There are a number of ways in which an actual separation of married parties comes about.  Without addressing each of the causes, this cursory roadmap will serve as something for you to refer to should you be curious as to where in your divorce proceedings you may be.

The roadmap below will be one for a divorce that includes pending litigation (Pendente Lite) alimony, custody, child support, disposition of marital property, and divorce.

Whether it be to commence an action for financial relieve, custody of minor children, or simply to attain a divorce, one party will file a Complaint for Divorce in the appropriate Circuit Court.  Often, the Complaint will be filed post-separation.  The Complaint for Divorce filed will allege that both the parties married are over the age of eighteen, a resident of the State of Maryland for at least one year proceeding the filing of their Complaint, that the other party is not a member of the United States Military nor any of its allies; the fact that you have a child or children, where the child or children have lived within the prior years, an allegation that financial support is needed in order to meet basic living standards, an allegation that there is significant real or personal property that needs to be either divided or sold and divided, an allegation as to the ground for divorce; and also a request of the Court to grant relief consistent with the above allegations.  Once a Complaint is filed in the appropriate Circuit Court, a summons is issued, and the other party served he or she will have thirty (30) days from service (if they reside within the State of Maryland, sixty (60) days if they reside outside of the State of Maryland, and ninety (90) days if they reside outside of the United States) in order to file an Answer to your Complaint.  Very often the Answer will be a denial of the allegations contained therein to the extent that you are requesting financial relief and custody.  Once the Answer is filed with the Circuit Court, you than have the ability to request of the Circuit Court (1) an initial conference to establish an interim schedule for custody, and (2) a separate hearing on financial issues

With regard to the initial conference to establish an interim custody schedule, this is an opportunity for parties and counsel and perhaps some witnesses, to explain to a Master of the Court what the current custodial situation has been throughout the course of the marriage and what schedule each party is seeking pending the outcome of the case.  The Master will hear from both sides and make a recommendation as to interim custody.  Please note, the Court’s first concern at this stage is, even though one or both parties might be unhappy with a custodial schedule, to provide some level of consistency to the children involved in your separation and/or divorce.  It may be the case that both parties arrive at this initial conference and are able to work out an agreement on their own.  If so a Consent Order can be entered at this time.  It may also be the case that one or both parties are so dissatisfied with the Master’s Recommendation that they file Exceptions (an appeal) to the Master’s Recommendation.  If the latter is the case the Exceptions will be set before a Judge who will in fact set some custodial schedule.

Also at this initial custody conference, it is likely that the parties will be referred to the Office of Family Court Services for a Custody Evaluation.  During a Custody Evaluation, both parties are assigned to a Social Worker that will speak with each party, the children, collateral sources (such as teachers, relatives, or any other individual with pertinent information) in order to assess the past custodial situation, and what would be best for the child or children involved going forward.  Throughout the sections that you will have with the Social Worker, the Social Worker will attempt to have you and the other parent reach an agreement as to custody and/or visitation.  If the Social Worker is unsuccessful, or rather the parties are unsuccessful in reaching an agreement, the Social Worker then returns to Court on a later date and so that the Court can receive the report of the Social Worker as well a recommendation as to custody.  If both parties are unable to reach an agreement at that point, then the custody is set for trial.

With regard to financial support, it is hopeful, but not guarantied that a Support Hearing could be scheduled within two to three months of the request (please note the request comes following the other parties having filed their Answer).  Prior to a Support Hearing both parties will likely provide Discovery, or a request for information in the form of documents or questions upon the other party.  In particular, prior to a financials hearing, financial documentation as to a parties’ expenses and income is relevant.  Should your financial hearing be pertained to Pendente Lite alimony, the test for that type of support is your need vs. the other parties’ ability to pay.  In analyzing your need, a Master of the Court will review your current financial obligations and weight them against your current income.  Should it be that in analyzing your finances, you’re in a deficit position at the end of each month, than you will have satisfied the first part of the test.  Next, through testimony and evidence, the Master will be a position of analyzing the financial circumstances of your spouse.  In much the same way the Master will be examining your spouse’s current expenses vs. his income.  Please note that if your spouse is unable to meet their financial responsibilities, than you will not have satisfied the second part of the test-the ability of your spouse to pay.  If however, your spouse has extra money the Master may, but is not required, to award you some level of support to assist you in meeting your needs.

Also at that financial hearing you will have the ability to present evidence and testimony for the Master to compile Child Support Guidelines.  Maryland Child Support Guidelines are largely a product of income and overnights.  If you are yourself a W2 wage earner and your spouse is a W2 wage earner, than establishing income is relatively easy.  Difficulty arises when one party or the other or both are self-employed with a cash business.  The latter is a much more difficulty case if one party or the other is less than candid with their income.  Once income is established the Master plugs in that income (before tax income) to the Maryland Child Support Guidelines.  The Master, likely using the Court’s Order as to custody, will than include the number of overnights that each party has.  Other items the Master will consider would be alimony that is paid from one party to the other, health insurance, extraordinary expenses, daycare expenses, or other child support obligation of you or your spouse.  Once this information is available to the Master, a computation is done which determines the amount of child support according to Maryland Child Support Guidelines.  Please note, child support is an absolute obligation and does not analyze one’s expenses whatsoever.  It does not matter if one party or the other has five big screens that they are paying on inside their Cadillac Escalade, in their $500,000 house, they will still pay child support according to their gross income.

Following Support Hearing, the Master will make a recommendation as to what if any alimony is to be paid and what amount of child support will be paid.  Should either party disagree with the amount of support awarded, that party may file Exceptions (or an appeal) to the Master’s Recommendation.  If there is a dire need for support, the Master may have recommended an immediate Order.  In that case, the Master’s Recommendation would be reviewed based on the standard of emergent need within two weeks of the Master’s Report being issued (please note the Master’s Report may come several months following the hearing).  If the Master recommended support for you and you are able to convince the Judge that there is an emergent situation, than the Judge will sign the immediate Order.  The immediate Order does not divest the other party of the ability to file their Exceptions.  Should Exceptions be filed a hearing will be set in due course for a Judge to review it once again.  Either prior to your hearing or following, it is likely that you will have at least a few Pre-Trial Settlement Conferences.  A Pre-Trial Settlement Conference is an opportunity for counsel and the parties to come to court to attempt to reach resolution of the case in total.  In all likelihood, counsel for the parties will speak together in an attempt to find some common ground.  They will than return to their clients to gain their client’s position on the offers being made.  At some point during the Pre-Trial Settlement Conference, counsel themselves will speak with the administrative Judge of the Circuit Court.  The Administrative Judge may have suggestions that they wish the counsel to take back to their clients in a further effort to settle the case.  If an agreement ultimately is reached at the time of the Pre-trial Settlement Conference, counsel for the parties will place this agreement on the record in open court and the parties will be asked whether or not they agree with the agreement.  Provided they do agree, that agreement can be reduced to writing and will be signed by a Judge.  If it is the case that the Pre-Trial Settlement Conference is reached a year after your separation, it maybe possible to also put divorce testimony on the record at the time of the Pre-Trial Settlement Conference.  If this is the case divorce testimony will be taken as well and the entire agreement plus a granting of the divorce will be granted and signed by the Judge.  If after opportunity for Pre-Trial Settlement Conference, or conferences, the parties are still unable to reach and agreement on any remaining issues present in their case, the case will go to trial.  At the time of the trial the parties will present evidence as to what is in the best interest of the minor children for custody, what type of financial relief they need themselves, the property and each parties allegation as to the value of any property, and the grounds for divorce.  Following trial the Judge will render any opinion.  That opinion will be a final ruling one or both parties note an appeal to that decision.  Please note that an appeal to a custody decision will not suspend the implementation of the Judge’s ruling on custody.