Posted on November 30, 2012 in Family Law

As we explained in our "How to Get Married Guide for Same Sex Couples" blog on November 8, 2012, same sex couples will be permitted to marry in Maryland as of January 1, 2013. However, couples will need to obtain a marriage license from the court prior to doing so, and will have to wait 48 hours before they can act on the license. So the question becomes, when will same-sex couples be eligible to obtain the license, given that January 1 is a court holiday. The Attorney General, Doug Gansler released on 19 page opinion on Thursday, November 29, 2012 as reported by WJZ. Attorney Gansler states that the "court clerks may begin issuing marriage licenses after the law is formally proclaimed to have been approved by the voters" on December 6, 2012. However, Attorney Gansler cautions that the clerk could choose not to issue the licenses until January 2, 2013.

For more information, contact Monica Scherer, Esq. at 410-625-4740

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 Posted on November 29, 2012 in Family Law

Baltimore will soon be the home to a supervised visitation center according to CBS Baltimore’s report on November 27, 2012. The Safe Havens center will allow victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, dating violence or child abuse to have parent-child contact in the presence of a third-party supervisor. The opening of the Center is critical as many courts in the area have recently had to close their supervised visitation centers due to lack of funding. The center may be useful to Judges in awarding visitation with a minor child under a protective order to an alleged abuser. As we have previously explained when entering a protective order, a Judge has the authority to establish temporary visitation with a minor child of the alleged abuser and a person eligible for relief on a basis which gives primary consideration to the welfare of the minor child and the safety of any other person eligible for relief.

For more information on Maryland protective orders contact an experienced Maryland attorney.

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 Posted on November 29, 2012 in Divorce

As the Washington Post reports, The Maryland Court of Special Appeals upheld the divorce of Marie-Louise Tshiani and Noel Tshiani, stating that their marriage, where Noel was only present by phone, was valid. When Ms. Tshiani filed for divorce in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, seeking alimony and child support, Mr. Tshiani claimed that he did not know about their marriage. Mr. Tshiani was present for the 1993 ceremony that took place in the Democratic Republic of Congo by way of speaker phone only. He participated by answering questions from another country, but his cousin did stand in his place for the actual ceremony. The Maryland Court of Special Appeals held that this was a valid marriage under state law as Maryland law does not bar the Court “from recognizing a ceremony where on participates by proxy and the ceremony that is valid in another jurisdiction.” The ruling by the Court is especially important as it again confirms that Maryland will recognize a marriage performed elsewhere that would have been otherwise illegal in Maryland.

For more information on Maryland divorce contact an experienced divorce attorney.

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 Posted on November 21, 2012 in Family Law

As we have previously stated the new same sex marriage law will not only allow those in same sex relationship to now marry, but also to divorce, and will affect many other areas of family law. While those in same sex relationships may have been able to obtain a protective order previously, there may be some changes to the process for them.

A protective order can be awarded to only specified individuals, termed "persons eligible for relief." To be a person eligible for relief one must be: the current or former spouse of the respondent; a cohabitant of the respondent; a relative of the respondent by blood, marriage or adoption; or a parent, stepparent, child or stepchild of the respondent or the person eligible for relief who resides or resided with the respondent or person eligible for relief for at least 90 days within 1 year before the filing of the petition Maryland Code, Family Law 4-501. While the same-sex couples did qualify under the cohabitant category previously, they, along with all others alleging to be cohabitants, had to prove they both had a sexual relationship with the respondent and resided in the same home for at least 90 days within one year of filing the petition. This may have required same sex couples to admit to sodomy, which remains a crime in Maryland. Now, those same sex couples who are married will fall under the current or former spouse category and will no longer have to prove the sexual relationship.

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 Posted on November 08, 2012 in Family Law

Effective January 1, 2013 same-sex couples will be allowed to marry in the State of Maryland. So how do they go about doing so? Find our step by step guide below:

1. Prior to obtaining a marriage certificate or making plans for a wedding, consider whether you and your partner will enter into a pre-nuptial agreement. If so, consult with an attorney. Maryland divorce and custody laws may apply if you get divorced, so it is important to know if you have pre-marital or other assets you want/need to protect in the event of divorce.

2. If you have children, consult with an attorney about how your marriage may or may not effect the custody of your child(ren) if you divorce.

3. You need to obtain a marriage license from the Circuit Court in the county in which you plan to get married.

4. You will need to bring identifying information with you to obtain the license and while only one of you will need to be present to obtain the license, you will need the following information for each applicant:

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 Posted on November 07, 2012 in Divorce

Now that the same-sex marriage legislation has been approved by the voters of the State of Maryland, we thought it would be a good idea to re-visit the issues surrounding the children of same-sex couples. If you are a frequent reader of our blogs, you may recall on February 28, 2011 we wrote about the current legal status of those children of same-sex couples. The passage of the same-sex marriage legislation in Maryland does not change the legal status of those children. The passage of the current legislation will, however change the legal status of children adopted or born during the course of the marriage of a same-sex couple.

In the State of Maryland, "a child born or conceived during a marriage is presumed to be the legitimate child of both spouses" in accordance with Section 1-206 of the Estates and Trusts Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland. The Code further states that "a child conceived by artificial insemination of a married woman with the consent of her husband is the legitimate child of both of them for all purposes". It is my belief that it would follow that that those children born or conceived during a same-sex marriage are the legitimate children of both parents, not only the spouse who gave birth to the child.

In the past when a same sex couple adopted a child in the State of Maryland, only one of them actually adopted the child from the agency, country, service, because two people without a legal tie to one another are generally not permitted to adopt a child together. Therefore, only one parent in a same sex unwed relationship is deemed to be the legally recognized parent of the child. It is presently a grey area in our law for same-sex couples who were legally married in another state, but adopted a child in Maryland, whether the adopted child would be legally recognized by the Court as the child of both parents. As of January 1, 2013 when Maryland’s same-sex marriage legislation becomes effective and same-sex couple can marry in our State, children adopted to same-sex married couples will be the children of both parents. Both parents will be on the birth certificate and will be able to make legal decisions for their children.

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 Posted on November 07, 2012 in Family Law

As the Baltimore Sun reports, and most of Maryland has heard, Maryland voters made history on Election Day as they voted to make same-sex marriage legal in our State. As we discussed in our February 24, 2012 blog the Maryland Senate passed the Civil Marriage Protection Act legalizing same-sex marriage in February 2012, but we knew that the decision would ultimately be up to the voters. After months of campaigning, fundraising and controversy over the law, the voters have spoken. Maryland has joined six other states and Washington D.C. in allowing same-sex marriage and is one of only two States to pass same-sex legislation by the popular vote.

As of January 1, 2013, same-sex couples will be permitted to obtain a marriage license from the Court, just as a heterosexual couple would. As of now the current law defining a legal marriage in Maryland, found at Maryland Code Family Law, § 2-201 states "[o]nly a marriage between a man and a woman is valid in this State." As of January 1, 2013 the statute will read "[o]nly a marriage between two individuals who are not otherwise prohibited from marrying is valid in this State."

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 Posted on November 02, 2012 in Divorce

Most of us are covered in case of death, disability, illness, car accident, fire, but what about for divorce? As we are aware divorce can be a lengthy and expensive process and unfortunately the divorce rate in the United States is high. We stumbled across the following website, which promotes “divorce/ marriage insurance.” It was featured in the Huffington Post in April 2012. Basically, the premise is that this insurance will reimburse you your costs of a divorce, including attorney fees, however the insurance will also eventually reward those who stay married. As stated by the Huffington Post, the insurance is not currently available and the website states the following:

WedLock Divorce Insurance was the first insurance product developed by SafeGuard Guaranty. Introduced in 2010 and originally underwritten by a Utah Surplus Lines insurance company, WedLock is not currently available until a new underwriter is found. However, although providing that kind of protection will certainly keep people from falling below the poverty line, we’d like the biggest reward go to those that have the good fortune to stay married and we are currently involved in the development of a product with that in mind.

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 Posted on October 12, 2012 in Medical Malpractice

Johns Hopkins Hospital researchers recently uncovered a startling figure regarding hospital medical malpractice: 40,500 intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients die each year as a result of misdiagnosis, as opposed to life threatening conditions that cannot be treated.

The study, released September 26, 2012, found that patients in the ICU are fifty percent more likely to be misdiagnosed than patients in other parts of a hospital. Further, according to the study, the most common misdiagnosis involves the vascular system, often resulting in heart attack or stroke.

This is an important study because it shows that there is malpractice at many of Maryland’s hospitals. It also shows that even some of the best hospitals in the state, such as Johns Hopkins Hospital or the University of Maryland Medical Center, are still striving to improve quality of care and reduce the incidence of medical malpractice and wrongful death

We handle cases like these all of the time in my practice.

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 Posted on October 03, 2012 in Tax Controversy Litigation

In this economy, many small businesses continue to struggle just to stay afloat and, out of desperation, find means of shuffling business funds around to pay immediately due bills and put off paying others. Some business owners have used employment tax withholding to use the government as a bank to ‘borrow the money for a short while’ during financially difficult times with good intentions to pay it back later. Others have been prosecuted for collecting employment taxes from their employees and willfully failing to pay them to the IRS. Former IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson has stated that the "failure to pay employment taxes is stealing from the employees of the business."

The IRS vigorously audits and investigates businesses for employment tax related issues. During the 2011 Fiscal Year, the IRS recommended 110 criminal employment tax investigations for prosecution. Of those, 85 were criminally charged by indictment or information, and 79 of the 85 were sentenced, resulting in an 81% incarceration rate, with an average 24-month sentence per case. These statistics are consistent with prior years’ investigations.

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