Motorcycles can be dangerous , and motorcycle accidents near Severn often result in serious personal injuries. If you are injured in a motorcycle accident, seek immediate medical care and contact an experienced accident attorney.

If it is safe to do so, you should collect all contact and insurance information from the other driver. Be sure to write down the make, model, and license plate number of his or her vehicle. Car accident lawyers also advise victims of motorcycle accidents to take pictures of the scene, if possible. That way, you will have accurate documentation of what happened, and your attorney can use the photos in court. Additionally, make sure to write down any names and phone numbers of witnesses on the scene. Finally, keep records of all expenses that result from the accident, including rental charges for another car, medical visits and medications, and repairs.

Over the past few decades, divorce lawyers in Severn have increasingly been asked to arrange prenuptial agreements before a couple legally weds. A prenuptial agreement is a contract drawn up by a family law attorney that agrees to divide property and assets in a specific way if spouses divorce. A prenuptial agreement generally lists each person’s property and debts and specifies his or her property rights after the marriage. Continue reading to find out why family property, individual debts can be included, while child custody and personal matters must be left out.

Family Property

Family property, including future inheritances, can be included in a prenuptial arrangement. For example, some couples have individual children from previous marriages to whom they prefer to leave their property.

Individual Debts

A prenuptial agreement can mandate that each spouse is protected from the other’s debts in case of divorce. For example, if one spouse runs up excessive credit card debt, the other will not be jointly responsible after the couple splits. As your divorce lawyer will warn, failing to include such a provision means you may be liable for any debts your spouse incurs, even if you decide to divorce.

Child Custody

No matter how good your family law attorney is, he or she is prohibited from including child custody terms in any potential prenup. The court has the final say in determining issues of child support and child custody. If a couple divorces, a judge weighs several factors to determine the child’s best interest. As the court reasons, unfit parents could otherwise unfairly bind their children to their choices, even if the child would be better served with a different guardian.

Personal Matters

Divorce attorneys are sometimes asked if a prenuptial agreement can divide chores, specify where to spend holidays, or mandate that one spouse takes the others name. Prenuptial agreements are designed to address purely financial issues. When judges see private matters in contracts, they tend to view such provisions as frivolous—and non-binding.

Family law is a complex area, which is why even an amicable divorce requires assistance from experienced divorce lawyers in Severn. As your divorce lawyer will explain, Maryland law requires the spouse seeking a divorce to prove that he or she has legal grounds for doing so. Continue reading to learn more about potential grounds for divorce, including separation, mutual consent, adultery, and desertion.

Yearlong Separation

12-month separation is considered a “no-fault” ground for divorce. To file for divorce in this ground, you and your divorce lawyer must show that your former spouse has lived separately and apart from you for at least one full year. Former spouses must not have lived under the same roof or had sexual relations for 12 months. Additionally, the 12 months must run consecutively.

Mutual Consent

Mutual consent is another ground for no-fault divorce. As of October 2015, a judge can grant two spouses a divorce with no waiting period if the parties have no children in common, submit a written agreement resolving all issues of alimony and property division, and appear before the court at the divorce hearing. No spouse’s family lawyer can file paperwork to set aside the settlement agreement before this hearing.

Adultery

Adultery is ground for fault divorce. If a party claims and proves that his or her former spouse had voluntary sexual intercourse with someone else during their marriage, the court will grant an immediate divorce. To prove adultery, you need not prove actual intercourse but must show that the offender had the disposition and opportunity for adultery. As your divorce lawyers will explain, you must prove both factors in order to prevail on a claim for adultery.

Desertion

Desertion is another fault ground for divorce. Generally, a deserting spouse has abandoned the marital home without justification. However, if the person has a justifiable reason for leaving, that individual will be considered the deserted spouse. To prove desertion, the spouse seeking a divorce must prove that the deserting spouse intended to leave the marriage.

If your former spouse has violated a child custody order, you need child support enforcement serving Severn . Child custody lawyers can demand the return of your child.

When a custody order is violated, family law requires the lawful custodian of the children to file an official demand for the child’s return. If the abducting parent remains within the state with the children, he or she may be charged with a criminal misdemeanor. A conviction can result in a $25 fine and imprisonment for up to 30 days. If your ex leaves the state with your children, the best child custody lawyer will push for the offender to be brought up on felony charges. If convicted, your ex can be imprisoned for up to one year. If you believe your ex has truly kidnapped your children, contact the police before seeking child custody help from an attorney.

Child support enforcement serving Severn protects a child’s right to be financially cared for by his or her parents. As your family law attorney will explain, only a child can waive his or her right to child support.

Child support enforcement mandates that each parent abides by his or her legal obligations to financially provide for a child’s well-being. However, family law is not designed to unfairly burden one parent. If a parent chooses not to collect child support from his or her former spouse, he or she may only be entitled to a certain amount of retroactive child support. In most cases, a parent who does not seek or accept money from his or her ex can only ask the court to collect unpaid child support for the past couple of years.

As child custody lawyers near Severn and their clients know, divorce involves major changes for former spouses and their children. If you and your spouse have made the difficult decision to separate, it is essential to find an experienced family law attorney who can explain your legal rights and fight for the best interests of your children. There are many different kinds of child custody arrangements. Continue reading to find out answers to common child custody questions.

What Factors Does the Court Use to Determine Custody?

Custody of children is determined according to the “child’s best interest” standard. That means the court will consider a variety of factors when determining child custody. For example, a judge will analyze a child’s level of mental, emotional, and social development. The judge will also consider how involved each parent has been in the child’s upbringing, any history of domestic or child abuse, and each parent’s geographic location. The court will also weigh the child’s preference for living arrangements.

What Is Shared Custody?

In family law, shared custody refers to any arrangement where both parents have some responsibility for raising the child. Shared custody can be divided as joint custody, which means both parents share legal and physical child custody. Both parents will make decisions for the children and spend equal time with them. Shared custody may also entail split custody. With split custody, each parent assumes responsibility for some of the children.

What Is Sole Custody?

In sole custody, one parent assumes all or almost all of a child’s care after a divorce. A parent who is granted sole custody generally makes all decisions relating to the child, and the child lives with that parent. However, a non-custodial parent may still be responsible for paying child support. Any child support enforcement issues will be handled by the court and usually with the assistance of family court lawyers.

In a divorce proceeding, the best interests of any involved children take center stage. When you consult divorce lawyers in Severn, you can expect them to explain the types of child custody and visitation arrangements available in Maryland. Your child custody lawyers will likely point out that the court’s primary concern is determining the best interests of the children. Maryland  family law does not limit the court to any particular factors when assessing a child’s best interests; rather, family court judges are instructed to evaluate the totality of circumstances.

Legal and Physical Custody

Your divorce lawyers can help you understand the differences between legal and physical custody. Physical custody refers to the residency of the children. If the father has physical custody of the children, he is said to be the custodial parent and the children live with him. In this situation, the mother is the noncustodial parent. Legal custody refers to the parental right and responsibility to make major decisions on behalf of the children. These decisions include matters pertaining to healthcare, education, religion, and extracurricular activities.

Sole, Joint, and Split Custody

Legal and physical custody may be awarded on a sole, joint, or split basis. Sole custody means that only one parent has physical and legal custody of the child. Parents who share joint physical custody both have significant and ongoing access to the child, but for practical reasons, the child still typically spends the majority of his or her time with one parent. Parents who share joint legal custody must work together to make decisions that are in the child’s best interests. In cases in which there are two or more children, a split custody arrangement may be established. In this situation, one or more of the children will reside with one parent, while the other parent has physical custody of at least one other child.

Denied, Supervised, and Regular Visitation

Inform your family law attorney if circumstances are present that might lead the judge to consider denying the other parent visitation. The court may deny a parent visitation if visitation will place the child in an unsafe situation. However, denied visitation is usually temporary until the situation is resolved. Supervised visitation occurs in a neutral location. Staff monitor visitation between parent and child. If supervision isn’t denied or supervised, the visitation schedule will specify where the child will be on school days, weekends, and vacations.

An estate planning attorney near Glen Burnie can draft important legal documents, including living wills. A living will is also known as an advance care directive or a directive to physicians. As your car accident lawyer can explain to you, this document ensures that your healthcare preferences will be honored. This document goes into effect in the event that you fall into a coma or otherwise become incapacitated. To draft a living will, your car accident lawyer will ask you some questions about your healthcare preferences, such as what type of life support you wish to sustain you, if any. Many people instruct car accident lawyers to specify that palliative care be administered whenever necessary, but that lifesaving measures are avoided in certain circumstances. Palliative care is intended to ease discomfort.

It’s common for an estate planning attorney to draft a document known as durable power of attorney at the same time as a living will. This document designates a specific person to serve as your healthcare proxy. In other words, this person is responsible for making end-of-life medical decisions in accordance with the preferences stated in your living will.