Maryland Law and Military Parents

More and more parents serve in the military.  That means that if the relationship between the parents is already troubled, there are far more opportunities to gain leverage in a custody and/or visitation dispute.  My colleague, Judianne Cochran recently published a two-part article with excellent suggestions as a guest of the Ohio Family Law Blog.  You can read her piece here: Suggestions for Military Parents.

Maryland  has gone a step further than some states and has a statute that governs custody and visitation orders for military parents.  You can find it at Md. Fam. Law, Art. sec. 9-108.

The law defines what "deployment" means and what it does not mean.

• It requires specific reference of a parent's deployment.

• It requires specific reference to when a parent's deployment is set to end; and

• It requires a prompt hearing when that occurs.

• It also requires the parent not in the military to "reasonably accommodate" the leave schedule of the military parent.

• To facilitate opportunities for telephone and electronic contact between the military parent and child(ren); and 

• Requires the military to provide timely information about his or her leave schedule to the non-military parent.

If you are in the military and need help with a custody or visitation matter, contact me today to schedule an appointment.  I'd love to serve you.