Maryland Divorce Blog

As many parents in Maryland are well aware, the cost of college tuition is continuing to skyrocket in this country. As a result, many parents these days begin putting away money for their children's college education when the bright, promising scholars are still in diapers. Putting away money for college is difficult for many families, and when couples choose to divorce and finances and relationships are strained, this can become nearly impossible.

However, it is feasible for many families to continue to build a college savings account during and after divorce and parents who have this priority should make a point of bringing up this topic with their family law attorneys.

One of the most complicated steps of the divorce process here in Maryland is dividing assets and liabilities. Maryland law requires that all marital property must be divided fair and equitably, and while that seems simple enough it is rarely as easy as splitting each asset into two. The process can be even more difficult when the couple has complex or high-value assets--such as business stakes, stock portfolios, art collections, etc. And, unfortunately, hidden assets and fraud can be a problem in the divorces of those with high-net worths as well as those of more modest means.

A potential example of this is currently playing out in the news media, which is continuing to cover the ongoing property division disputes of Frank and Jamie McCourt. The couple married in 1979 and Frank McCourt purchased the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2004. Although their divorce was settled in early 2012, Jamie McCourt is now accusing her ex-husband of fraud for low-balling the value of the Dodgers in order to cheat her out of a fair divorce settlement.

When people have their parental rights terminated in Maryland, grandparents often step in to raise their grandchildren. However, Maryland's laws do not automatically award child custody to grandparents when it has been revoked from parents. In fact, the law does not afford a preference to grandparents over non-relatives. The court instead attempts to determine the child's best interests in order to award custody.

In a recent controversial case that took place in Minnesota, the state supreme court awarded custody of two black toddlers to the white family that had fostered them since birth rather than to their biological grandparents. Though race was not considered as a factor in the case, "cultural needs" were reportedly considered. 

Many Maryland residents may be aware of the growing trend of Baby Boomer divorce. From 1990 to 2010, the number of divorces among those 50 and older doubled. In 2010, 25 percent of divorces involved people in that age group. There are a number of factors driving this trend, but what we are going to discuss are some of the unfortunate legal and financial issues people face when they divorce in their 50s and later.

Of course, any divorce involves the complex process of dividing one household into two, and this can result in a tough financial situation for divorcees of any age. For those who are closer to retirement, however, this means that a retirement pool that was designed to fund retirement for couple must now be stretched to fund two separate retirements. It has been estimated that it costs about 30 percent more to retire as two singles rather than as one couple.