Rockville Maryland Family Law Blog

When a Maryland couple chooses to get a divorce, it can have both emotional and financial ramifications. Increasingly, those who are going through the end of a marriage are consulting financial planners as well as attorneys. This is because few people want a divorce to result in additional debt that could be avoided by opting for collaboration as opposed to litigation. Generally speaking, a divorce costs anywhere from $1,500 to $15,000.

Whatever a person chooses to do, it is important to think through that decision carefully. Accepting a settlement too early in the process could result in a deal that isn't in an individual's favor. When contemplating a deal, former spouses should be sure to think about more than just keeping the home or keeping a car. Individuals should also consider how insurance policies and other assets will be divided. How these policies are accounted for could have an impact on a couple's children as well.

Many Maryland parents considering divorce may find that dealing with child custody can be the most difficult part of separating. While both parents may love their children deeply, ending the marital relationship could mean less family time. By developing a custody agreement that works for everyone, divorcing families can establish stability.

Many family courts prefer various forms of joint custody in cases where there is no neglect or abuse. When going through a divorce, it's important for parents to understand the difference between joint legal and physical custody. Joint legal custody means that both parents have the right to make big choices about education, religion and health care for the child. However, it does not necessarily mean that they share equal physical time with the child. A court may grant joint legal child custody while still deciding that one parent should have primary physical custody and the other visitation time.

When people in Maryland make the decision to divorce, one of the most complex aspects of ending the marriage is often resolving child custody issues. While the parents' romantic relationship is over, it is often very difficult for both the parents and the children to move from full-time presence with one another to shared time between homes. Each parent may have differing views on how exactly child custody time should be split. This can be accentuated during a contentious divorce, and it is possible for the relationship between parents and children to suffer as a result.

This is one reason why many couples find divorce mediation to be a promising framework when dealing specifically with child custody issues. Mediation involves both parents and their lawyers working together to develop a parenting plan that will set the framework for their co-parenting relationship after the divorce. The goal of both parents is to achieve the best outcome for their children and to come to shared understandings about how they can work together to achieve that vision.

It may be no surprise that couples in Maryland who eventually decide to divorce are more likely to argue about a range of issues before the end of the marriage. However, one study indicates that arguments over relatively mundane issues like housework and the distribution of chores can be a significant factor in a split, not only fights over issues that more immediately indicate a serious clash of values, such as finances and parenting.

In a report issued by Harvard Business School, researchers noted that a high level of reported arguments about cleaning in the house could be an indicator of future divorce. There were 3,000 couples interviewed for the survey, and the researchers found that 25 percent of divorcing couples noted that housework disagreements were a primary factor in the split. The study also noted that when couples had funds to resolve the issue by hiring a cleaning service, they were more likely to save their marriage. The issue may not simply be cleaning, of course; people with higher incomes are less likely to face stress-inducing financial crises.