Family Law

You may not know Maggie Lena Walker’s name, but her impact on business, finance, and civil rights is undeniable. She was the first Black woman in the United States to charter and serve as president of a bank, and she paved the way for economic empowerment in the African-American community. Maggie Lena Walker was born…

Imagine this – you fall in love with someone, decide to get married, and then are told by the government that your marriage is illegal. That was the reality for Richard and Mildred Loving. However, this brave couple decided to fight back, and as a result of their determination, the Supreme Court made one of…

When talking about family law, we typically focus on topics like divorce, child custody, and parental rights. However, family law is really about protecting children and working to make sure they have the best future possible. Few individuals have done more to shape how we protect and advocate for children than Marian Wright Edelman –…

If you’re facing threats, harassment, or violence, you may wonder how you can protect yourself. In Maryland, a restraining order is one tool that may help keep someone away from you if your safety is at risk. By learning the process of securing a restraining order, you’ll be able to take the next step to…

After President-Elect Donald Trump won the election, some of our LGBTQ+ clients expressed concerns about their rights. Will marriage equality be overturned? Will I lose custody of my child? What will happen to my family if my partner gets sick or dies? These are valid questions. Today, we’ll address some of these concerns and provide…

Living with someone who has borderline personality disorder (BPD) can feel confusing and cause anxiety. It often leads to rifts in personal relationships and even poses problems maintaining employment, leading to further turbulence due to financial woes. Understanding BPD will go a long way in determining whether your marriage can go the distance and help…

Many people in Maryland have a difficult time understanding custody arrangements. As Fulton family law attorneys, we often get questions about 50/50 custody and other types of custody arrangements. Our goal is to help you better understand and obtain the right information to make well-informed decisions regarding your unique circumstances and your child’s best interests.…

Most custody cases involve disputes and disagreements between a child’s biological parents. However, from time to time, a custody case may involve stepparents, who are typically known as third parties or de facto parents in Maryland. While more cases involving stepparents are emerging in Columbia and other parts of the state, these cases are often…

Historically, custody and visitation rights heavily favored mothers, often based on the outdated notion that mothers were naturally better caregivers. However, legal perspectives have finally evolved, recognizing that fathers play an essential and irreplaceable role in the upbringing of their children. Modern family law emphasizes the child’s best interests, considering factors such as emotional ties,…

The Appellate Court of Maryland recently made a significant ruling regarding de facto parenting and exceptional circumstances in custody cases. The court clarified that an individual involved in a child’s upbringing cannot be considered a de facto parent unless both legal parents consented to and fostered the parent-like relationship. However, custody can still be transferred…

When couples are in the process of divorce, one of the first issues that arises is dividing assets. Most couples tend to concentrate solely on the big things in their lives, such as their finances, properties, businesses, and more. However, there are many other valuable items that accumulate during a marriage that many people do…

When we think of marriage, we are likely to think of love first. Then perhaps we think of friendship, attraction, stability, and so on. Romance. These factors all come into play when we are considering marrying someone. While these are important, marriage is not just a romantic celebration, but often a legally binding contract as…

The ongoing legal battle between actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard attracted a lot of attention, particularly as the case played out on live television and across the internet. However, months after the jury handed down their verdict in the defamation trial, evidence was unsealed that had never been presented to the jury. After reviewing…

When the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) undid 50 years of precedent by overturning Roe v. Wade, advocates scrambled to find ways to protect reproductive rights. Admittedly – and rightfully – most of the conversation focused on abortion. After all, the opinion by Justice Alito said the ruling only applied to abortion. But…

As Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s divorce continues to play out in the public eye, West recently posted (and deleted) on his Instagram, expressing displeasure that Kardashian allows their daughter, North, on social media, TikTok in particular. West both accused Kardashian of creating the joint TikTok account to antagonize him and that North was being…

A divorce is an emotional and stressful process, to say the least. It is not just the two marriage partners who are impacted by a divorce. Children, extended family members, and friends of the spouses may have to come to terms with the dissolution of the marriage. Changes in households and financial responsibilities will have…

A recent article in the New York Times highlighted a new trend in the area of love and marriage – domestic partnerships. Although the idea of domestic partnerships is nothing new, especially in the LGBTQ community pre-marriage equality, a movement toward platonic marriage is yet another way we can look at how we define “family.”…

Family comes in many forms. Increasingly, parenting duties are being shouldered by grandparents – sometimes alone, and sometimes in tandem with birth parents, aunts and uncles, and other family members. All children need love and support, and grandparents have a wealth of that love and support to give. That is why it is important to…

Being a parent is a rough but rewarding path many people choose to take. Even the best of parents may not always see eye to eye with their child’s other parent, or even their child but they have the constitutional right to make decisions they believe are best for their son or daughter at any…

Relationships are complicated, but even more complicated can be making a relationship official by law. We don’t mean that the actual ceremony can be tough to maneuver; we mean that all of “fun” administrative issues that come along with life can become more complicated by legally merging your lives. Part of that complication comes in…