Blogs from December, 2022

One family law case can be stressful and time-consuming enough, but if you have multiple family law cases pending at the same time, it could be expensive and involve overlapping issues. Understanding how to deal with multiple family law cases can help you limit the cost of asserting your rights, while also making sure you and your children get the best possible outcome in each one.

Why Would You Have Multiple Family Law Cases at Once?

There are many reasons why you could end up facing multiple family law cases at the same time. Remember that family law is an umbrella term. The family court in Maryland hears cases related to:

Our family law attorneys understand how hard it can be to manage multiple family law cases at once. We know how to prioritize the Maryland Family Courts demands, and coordinate different court schedules. We will help you resolve all your family law issues in a way that protects your rights and serves your family’s needs.

• Divorce
• Child custody and visitation
• Child support
• Personal protection actions
• Adoptions

When you file for an absolute judgment of divorce, that complaint can include issues related to child custody, visitation, and child support (as well as spousal support). But if you were never married, or if you or your spouse filed a family law complaint during your period of separation, you could easily end up facing multiple family law cases. For example, there could be a child support action filed based on you or your spouse receiving state financial assistance.

In cases involving domestic violence, you might also have filed or been served with a Peace and Protective Order, shielding the survivor (and his or her children) from further violence by the abuser. This order can also direct custody, visitation, and support as well as award exclusive use of property or firearms. In the most severe cases, there may also be criminal cases pending outside the Maryland family court system that involve facts that are also relevant to a divorce or custody case.

Coordinating Multiple Cases in Maryland Family Court

Since 2016, the Maryland Family Court has had a “one family, one judge” rule. This means that all family law cases relating to the same parties or child will be assigned to the same judge. But sometimes, when a parent has children with multiple partners, or when a family moves and different courts have jurisdiction, you can end up with more than one judge hearing your case. This can create problems because judges may enter orders that conflict with one another (such as requiring a parent to be in two places at once for parenting time exchanges). It can also require you to put forward the same evidence in two courts, increasing the cost and burden of hiring an attorney to represent you in court.

If you have multiple family law cases – or think you could be facing criminal charges – you should lay everything out with your family law attorney at the initial consultation. Your lawyer has ways of coordinating, and in some cases, consolidating multiple family law cases, to reduce your costs and make sure the right issues are resolved in the proper order, given all appropriate evidence.

This is especially important if you are facing criminal charges for behavior that might be raised in your family court case (like drug charges or domestic violence). You have the right not to incriminate yourself in criminal court under the Fifth Amendment of the federal constitution (“pleading the fifth”). But if you do, your refusal to answer questions can sometimes be used against you in family court. Your family law attorney and your criminal defense lawyer should coordinate your cases to allow the criminal case to conclude before you must present evidence or testify in Maryland family court.

How to Handle Multiple Family Law Cases in Your Home

Sometimes your household will have multiple family law cases, even if you personally do not. More Maryland households are made up of blended families with step-parents and half-siblings living together. When each parent has a custody order and parenting time schedule, coordinating everyone’s schedule can get confusing.

Depending on your family dynamic, it may be beneficial to work with your family law attorney to modify one or both custody arrangements to allow half- and step-siblings to spend more time together. In other families, one-on-one time with a parent is more valuable, and a staggered weekend schedule is best. In either case, your family law attorney can help you negotiate adjustments that make it easier for everyone to handle the multiple family law cases in your household.

At the Law Office of Shelly M. Ingram, our family law attorneys know how hard it can be to manage multiple family law cases at once. We know how to prioritize the Maryland Family Courts demands, and coordinate different court schedules. We also have experience working together with criminal attorneys and other lawyers representing our clients in related cases. We will help you resolve all your family law issues in a way that protects your rights and serves your family’s needs. Call us at (240) 652-2596">(240) 652-2596 or contact us online to schedule a consultation with an attorney.

If your budget depends on receiving a monthly alimony payment from your ex-spouse, moving forward with your life can be difficult. When a new romantic relationship starts to get serious, the decisions you make can affect when and how you will stop receiving spousal support. Here’s some information about whether alimony stops if you start living with someone new or get remarried.

How Long Does Alimony Last in Maryland?

Alimony, sometimes called spousal support or spousal maintenance, is not automatic in every Maryland divorce. It is up to the Court to award alimony based on the specific circumstances in your case. (You can read the factors a court considers in awarding alimony here.) You and your former spouse can also agree on an alimony award as part of your separation agreement or marital settlement agreement. Generally, these agreements will be adopted and enforced by Maryland courts.

Alimony can be modified by court order after your judgment of divorce is entered. Even if your alimony award doesn’t include cohabitation language, your ex-spouse may seek to modify alimony based on the fact that you are living with someone new. Our Maryland divorce lawyers know what to do if your ex-spouse tries to modify alimony payments because you start to live with someone else. If you need help protecting your financial security, we invite you to contact us to schedule a confidential consultation with an attorney.

When alimony is awarded:

• On a temporary basis while the divorce is ongoing (Pendente lite alimony)
• For a set period of time after the divorce is final (Rehabilitative alimony)
• On an ongoing basis after the divorce is final (Indefinite alimony)

In each case, the alimony award will specify how much the supporting spouse (the payor) must pay to the dependent spouse (the payee), and how often. For rehabilitative alimony, it will also say for how long (i.e. 12 months or 5 years). You could also agree on a total amount to be paid over a set period of time.

Reasons Spousal Support Can End

Under Maryland law, alimony generally ends one of five ways:

• The payor pays off the full amount of alimony awarded
• The term of periodic alimony payments expires
• The payor dies
• The payee gets remarried
• The court find termination of alimony necessary “to avoid a harsh and inequitable result”

You and your spouse can agree to change some of these as part of your separation agreement or divorce negotiations. Others, like the death of the payor, are set by law. But, can you get around the “remarriage” issue just by living with your partner instead of tying the knot?

Will Maryland Cohabitation End Your Alimony Payments?

The Maryland courts have said that alimony orders that end on “the marriage of the recipient” mean that literally. They don’t extend to “marriage-type relationships” like living with a person or cohabiting together. In the Maryland case, Mendelsohn v Mendelson, the court said that termination due to remarriage means “undergoing a ceremony and obtaining a marriage license.” This means, without a legal marriage, your alimony will not stop if you start living with someone new based on remarriage language in your spousal support order.

However, many Maryland divorce attorneys have started adding some extra language to their divorce orders and domestic agreements. In addition to the death of the payor and remarriage of the payee, your prenuptial agreement, post-nuptial agreement, settlement agreement or Judgment of Absolute Divorce may list cohabitation with a romantic partner as a reason to terminate alimony. Read your documents carefully, and talk to your divorce attorney if you are unsure if this applies to you.

In Gordon v Gordon, the parties agreed that the wife’s alimony “shall also terminate in the event the Wife resides with an unrelated man without the benefit of marriage for a period continuing for beyond sixty (60) consecutive days.” The Maryland Court of Appeals said that language was enforceable, but applied a more definite term of “cohabitation” than merely maintaining a sexual relationship or living with someone new after the marriage ended. The Court defined cohabitation as a “mutual assumption of the duties and obligations associated with marriage” including:

• Living together
• Maintaining a long-term romantic relationship
• Shared assets or bank accounts
• Joint contribution to household expenses
• Public acknowledgment of the relationship

This means that if you start living with someone new, your ex-spouse will have to do more than show a copy of your lease to prove that your alimony should be terminated.

Can My Ex Modify Spousal Support Due to Cohabitation?

Notice that alimony can be modified by court order after your judgment of divorce is entered. Even if your alimony award doesn’t include cohabitation language, your ex-spouse may seek to modify alimony based on the fact that you are living with someone new, often arguing that your expenses are lower because you are sharing them with someone else. In these cases, merely living together won’t be enough to modify your spousal support award. Instead, your ex-spouse will need to prove that both parties’ financial situations make it necessary to modify the existing alimony payments to avoid a “harsh and inequitable result.”

At the Law Office of Shelly M. Ingram, our Maryland divorce lawyers know how important consistent alimony payments can be for the future of our clients. We know when and how alimony will end, and what to do if your ex-spouse tries to modify alimony payments because you start to live with someone else. If you need help protecting your financial security, call us at (240) 652-2596">(240) 652-2596 or contact us online to schedule a confidential consultation with an attorney.