Dealing With The Sale Of The Marital Home

A frequent problem in divorce cases is that the parties are unable to agree on what to do with their house after the divorce is over. The Maryland law dislikes keeping unmarried persons as co owners to real property after a divorce. The solution is reached sometimes by agreement, and other times by court order.

As with virtually everything else in a divorce, an agreement is the best way to go. In an agreement resolving issues of the marital home usually one spouse purchases the interest of the other. This is usually accomplished by both spouses taking the appraised value, minus the mortgage and splitting that equity.  Some can refinance.

Another solution sale of  the property to someone other than spouses. In such an event with a traditional sale, the home is placed on the market, real estate agents charge 6 percent, and the parties sell to a third party keeping whatever profits there are, after the mortgage and other closing costs are paid . As is so often the case on the issues contained in a divorce, there maybe no agreement as to how to dispose of the home.  What happens then?

When the parties are unable to agree what to do with the house, the court orders a trustee.  The trustee is essentially the new court appointed owner.of the property.  He has the powers of an owner.  He can make repairs to the property, determine who comes and goes from the property and to sell or dispose of the property anyway he believes would bring the highest and best gross proceeds to the sale.  That trustee is also paid a commission.

This brings us back to the beginning and my recommendation that people reach agreements on their homes. Imagine the following scenario:  Two divorced parties are lucky enough to have a modest 75k of equity in their 500k home, despite the current economic times.

They are not able to reach an agreement on who has the house or how to sell the house. A trustee is appointed who gets 5% off the top.  There goes 25k. The trustee appoints a realtor who gets 6%.  There goes 30k.  Then there is the appraisal....the closing costs...a small repair...and thats it zero!!

The Custody Place

19 North Court St Frederick Maryland 21701

301 865-1101

Why Do Women Get Custody More Often Than Men?

Divorce and Custody Lawyers Answer Questions

How Lawyers and Judges Determine Custody in Frederick, Maryland

In "Don't Women Always Get Custody?" we said that women get custody much more often than men, But, I have contradicted that and said that judges don’t favor one gender over the other. What gives? First, parents are greater than the sum of their gender. Second, just being a good or even a great parent does not make the same person an equally good litigant and/or witness.

As a Frederick custody and divorce lawyer I have observed that parents with time for the children have a distinct advantage. Even in the modern world, there are more stay at home moms than stay at home dads so, that accounts for some of the advantage. Status as a “primary caregiver” does get favorable treatment. Even in the modern world, women more commonly work on a schedule that is conducive to parenting; eg. getting home and picking the kids up before dinner. Men work longer hours outside the home on average and that accounts for a great deal of the disparity between fathers and mothers winning custody.

There are also certain occupations which lend themselves to custody. These are occupations where the parent works only while the children are at school or sleeping. For example, nurses often work from 7p.m. to 7a.m. three days of the week. Teachers are at work while the children are at school and off work when they are not. Those occupations traditionally employ a greater percentage of women than men. Once again accounting for some of the disproportionality.

As a Frederick custody and divorce lawyer,I find women can be better litigants than men in custody cases. They tend to create more witnesses and wider networks such as play dates, volunteering at school etc. In part because of the time advantages stated above. In part because women talk about their children at work more than men. In contrast men’s co-workers and casual friends may not know they have children at all. How can you get a co-worker to testify on your behalf at a custody hearing, if he/she does not know you have kids?

Women tend to keep better ”custody type” records than men. In particular calendars showing when the other parent was late, when the child(ren) were sick, what clothing did or did not come home with the kids, when the homework was or wasn’t done etc. Calendars are so important, that I give every new Custody Place client , father or mother, a pocket daytimer for the express purpose of keeping child centered daily notes. I get them back filled in by more women than men.

Is there something about women that makes them keep such journals more often than men? Maybe keeping diaries as little girls? I claim no answer. As a Frederick divorce and custody lawyer, I see that the party with the most time for the children and who gives the better presentation is the one who gets primary custody. To men I say, forewarned is forearmed. Timothy Conlon, Esq. The Custody Place.

Custody Attorneys in Frederick Maryland

The Custody Place

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FREDERICK MARYLAND 21701

Where Do I File For Custody in Frederick Maryland?

As a Frederick custody and divorce lawyer sometimes jurisdiction is a consideration.  When clients come to see a divorce and custody lawyer they  tend to meet him or her in the city or county where they live.  They may take for granted that where you file a divorce or custody case can have a great impact upon the expense and/or the success of the case.

Jurisdiction is a two (2) part legal question that determines if you are in a court that can help you get what you want.  If the court can’t give you a custody or divorce order why bother?

First, does that “type”  of court have authority to order the parents/parties to do “what” the filing parent/party wants.to have done eg. the granting of a divorce.   For example, the small claims court cannot hear a custody case.  In Maryland our “Circuit Courts”decide all questions of “family” law including divorces, custody and child support.  This is called ”jurisdiction over the subject matter” eg. custody.  So we can conclude that if Maryland is the place, Circuit Court is the court.

Second, does the court have authority over these persons?  That is called “jurisdiction over the person.”   For example, if a person has never been to Frederick Maryland a party cannot just move to Maryland and file for divorce when they get there. With notable exceptions the person filing for divorce needs to have lived in Maryland twelve (12) months before they can file for divorce in Maryland.

In custody cases the court also  has  to have jurisdiction over the child.  Jurisdiction over child(ren) is an EXTREMELY delicate and intricate legal question that can’t be answered in this article.  Contact a custody lawyer who should be able to answer that question.

Timothy Conlon, Esquire for The Custody Place.

The Custody Place

  OUR PHONES ARE ANSWERED 24/7

CALL US NOW AT

301-865-1101

19 NORTH COURT STREET

FREDERICK MARYLAND 21701

Maryland Statewide Child Support Increase

The Tax Free Child Support Stimulus

Early History Of Child Support

The responsibility of Maryland parents to pay child support goes back to the Constitutional adoption of English Common Law in 1776. In those days fathers were usually granted custody because the children were a kind of property. That’s why a husband’s name was upon each of the children even after divorce but in contrast, the wife in those days was barred from keeping the husband’s name.

With our Constitutional adoption of English “Common law” came the whole bailiwick of English policies on divorce and child support. It also came with such out of fashion ideas as permitting a husband to beat his wife and children, so long as the stick was no wider than his thumb (hence “Rule of Thumb”). But hey, we were building a country here and the child support groundwork was laid. So let’s go to the 1920's through 1989.

Child Support Before October 1, 2010

In 1920 the Maryland Legislature adopted a law that said the Courts could order a parent to pay child support even if the parties had never been married. Bare in mind children born out of wedlock were previously referred to with a very unflattering term and had no rights. In 1951 the Courts determined that support was a joint obligation no matter which parent got the children. The Courts also mandated that a party entitled to child support could get the award retroactively from the date of the filing, not just from the hearing date forward. (A rule that remains true even today)

In 1990 the Maryland legislature decided to take the guesswork out of child support and finally gave us all the “Maryland Child Support Guidelines.” Keep in mind these are the MARYLAND guidelines. Some states compute child support “per capita” by the head count of the subject children and some by a raw computation of the payer’s income e.g. Fifteen percent for one child, twenty five percent for two and so on...

In contrast to the above, the Maryland Guidelines approach follows the principle of an “Income Shares Model.” The Income Shares Model is a warm fuzzy ideal that takes the separate parents’ incomes and puts them together to construct the income of an artificially intact household. Then a minimum amount that this artificial household should spend on the children, at each respective level of income, is pulled from a list or “schedule” this is called the “basic support amount.” The percentage that the non-custodial parent brings into the artificial household total is multiplied against the basic support amount and (shazam) child support.

Let me illustrate: If a Father and Mother each make $1,500 per month for a total income of $3000 to the artificial household the amount from the schedule might be $300 per month for a single child. In such an example the non-custodial parent would pay to the other parent $150 representing ½ of the $300 basic child support amount taken from the schedule.

If the non-custodial parent’s income were $2000 per month and the custodial parent $1,000 per month, the non-custodial parent would pay $200 representing 2/3rds of the basic child support amount of $300 taken from the schedule.

Generally, that is the way it is all figured out. Other various debits and credits can apply so contact a lawyer. Nevertheless, the schedule or base figure remained the same for two decades without an increase or change.  NOT ANYMORE!

The Child Support Stimulus

As of October 1, 2010 Maryland has NEW child support Guidelines. These new guidelines don’t change the way that child support is computed, they change that base figure from the list or “schedule.” Like it or not, it’s giving payee parents a raise. The guidelines are higher in each respective income level.

This represents a TAX FREE raise of $2,316 per year for the average Frederick County Household before adjustments! Whether you pay or receive child support, get a free consultation with someone who knows about these changes and how they can effect you.

Custody Attorneys in Frederick Maryland

The Custody Place

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OUR PHONES ARE ANSWERED 24/7

From Child Custody Attorneys for Frederick County Maryland

CALL US NOW AT

301-865-1101

19 NORTH COURT STREET
FREDERICK MARYLAND 21701