Child Custody Presumptions in Maryland and the District of Columbia

Recently, the Washington Post Magazine featured a lengthy cover article highlighting a movement by state courts around the country towards equal shared parenting in custody cases. Many of our clients have asked where Maryland and the District of Columbia stand as pertains to presumptions in contested custody cases.

What is the role of the court in contested custody cases?

In contested custody cases, a court must decide both legal custody (decision-making for the child) and physical/residential custody (with whom the child lives). While some jurisdictions across the country still cling to more traditional parenting roles when determining custody, others have adopted a more modern view of parenting dynamics. As noted in the Washington Post Magazine article, certain states have even gone as far as to implement legal presumptions for joint legal or joint physical custody.

What do Maryland and the District of Columbia have in common?

The “best interest” of a child is the lodestar.  This is the threshold determination that both Maryland and the District of Columbia courts look to in making custody determinations.   Some examples from the longer list of factors the Maryland and DC courts consider include:

• The child’s relationship with each parent and other family/community members;
• The sincerity of each parent’s requests for custody;
• The health of the parents and the child;
• Demands of parental employment;
• The capacity of the parents to communicate to reach shared decisions; and
• Any potential disruption to the child’s social and school life.

Where do Maryland and the District of Columbia differ?

The District of Columbia has a rebuttable presumption that joint custody is in the best interest of a child. The rebuttable presumption does not apply in cases where there has been abuse, neglect, or other bad acts known as “intra-family offenses,” and in such cases, there is a rebuttable presumption against joint custody.

Maryland has no such presumption in favor of joint custody.

This is a significant difference when you consider that the starting point in the District of Columbia is joint custody and a parent must convince the court not to adopt that approach.  Maryland, on the other hand, has no such starting point of 50/50 and is more of a blank slate to start.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to custody in Maryland and the District of Columbia.  Despite the presumption of joint custody in the District of Columbia,  the court must consider all of the best interest factors to determine if joint custody is appropriate for the child.

Do you have questions about child custody?  Bulman Dunie family law attorneys, Jane Rodgers, Esq. and Meg Rosan, Esq., help clients navigate custody disputes in both Maryland and DC. Please contact us at (301) 656-1177.