Glen Burnie Family Law Blog

When cradling your newborn, you and your spouse are not likely to think about whether the baby will need braces or eyeglasses further along. Admittedly, dreaming about having children doesn't often focus on the costs of raising them well into adulthood. When divorce intervenes, a Maryland couple may find that child support and all its associated expenses will leap to the forefront and stay there.

The particular circumstances of each divorcing couple will present a wide range of scenarios, depending on the age and needs of the child at the time of divorce. Since children have that uncanny gift of growing like weeds, their needs will evolve and the related expenses will increase accordingly. Moreover, changes in parental lifestyles, incomes, as well as relocation, remarriage or unexpected health issues, will all affect both the payor and recipient of child support payments.

Some things in life just seem to develop a bad reputation. It's true that prenuptial agreements are associated with divorce. Suggesting them is not like deciding where to go on honeymoon or choosing the flower arrangements for the wedding reception. Having premarital conversations about money are usually brief, reticent and uncomfortable. Yet, Maryland family law attorneys can bear witness to the value of prenups -- not just as important divorce documents -- but as mainstays of well-launched marriages.

Couples would do well to engage in such discussions, as a matter of course, before tying the knot. After all, in single life, money is often a pre-eminent concern. Couples about to marry may find that drafting a prenuptial agreement is a liberating experience, dispelling many doubts or misgivings about embarking on a fully shared life. According to experts, holding fragmented, brief and incomplete talks about assets, debts, obligations and the like will likely lead to serious financial problems later on.

One of the largest contentions in a marriage is the handling of finances. However, some individuals must consider their finances before they tie the knot. Individuals of wealth, either self-made or inherited, should consider a prenuptial agreement prior to a marriage. Maryland families of great wealth strongly encourage prenuptial agreements to protect the family's assets as the money is passed down from generation to generation.

As children of affluence reach their late teens and twenties, many parents would have had conversations with them about the idea of a prenup in the event of a potential marriage. It has been advised for parents to begin the conversation early to avoid serious conflict with their child and their potential spouse. Establishing a commonality of a prenup between a parent and child before a potential spouse is introduced to the family will help avoid the portrayal of a negative view towards the child's fiance.  

There can be many reasons someone might consider a divorce. One of the most common reasons is infidelity in a marriage. If the couple shares children, the betrayal may prove to make an amicable split more difficult as the scorned spouse will likely have lost trust in the other parent. Maryland couples heading for divorce after infidelity may be wondering if cheating affects child custody agreements.

Though cheating on a spouse carries a stigma, the court does not consider an unfaithful partner as a bad parent. As long as the spouse does not carry on the extramarital affair in front of the children or introduce them to inappropriate people, the court will likely not consider custody based on the affair. It's not the affair that will affect a child custody agreement, but how the relationships involved in the extramarital affair will affect the children that can play a factor.