologist. This is the same privilege that would be expected by an adult in the same circumstances.

Consequently, as a protection of that child or the child’s entitlement to privileged communication, the Howard County Family Law Court routinely appoints attorneys to act as a gatekeeper to that privilege. For example, if the court is concerned that a child has unresolved issues of fear or trust with one of the parents the court may appoint a children’s attorney.

The attorney would normally be agreed upon between the parents’ respective attorneys but may also be appointed from a list of qualified attorneys whom the court has vetted for that purpose. Customarily, the attorney would receive a fee deposit from each parent called a retainer. The lawyer would seek an apportionment of those fees from the respective parents by agreement or sometimes by order of the court.

The court may set forth the ratio of payment from each parent on an equitable or income sensitive basis or the court may just order each parent to pay 50%. Often the court will order the parents each pay 50% at the outset but reserve on the apportionment of future fees as part of the custody or visitation hearing.

Sometimes where the need for a children’s attorney is compelling but the parties are of limited means, the court may grant a reduced rate for the child’s lawyer or even order that the lawyer be paid from a family law fund established for such purposes and needs.

Lawyers who agree to accept appointment as children’s attorneys generally agree with the court in advance that they will make their services available to the court on a reduced fee or pro-bono basis, at the court’s discretion.

In consideration for that service the appointment as a children’s attorney carries a certain amount of cache for a family law attorney. In particular one who is young and trying to establish a reputation. There are even (heaven forbid) attorneys who offer to serve in the role as a children’s attorney as a public service.

After he/she is appointed, it is customary for the children’s attorney to determine the scope of her charge from the court. Some lawyers are appointed for the limited purpose of contacting the professional who meets with the child and making a decision whether it is appropriate to waive the child’s implied privilege to communication with that counselor.

Given such a task, the child’s attorney will discuss with the counselor if the waiver of such privilege will have any detrimental impact upon the child’s treatment or progress. I can recall a case with a therapist in Columbia where the treatment provider had spent weeks establishing a rapport with the child and reinforcing the meetings as a “safe place.”

I recall that the child was telling her father and her counselor that her mother was drinking to excess and that her intoxicated behavior frightened the child. There was great concern that mother learning of this information might take a punitive stance with the child.

I mean it’s not like her and the child are not going to be together at some point? Nevertheless, a counselor takes time to establish a rapport under such circumstances. If the information from the child were communicated to the parties there might not only be a backlash but it could also jeopardize the child sharing such candid feelings again.

Sometimes, in high conflict custody and visitation cases, these sessions can be the only adult guidance or interaction a child enjoys that does not include a custody or visitation “agenda..” Often children in these cases are worked over for information about the other parent’s household. Other times they are coached to indicate they like/dislike a particular person or a particular activity. In the end, the child is walking on emotional eggshells or carefully scripting interaction and conversation with the adults.

It may not be readily apparent to the uninitiated but custody, visitation and divorce cases are often a team sport. I use that expression in jest to point out that grandparents, siblings even family friends are perceived as an extension of a particular parent with whom they have aligned. This perception is often a deserved one.

Consequently, the assurance of openness and safety in the office of the counselor may outweigh the potential benefit of disclosing the contents, feelings or concerns that the child raises in those meetings. It is not uncommon to have the parents insist on appointment of a children’s attorney, only to have that same attorney report to the court that he/she is disinclined to waive the child’s privilege.

Timothy Conlon, Esquire for The Custody Place

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1. Child’s Attorney (Best Interest Attorney)

Custody lawyers in Hagerstown Maryland are often confronted with the dilemma that surrounds a case of child abuse.  Often that allegation or suspicion of abuse involves wrongdoing by a parent or stepparent.

The nature of child abuse in Hagerstown or Honolulu can always make it easy to conceal.  The first issue that arises in a child abuse allegation or investigation is the report or knowledge of the abuse.  How was that abuse discovered?  For example a child in Keedysville recently reported abuse to his parents exposing a string of offenses upon neighborhood kids.

The Discovery Of Abuse

Sadly child abuse, like rape, domestic violence and other heinous crimes in Frederick and Washington County are often perpetrated behind closed doors.  The victim is often the best, even sometimes the only, witness.

That does not mean it didn’t happen.  That also does not mean the perpetrator gets away with it.  There are many men who are in jail in Hagerstown or even in prison for something that only they and the victim witnessed.

Women who are victims of date rape, and children who are victims of child abuse often fear they will never be believed and that is simply not true.  The first thing we must communicate to a child who has been a victim of child abuse is that: “YOU ARE THE VICTIM.”  Nothing you did or, could have done, makes this your fault.

Make no mistake, it is important that the child know this is a serious matter and not a game or something to joke about.  Nevertheless, the child needs to be assured particularly because if the perpetrator has been engaging in a routine pattern of abuse he/she has probably sewn seeds to keep the child quiet.

Such tactics include telling the child it is a secret, telling the child it is because of something they did or said.  Such tactics permit the perpetrator to continue the abuse or conceal its having happened at all.

Mandatory reports and mandatory reporters

Maryland law mandates that people in certain professions and under certain circumstances must report abuse to the authorities.   These people or agencies have no discretion in the matter and cannot  “let is slide.”   For example, if a child tells his teacher in Williamsport that his black eye is because mommy hit him at home in Huyett, that teacher must report the abuse to the Washington County authorities immediately.

In a similar vein, medical providers, therapists, counselors, dentists, physicians, hospitals and some others, are also required to report and any knowledge or articulable suspicion of abuse to the Hagerstown or other authorities.

When people suspect child abuse the best thing to do is report it to the authorities and/or child protective services.  These agencies throughout our Washington and Frederick County communities go to extraordinary lengths to assure anonymity.  This serves as further insurance that even when people are in doubt, they will make the safe bet and report the suspected abuse.

There are, of course, those people who will “play the system” and report abuse just to gain unfair advantage in a variety of circumstances.  The real hard core fakers will even orchestrate a situation so that a child blurts out the abuse in front of a mandatory reporter.  Often there is just no way to guarantee credibility.

Unscrupulous parents crying wolf should be warned

An article was recently written which calls to attention a problem related to child abuse and that problem is over-reporting and even false reporting by parents who hope to gain an unfair advantage in a custody dispute.  http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/a-child-custody-catastrophe-204810201.html

When abuse of a child, particularly sexual abuse, is raised between warring parents the subject everything in and about the case just goes thermo-nuclear.

I have frequently worked on cases where abuse of a child had been perpetrated by a parent and I have worked on cases where the spectre of abuse was cast falsely for unfair advantage. My problem is that , along with the other professionals involved, I never really know which it is.

Even those parents who routinely give false reports are often doing the right thing in there minds.  More often than not, they are not people who are manufacturing fraud but who are hyper-vigilant or even mentally disturbed.  It is very hard to draw a distinction and remain still remain sure that the child is not in real danger.

I had a Knoxville custody case published in a national magazine where the father insisted his son was being abused by the stepfather. The judge dismissed those allegations. Five years later the stepfather was convicted of serially raping the boy. Sadly, “truth” is what you can prove but it is still the best system we have at our mortal disposal.

Timothy Conlon, Esquire for The Custody Place

The post Child Abuse in Hagerstown Maryland Custody Cases appeared first on Child Custody Lawyer Frederick Md.

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What Counts As Income For Calculating Child Support In Carroll County, Maryland?

Do unemployment income, social security and disability count as “income” under the Maryland Child Support Guidelines?

Is Leaving The Workforce To Stay Home With The Children Voluntary Impoverishment?

The “new economy” is changing the face of child support.  In the salad days of our national economy when the real estate bubble was puff-puffing away the Family Law Courts of Maryland were called upon to determine such questions as whether company cars were income for purposes of calculating child support.  Well, times they are a changin’… and  boy have they changed.

Income is the preeminent factor in the child support guidelines, but what counts as income?

Over the past 5-6 years the questions more frequently presented to the child support courts in Maryland and Carroll County are as follows:  Does unemployment count in my child support?  Does my severance pay?  Does Social Security?  Does disability?

As previously discussed, the Maryland Child Support Guidelines work like this.  You  take the income from both parents, add them together, match that total to a child support obligation table and the non-custodial parent pays his/her percentage to the other parent.  Thus, we see that income is the very first factor we bring to the formula.

But what is income?  Isn’t that a question that only a lawyer would ask?  You know, cock his head to the left, look right at you and ask, “what is income?”  I mean if you didn’t laugh, you’d cry but there it is…What is income?  For purposes of child support in Maryland, “income” is defined under the Maryland Annotated Code, Family Law Volume Section 12-201(b)(3).

Unemployment is counted as income, severance pay may be counted as income

Starting with unemployment benefits.  When the economy took a downward turn people began to be laid off from Taneytown to Reistertown in record numbers and most of them were not hired back.  Their benefits were extended and extended again.  For the first 6 months to a year most of the single, divorced or separated parents who were enduring these problems just waited it out.

But then, when the problem wore on, more and more of these cases went to our Carroll County Court in Westminster.  Presented with the question, we find that unemployment benefits are income for computation in the guidelines pursuant to Family Law Code Section 12-201(b)(3)(xii).  In some fortunate cases, the parents who were involuntarily separated from employment received severance pay.

Severance pay is a “may” with respect to income under the guidelines.  That means that the judge “may” determine that the severance pay for a parent in Mount Airy should count as income in a child support calculation for his children in Union Bridge.  Despite my near daily appearance in child support court, it has been so long since I was involved in a case where one of the parents was lucky enough to receive severance pay.  The last time was a man in Eldersburg and I don’t remember if the judge counted it as income or not.  Nevertheless, it is clearly up to the judge, as set forth in Maryland Family Law Code Section 12-201(b)(4)(i).

Social security counts as income but retiring from the work force alone may not be voluntary impoverishment

Since the economy flattened out at best and has not, as of yet, rebounded we have also seen that any parents who could retire; did retire.  This raised the social security issue as income.   Now, most parents with children who are young enough to be entitled to child support do not qualify for social security retirement in the traditional sense.

If a payor parent in New Windsor does receive social security income in the form of a retirement it counts as income pursuant to Maryland Family Law Code Section 12-201(b)(3)(x).  More typically the “early retirement” of a parent with school age children is a decision to stay home with the child and avoid the significant expense of child care.

You really can’t blame someone in Westminster with two children who pays 300 dollars per week after taxes for child care for choosing to forgo a job with a 400 or 500 per week income before taxes.  This phenomenon has had a devastating impact upon the child care industry.  They sustained record losses in 2008 through 2011 but from what a friend in Mount Airy told me the demand and supply has now flattened  out.

When a parent perceives his or her child support is unfairly high because his/her ex has elected this “opt out” form or retirement there is little comfort to be had.  While “voluntary impoverishment” is a claim one can make if a parents income is voluntarily manipulated downward it is often unsuccessful in this situation.   It is defined in Maryland Family Law Code Section 12-204(b).

For example, a parent in Hampstead might protest that his ex has left the workforce voluntarily and stays home with his children while her new husband works in Manchester as the sole household income.  A quick witted judge will foil such claim by a payor parent pointing out that if income is attributed to the mother the child care expense for the children would render such decision a “wash.”

Disability is counted as income but third party payments are credited to the disabled parent

The last income dilemma which often arises in these tough economic times is the most troubling.  Faced with little else, the roles of those on disability are growing in record numbers.  Ten years ago I would estimate that my cases where one of the non-retirement age parents was on disability would be well below 10%.

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Today, I would estimate that 20% of the Carroll County cases I handle involve a scenario where one of the parents is on disability.  That is a very real and a very stark reality.  What’s more troubling is that in a growing percentage of those 20% BOTH of the parents are on disability.

Some of those people are malingerers plain and simple.  In contrast, some were physically disabled but suffered in silence when work was available and now just say “the hell with it” since they can’t work anyway.  Many others are people who are disabled for emotional and psychological reasons, no doubt exacerbated by lack of opportunity for gainful employment.
Disability payments are income pursuant to Maryland Family Law Code Section 12-201(b)(3)(xiii).

There is yet another nuance to this form of income in its relationship to child support.  Many forms of disability pay a collateral benefit to the child or children of the disabled.  That third party payment is credited to a disabled payor parent pursuant to Maryland Family Law Code Section 12-204(j)(1) as though he/she paid the money directly.

Timothy Conlon, Esquire for The Custody Place

The post Calculating Child Support in Carroll County MD appeared first on Child Custody Lawyer Frederick Md.

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How Do Frederick County Lawyers and Judges Address Issues of Summertime Daycare Expenses?

As you may recall, in previous articles we have discussed and explained how child day care, defined as “work related child care,” has a significant impact upon the child support guidelines in a particular case. Those guidelines are set forth in the Maryland Annotated Code, Family Law Article Sections 12-101 through 12-204.

As previously discussed, one calculates the “basic” child support obligation for a non-custodial parent and then certain qualified expenses borne by the primary custody parent then get added onto the “total” child support obligation.  Day care or “work related child care” is one of those add on expenses.

For example: If a custodial parent in Frederick earns 1/4 of the parents’ combined incomes, the non-custodial parent in Urbana owes 3/4 of any daycare expenses and his child support obligation is increased by 3/4 of that expense. So, if a payee parent pays (or claims to pay) $800 in daycare, it increases the bottom line child support by $600 !!

In short, a parent who pays child support really pays support plus a percentage of the other parent’s “work related child care.”  Often a large, even a disproportionate, amount of that child care.

Summer vacation and day care

Of importance for this article is that different Frederick daycare providers have different policies regarding summer vacation and those policies can prove an issue of contention for single and divorcing parents. With respect to summer vacation and daycare there are several things we need to keep in mind.

The 1st:  52 weeks of day care can cost 54 weeks of tuition.  Day care providers in Frederick who are private “home based” providers and don’t work within a school setting often put into their day care contract that the parents have to make alternative arrangements for 1 or 2 weeks of day care in the summer.

In effect, the day care provider will take a vacation and the parents will still be responsible for their weekly or monthly day care of obligation but the daycare provider will not be caring for the child or children during that 1 or 2 week period.

The first time I heard about this policy I thought it sounded pretty obnoxious.  After  thinking about it, I am sure it is obnoxious.  What other small business or sole proprietorship charges people when they are closed for business??  Nevertheless, it is a fact of life.

In the interest of being fair, I am advised that the day care industry in the new economy has suffered a great deal . The new economy is of course a euphemism for the financial and economic doldrums in which the country now finds itself morassed. When parents in Frederick began to lose jobs there was an immediate effect upon enrollments and it was a disaster.

Then as the economy continued to flounder, people made other arrangements, sometimes eliminating part-time work for one spouse in favor of a savings in child care.  Of course, there are also grandparents and relatives who have become unemployed and/or taken early retirement.  In the end, it has flattened out but there are 25% fewer children in day care today than there were in 2007.

So with respect to this first dilemma; single, divorced and divorcing parents find it necessary to make alternative day care arrangements for that 1 week or 2 weeks of vacation that the daycare provider takes.
In some ideal cases the child or children spend this same time with one or each of the parents.  In other cases, the parents put the child or children in a summer camp and in yet some other cases the child or children have a “staycation” with one of the parents or a relative.

This sometimes poses a question as to which parent is responsible to a make the alternative arrangements, pay for those arrangements and/or take time off from work if necessary.  In the end, a payor parent in this scenario might pay a $625 per month for his day care contribution.

The 2nd:  52 weeks of day care can cost 50 weeks of tuition.  Another day care, vacation problem that people in Frederick face is a problem that most normal parents are happy to have.

In some of the school based day care contracts in Frederick a family actually accrues a vacation benefit.  For example, Celebree Day Care offers a free week with each calendar year up to a maximum of two weeks from the third year forward.  There is not only no closed week that the family pays for enrollment but in fact during the family vacation there is no charge for the child or children’s enrollment.

Believe it or not, this can provoke a dispute.  Was the child support calculated on 50 weeks of day care not 52?   At the above $800 per month daycare figure that really equates to $767 per month not $800 if it is a 50 week obligation.

Employing the above ratios that means the ¾ obligation would be $575.25 per month versus $600.  Some people would call that splitting hairs.  By another way of thinking, $25 per month is $300 per year.
If you face either of the above scenarios communication with the other parent is always the preferred way the sort out the financial nuance of your day care provider’s policies.  In the end how you handle it is up to you but if the parents can’t agree the judge will often go strictly by the numbers.

Timothy Conlon, Esquire for The Custody Place

The post Day Care Has A Big Impact On Child Support appeared first on Child Custody Lawyer Frederick Md.

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2. Child Care: Daycare A Child Support Guideline Factor
3. Using The Maryland Child Support Guidelines

Child’s Attorney, The Best Interest Attorney:

A lawyer who is usually appointed by the court to act in the best interest of the child, sometimes to even “speak for the child.”

In Frederick County Maryland, custody and divorce lawyers may request that the child(ren) be appointed their own lawyer.  This is true in all Maryland family law courts.

What is a child’s attorney?

A child’s attorney was formerly called a “guardian ad litem” and there was no special training or credentials except that it be a lawyer acceptable to the court.

Today, the Maryland Rules dictate the requirements of an attorney to qualify as a child’s attorney.   Those Rules further acknowledge the different types of “child’s attorneys” and the respective obligations of those lawyers.   Not all cases will involve a child’s attorney.

In fact, only a small percentage of custody and divorce cases are truly and fully “contested.” An even smaller percentage of those involve a child(ren)’s attorney. There are several reasons for that.   First, money is an issue.  Frederick divorce and custody lawyers cost money. If you have a children’s attorney, you are paying for your attorney and the child’s attorney.

Okay, sometimes you may pay ½ or a greater/lesser percentage than the other parent. Also, in some cases, the court may pay some or all of the fee for the child’s attorney, but not often! If you request a children’s attorney be prepared to pay.

Second, control is an issue.  Speaking as a Frederick custody and divorce lawyer, the employment/appointment of a child’s attorney always carries a modicum of risk.  You may be winning a case and if there is a new attorney placed in the mix, that can all change. It can also have the opposite effect.

A parent can move from zero to hero when a child’s attorney gets in the mix. Personally, with some significant exceptions, I don’t want a child’s attorney if my case is going well without one.

Many years ago I was aware of a case where the father resided in Frederick and he was a law enforcement officer.  He was a fine father by every estimation.

He also thought likewise for the mother who lived in Hagerstown. They were parents of a 5 year old boy.  Mother would routinely ask father to vet babysitters and he would happily comply.  The mother became engaged and that all changed.

She met a man at church who was the “youth pastor” and she expected to marry him.  Father met the man with no qualms whatsoever.  But when he looked into the man’s history, he uncovered that the man was a twice convicted pedophile with a penchant for boys of this son’s age.

The court appointed a best interest attorney who did a thorough enough job visiting the parties’ households and visiting with the child both in Hagerstown and in Frederick.  The attorney in question wore her colors as a liberal on her sleeve and I have no problem with that.

When the case went to trial the Judge (now retired) asked the Best  Interest Attorney to recommend placement for the Child.  The Attorney indicated that she was concerned Father was exposing the child to “age inappropriate material.”

She went on to indicate she was concerned that the boy kept several toy guns at father’s house which he described as “his gun collection.”

She was also disturbed that the father had permitted the child to watch an R rated movie, namely,  Mel Gibson’s “The Patriot.”

She recommended that the child reside with mother and her new husband whom she thought presented little danger to the child.  Days of court followed including a Psychologist.

The Psychologist testified that the fiance was a loose cannon and that meeting him as a “youth pastor” was a HUGE red flag and clear evidence  that he remained a sexual predator, just waiting to get his chance.

When the case ended the judge adopted the recommendations of best interest attorney.  The boy was serially raped for 5 years until the mother husband raped a playmate of the son  for which he was charged and convicted.

When we call upon the court to decide a custody case we take our chances that a judge has some predilection, some history after all, he/she is human.

When we start piling more and more people into the issues we stand a greater and greater risk of human error and that is why I believe best interest attorneys should be a last resort.

Timothy Conlon, Esquire for The Custody Place

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Health insurance paid for coverage of the child(ren) is a factor to be considered in the Maryland Child Support Guidelines

When divorce and custody lawyers in Hagerstown, Maryland or other communities in Washington County are computing a parent’s child support obligation, they must include the cost of any health insurance paid for the child(ren).

Other factors can impact a parent’s child support obligation. Those include each parent’s respective income, voluntary impoverishment, overnights with each respective parent, work related child care and other acceptable expenses like special educational or extraordinary medical expenses. Many Maryland courts, including Hagerstown, have also included reasonable travel expenses for visitation as a qualifying expense.

Parties who are seeking child support in Washington county, but who do not have a lawyer, should go to the Department of Social Services building on North Potomac Street where they will open or re-open a child support case for 25 dollars.

Health insurance is what is known as a “below the line” expense so the parent who pays for the health insurance is reimbursed pro-rata by the respective income of the other parent. That means:

if the parent paying health insurance works in Hagerstown and earns $1000 per month and the other parent works in Hagerstown and earns $3000 per month the parent paying health insurance is reimbursed 3/4ths or 75% by the other parent. If that reimbursement is not made directly, this will be part of the child support obligation.

Health insurance tends to be a rather straightforward factor in the computation of the Maryland Child support guidelines. I have also often seen it be the ONLY thing two parents can agree upon. I believe that is probably because virtually anyone can acknowledge: 1) a child having health insurance is important, 2) health insurance is usually an expense that can be quantified by simple review of a parent’s paycheck. I also see in the “new economy” that often only one parent has health insurance available, so usually, the other parent is just happy that it is even available for the child.

When there are disagreements surrounding health insurance for a child those tend to be disagreements about:
1) How much of the health insurance premium is specifically for the child(ren)?
2) Can both parents use the health insurance with the child (eg. having cards etc)?
3) Is the health insurance of any real value for the child?

Employers rarely permit a parent to purchase health insurance just for the child, so the employee parent and the child(ren) are usually covered. That raises the question how do we determine what percentage of the health insurance is for the actual benefit of the child?

The foregoing question becomes more difficult to navigate the more parties and children are on the policy. Take for example the modern family where a hypothetical mother lives in Hagerstown and has three children. Two of the children are from her current marriage in and the third child is from a previous relationship. She pays health insurance provided from her employer also in Hagerstown under a “family plan.” The expense is $100 per month and is deemed a “family plan” by her employer and it is neither defined nor paid on a per capita (per person) basis. It is generally accepted that the children would be deemed to cost the mother $20 per child for purposes of the guidelines.

The value of the health insurance and the ability for both parents to take advantage of the insurance is also key to whether the court will include it in the guidelines. It should go without saying that a parent in Hagerstown with two (2) health insurance cards should give the other card to the other parent. Please don’t go to court without sharing those cards it is routinely something that Hagerstown Judges find to be gamesmanship and in bad faith. Recently more and more health insurance companies issue only one card per policyholder. You may be able to mitigate the impact of that practice by sharing one pediatrician and having the card.

With health insurance on everyone’s mind these days, some people are using two policies. I have never seen a judge decline to permit a second policy to be included in the guidelines. But, like anything else, I am sure a person who strains logic might not be permitted to include the health insurance.

If you are squabbling about your ex using your child’s health insurance premium in the guidelines I think you do so at your peril. On the other hand, if you are paying for a duplicate policy just because you “would rather pay $2 to a health insurance company than pay $1 to her,” you might choke on a bitter pill indeed.

Timothy Conlon, Esquire for The Custody Place

The post Health Insurance And Child Support in Hagerstown MD appeared first on Child Custody Lawyer Frederick Md.

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2. Child Support in Frederick Md – Uninsured Medical Expenses
3. Child Support Dirty Tricks in Frederick Maryland

Weekly Custody Schedule: The alternating weekend custody schedule, suggested by judges and custody lawyers, is enjoying success.

Like any other profession custody and divorce lawyers are subject in varying degrees to “fashion.”  No, I don’t mean how high anyone’ wears a skirt or whether  leisure suits are back in style.  I mean legal fashion or legal policies.  There was a time when we adhered to the “tender years” policy favoring mothers for custody of children under 5 years of age.  Times change, and it’s just not what we do anymore.

At the moment, Frederick Maryland divorce and custody lawyers are crafting a visitation schedule which has been called “the two three split,” the “five two split”  and other names.  In fact, it is something of an inside joke that lawyers apply this new solution to an old problem but don’t even agree on what to call it.  When you describe what it is instead of giving it a catchy name it goes as follows:

1. Each visitation week begins and ends on monday morning.
2. On the first two weekdays (monday and tuesday) one parent always gets those  days. We can call him/her the “monday-tuesday parent.”
3. On wednesday morning the parent who had monday and tuesday turns the child(ren) over to the other parent.  The receiving parent keeps the child(ren) on wednesday and thursday, hence we can call him/her the “wednesday-thursday” parent.
4. On friday morning the wednesday-thursday parent returns the child(ren) to the other parent through monday morning in alternating weeks and keeps the children through monday morning every other week.

For example, if we defined the monday-tuesday parent as dad and the wednesday-thursday  parent as mom it might proceed as follows:  Having spent the weekend with the child(ren) mom returns them to school on monday morning.

After school dad picks them up on monday evening, keeps them overnight, and takes them to school tuesday and wednesday.  After school wednesday mom picks them up, keeps them overnight through thursday and returns them to school on friday morning.

After school friday dad picks them up and keeps them through wednesday morning.  Mom picks them up after school wednesday. In that week mom would then keep the child(ren) through monday return to school and the cycle begins again . Obviously, this schedule presumes that the parents can cooperate and maintain a spirit of quid pro quo.    It also presumes geographic proximity to the same school or daycare. 

If the children are school age, the specific times of the summer mornings and evenings would have to be determined.  There are also many other items which might affect how appropriate this schedule might be.

I worked on a case where the parents both resided in Frederick County.  Mother lived in Adamstown and father lived in Ballenger Creek.  They actually moved to be close to each other to enjoy the alternating weekend joint physical schedule as described.

Timothy Conlon, Esquire for The Custody Place

The post Alternating Weekend Custody Schedule appeared first on Child Custody Lawyer Frederick Md.

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Child Support – Who Pays For Health Insurance Is a Factor

Health insurance paid for coverage of the child(ren) are a factor to be considered in the Maryland Child Support Guidelines.

When divorce and custody lawyers in Frederick, Maryland are computing a parent’s total child support obligation, they include the cost of health insurance paid for the child(ren) see Maryland Annotated Code, Family Law Article.  The other factors which can impact that total obligation are discussed in previous articles: “What are the Maryland Child Support Guidelines?” and “How to Apply the Maryland Child Support Guidelines.”

Health insurance tends to be a pretty painless factor in the computation of the guidelines.  I believe that is probably because virtually anyone can acknowledge: 1) a child having health insurance is important, 2) health insurance is usually an expense that can be quantified by simple review of a parent’s pay check.

If there are disagreements surrounding health insurance for a child they tend to be disagreements about:
1)  How much of the health insurance premium is specifically for the child(ren)?
2)  Can both parents use the health insurance (eg. having cards etc)?
3)  Is the health insurance of any real value for the child?

Employers rarely permit a parent to purchase health insurance just for the child, so the employee parent and the child(ren) are usually covered.  That raises the question how do we determine what percentage of the health insurance is for the actual benefit of the child?

The foregoing question becomes more difficult to navigate the more parties and children are on the policy.  Take for example the modern family where hypothetical mother has three children.  Two of the children are from her current marriage and the third child is from a previous relationship.  She pays health insurance for her employer under a family plan.  The expense if $100 per month and is deemed a “family plan” by her employer and it is neither defined nor paid on a per capita (per person) basis.  It is generally accepted that the children would be deemed to cost the mother $20 per child for purposes of the guidelines.

The value of the health insurance and the ability for both parents to take advantage of the insurance is also key to whether the court will include it in the guidelines.  It should go without saying that a parent with two (2) health insurance cards should give the other card to the other parents.  Please don’t go to court without sharing those cards.  Recently more and more health insurance companies issue only one card per policyholder.  You may be able to mitigate the impact of that policy by sharing the pediatrician and having the card.

With health insurance on everyone’s mind these days, some people are using two policies.  I have never seen a judge decline to permit a second policy to be included in the guidelines.  But, like anything else, I am sure a person who strains logic might not be permitted to include the health insurance.

Timothy Conlon, Esquire for The Custody Place

Divorce Attorneys in Frederick Maryland

The post Frederick Md Child Support Guidelines – Who Pays For Health Insurance appeared first on Child Custody Lawyer Frederick Md.

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Adultery is a Crime Committed When a Married Person Has Sexual Intercouse With a Person Who is Not His/Her Spouse.

There is potential criminal prosecution and/or criminal penalties surrounding adultery in many states. These criminal penalties, and the statutes that surround them, range in both the definition of adultery and the potential penalty for the crime. In Maryland and Virginia the offense of adultery is still a crime but in The District of Columbia repealed the criminal penalty of adultery in 2003. Many other states have “decriminalized” adultery. I find that term “decriminalized” to be tongue in cheek because virtually no one was prosecuted in the first place.

In Maryland adultery is defined as a married person having sex with someone who is not his/her spouse. It is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $10. In states such as Maryland where adultery is a “crime” it works a bittersweet effect upon the perpetrator. Irrespective of the reality that virtually no one is prosecuted for the crime, it remains a crime none the less. A person who is believed to have committed adultery may therefore “plead the 5th”. (I don’t think that was contemplated by our founding fathers.)

This often makes for a ridiculous game of cat and mouse where the cheater invokes his/her 5th Amendment right to be free from self incrimination and not required to answer. A few thousand dollars later, that trick is eventually trumped but not until the offending spouse has ruled out any doubt in the judge’s mind that he/she is morally, as well as financially, bankrupt.

I have handled 17 years worth of divorce cases yet rarely has my client needed to show “through the peephole” type evidence in the face of a cheater’s claim of innocence. The truth is that a contested divorce takes months even years. At some point, the cheater just “comes clean” to get the divorce over and done with. Even more common, the parties having been separated by the turmoil just get a divorce based on separation. Sometimes getting a divorce is the only thing they can agree upon.

Timothy Conlon, Esquire for The Custody Place.

Divorce Attorneys in Frederick Maryland

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Adultery Has Been Historically Defined As a Sin, A Crime Or Both

The famous “Kinsey Study on Sexuality” compiled evidence between 1938-1963 sampling over five thousand couples. The Study concluded that 50% of all men and 26%of all women had extramarital sexual encounters. I don’t think those numbers are going down anytime soon.  In spite of those statistics, virtually all religions and cultures threaten punishment, excommunication and even death.The Sixth of the Ten Commandments for Christians and Jews expressly names adultery and puts it right up there with killing.

The majority of religions of the world all forbid adultery with varying definitions and punishments.  Nevertheless, the secular reasoning behind the offense of adultery was not to protect the chastity of a married woman. It is widely held that the offending character of adultery was that it corrupted the purity of a husband’s “line” hence the term adultery from the term “adulterate”(v): to corrupt or spoil.

The first reported punishment for adultery was in 324 B.C. and, in an ironic twist, the offending prince was sentenced to sodomy. In 18 BC Roman Emperor Augustus intended to elevate the moral order of Rome in the eyes of the people. He therefore enacted Lex Julia de Maritandis Omnibus. Fathers were permitted to kill offending daughters and likewise husbands could kill offending wives.

In modern American culture many view the Christian Right as unwavering in opposition to what they view as aberrant sexual behavior. It is therefore ironic that the Christian Roman Emperor Constantine repealed the adultery codes of Augustus as cruel.

In Islamic Shariah Law a married person guilty of adultery is subject to death by stoning and an unmarried person is subject to 100 lashes. In case you were concerned that death by stoning was too easy on the offending spouse, the law describes the specific size of the rocks to be used lest they be too small to do real damage, or too large lest they render the victim unconscious and abbreviate his mortal suffering.

With respect to the treatment of any unmarried “home wreckers” nations, religions and cultures part ways.  Some punish only the married person and others extend punishment to the unmarried offender. The Chinese Legal Code (Republic of China) as of 11/30/11 says adultery is a crime punishable by not more than one year in jail and the married and the unmarried persons are both subject to punishment.

Adultery is a criminal offense in the US military.  The Uniform Code of Military Justice forbids adultery under the “general Article” regarding misconduct. If an unmarried soldier is involved he/she can also be subject to penalty. In India, as of August 2003, only the man who commits the adultery may be prosecuted.  However, before you cheer for their tolerance,  you should know it is because a woman is held to be something less culpable almost like a child might be.

Finally in Maryland it is a crime only for the married participant.

Timothy Conlon, Esquire for The Custody Place.

Divorce Attorneys in Frederick Maryland

The post Adultery in Frederick Maryland, A Brief History – Sin, Crime Or Both - appeared first on Child Custody Lawyer Frederick Md.

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