Maryland Divorce and Children’s College Expenses

College Expenses in Divorce Cases

Every divorce agreement is a little different.  The longer marriages usually involve a longer divorce agreement.

Frequently when parents are involved in a divorce with adult, or near adult, children they wish to include provisions for those children in their divorce agreements.  I strongly advise my clients to leave adult or near adult children out of their divorce agreements but some, nevertheless, desire to include provisions for them in the divorce.

I remind you again of my general advice against such agreements.  Where parties do insist upon such provisions I will point out some potential pitfalls and advise minutes.  Also, the context of this article is limited to agreements because the Maryland divorce and custody courts cannot order college savings or special expenses for emancipated children.

Provisions for such children in divorce agreements range a great deal from case to case. In some cases it may be as simple as a provision similar to a will. For example, a directive that the eldest daughter get grandmother’s china and/or a particular son gets a pocket watch  or shotgun etc...  In most cases, where the parents include these types of provisions it generally deals with either an automobile or money for college.

With respect to automobiles, if parents must buy the children an automobile in the terms of their divorce I strongly advise it be purchased outright. As a general rule, maintaining any recurring obligations between divorced parties is a recipe for friction and potential disaster. One must also bear in mind which parent will cover the vehicle under his/her insurance.  A separate policy for teenagers is nearly never something people can afford.

With respect to college savings or college funds parents must keep a few things in mind.   First, including such provisions in their divorce can have a ripple effect upon their children’s eligibility for college financial aid and any potential tax implications.

College financial aid offices are being worked over pretty hard in this economy.  They want the income of parents AND stepparents as well as a declaration of assets for college.  Parents who insist on including college obligations in their divorce agreements generally want the funds in the student’s name.  If there is such an account, or a proviso regarding college, the school may not give as much financial aid.

Second, be careful that your child(ren) are not “3rd party beneficiaries” by being in the divorce agreement.  In a similar way you want have language that constrains the student to remain on task.  For example, a provision that the grades have to be a C+ or better and that the degree be obtained four years etc….

Lastly, you are going to want to set a ceiling for these expenses.  It’s customary to have language that says “the parents’ contribution will be defined as the expense for in state tuition at the University of Maryland…”  In my opinion the parents are either going to work together on something like this or they are not.  Yet, every case and circumstance is different.

Tim Conlon, Esquire for The Custody Place

From Child Custody Attorneys for Frederick County Maryland

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Frederick County Family Court Postponements

Justice delayed is justice denied. 

When people talk to me about court postponements, I always think about that expression about cops. 
It goes something like "when you want one you can't get one, but when you don't want one you can get rid of them."  

No disrespect to cops because I find that pens are the equivalent in my life and I curse them whenever I a scrambling to write something down but can't find anything to write with.  Postponements are like that. 

The likelihood that you will get a postponement often seems to be inversely proportional to how much you want one.  That is really no joke, because many Frederick lawyers will act accordingly and feign not wanting a postponement in the hopes they will therefore get one.

All kidding aside, many things can cause your case to be postponed and lately most have nothing to do with you, or your lawyer.

Of late the Frederick County Family Court has experienced at least five snow days, two holidays and and a bomb scare in about 7 weeks.  

Apart from raining frogs, that is as much as this court has ever seen.  As such, this means about 20% of the January and February case were just outright cancelled.  That means the court docket will be at 120% of capacity until that stabilizes.

The court has internal deadlines called “differentiated case management.”  Those deadlines mean that of the 120% of the cases scheduled to be completed many NEED to be completed.  Yet those standards do not apply to custody visitation or child support modifications.

Therefore, when presented with 2 cases set for the same day and one has an approaching deadline of completion per Annapolis, the one that does not have a deadline is gonna get bumped.  Simple.

The result is that child custody, visitation and child support modifications in Frederick are going to be running on a good chance of at least one postponement.  This condition will continue into the early summer by my guess, but should abate as the year rolls on.



Tim Conlon, Esquire for The Custody Place

OUR PHONES ARE ANSWERED 24/7

CALL US NOW AT 301-865-1101

The Custody Place

Ice and Snow Closing Frederick County Courthouse

It is surreal today, in a pretty way, at the Frederick Courthouse.  That is a marked departure from the usual surrealism of a courthouse.  The ice and rain which appeared overnight have frozen on the branches of the trees and everything else.

Snow closings are plaguing the divorce and custody courts in Frederick and the rest of Maryland this year.  I cannot remember a year when the courts were closed more often than this season. 

Of particular note is the closings have occurred sometimes several days in a given week.  The court offices just begin to figure out how to jockey the cases around when BAM it is another closing.  This week the courts were closed Monday and Wednesday of the same week.

From 2014-02-09

If you want to appreciate the impact of this situation think about this.  With some variation the life of a divorce or custody case in Maryland starts 1st the  “Initial conference.”  The initial conference takes about 2-10 minutes once they call your case.  The sole purpose of the initial conference is to select the other dates in your case including dates for the final hearing.

When your lawyer appears for that initial conference the dates which the court offers are usually months away at best.  Yet because the initial conferences don’t take a long time they are scheduled 10-25 at a pop.  So if the court is closed on a date when they had scheduled  25 cases to set court dates and there are 2 courtrooms doing initial conferences that is 50 cases.

That means 50 cases are going to have a rescheduled initial conference and each one has at least 2 people involved. Those cancelled initial conferences will be re-set after the already scheduled initial conferences so the “new initial conference will be at least a month.  So will ALL the court dates the court offers for the case. 

Enjoy the day with your kids and admire the icy wonderment.  The hangover will last at least one month for 100 people who just want it to all be over:(

The Custody Place

19 North Court Street Frederick Maryland 21701

301 865-1101