Crownsville, MD Divorce Lawyers

Attorneys for Child Custody, Alimony, Asset Division, and More in Crownsville, Maryland

If you are planning to get a divorce, you will need to address multiple types of legal questions. These issues may touch on every part of the life you have shared with your spouse. The decisions you make can affect your finances, the home where you and your children will live, and many other aspects of your life. It is important to approach these issues the right way, and you can do so with the help of an attorney who has experience handling these matters and who can help you understand your options.

At Silverman Thompson, we provide legal help for people in Crownsville who are going through the divorce process. We can make sure you will have the legal guidance needed to address all issues involved in your case, and we will advocate for outcomes that will help you get through this situation and move forward into a successful future.

Child Custody

The children shared by divorcing parents may be at the center of many of the issues addressed in a case. When making decisions about child custody, we can help you address:

Parenting Time Schedules

One key aspect of child custody involves the physical custody of your children, which will determine where they will live and how they will divide their time between your home and the other parent's home.

In some cases, children may spend most of their time living with one parent, and they may spend time with the other on certain scheduled days and times. In many cases, children may stay with a parent on every other weekend, and they may also see the parent on one or two days or evenings during the week. Arrangements may also be made to spend more time with one parent during school breaks and summer vacations.

In other cases, children may spend equal or near-equal amounts of time with each parent. Schedules may be created in which children will alternate between their parents' homes on a regular basis, ensuring that they live with each parent for the same or similar amounts of time. Shared schedules usually work best when both parents live close to children's schools, can provide transportation when needed, and can communicate with each other effectively and make adjustments to meet their children's needs.

A couple's parenting plan will detail the schedules that will be followed, including when children will stay with each parent on different holidays or breaks from school. The plan can provide details related to transportation, transitions between parents' homes, and other issues that could affect parenting time.

Legal Custody

Another key concern in a parenting plan is how parents will make decisions related to their children's upbringing. Important decisions to address include educational matters, medical care and treatment, religion, and activities. Whether joint or sole legal custody may be appropriate will depend on how well parents can communicate and cooperate when addressing parenting matters.

Joint legal custody will allow both parents to share authority over child-related decisions and consult with each other before making major decisions. On the other hand, sole legal custody may give the final authority to make decisions to one parent. This may be the best approach if parents regularly experience conflict and cannot work together to reach decisions for their children. However, even when sole legal custody is given to one parent, the other parent will usually be able to have reasonable parenting time on an ongoing basis.

Spousal Support

Alimony can play an important role in a divorce where the spouses will be living in unequal financial circumstances. That is, if one spouse will be at a significant financial disadvantage and may not be able to fully support themselves on their own, they may ask for alimony to be paid.

Some situations where spousal support may be necessary include cases where a spouse left the workforce to raise the couple's children or manage household responsibilities. A stay-at-home parent or homemaker may have a limited ability to earn an income after getting divorced, and they may need assistance to ensure that they can meet their financial needs. In these cases, alimony may be paid for a certain number of years, ensuring that the recipient can take steps to pursue an education or other career opportunities and become self-supporting.

Division of Marital Property

The property owned by a married couple will need to be addressed during their divorce. While couples in Maryland are not required to divide all of their property in half, they will need to reach agreements that will provide for a fair and equitable division of their assets.

Couples may need to make decisions about how a wide range of assets will be handled. For many couples, ownership of their family home may be one of the most immediate concerns to address. Some couples may choose to sell their home during their divorce. This will allow them to divide the proceeds, providing each spouse with liquid assets that can be used to secure housing. In other cases, one spouse may want to continue owning and living in the home. The other spouse may receive marital assets that are similar in value to the home's equity, and the homeowner spouse may refinance the mortgage to ensure that they will have sole ownership.

Retirement accounts such as 401(k) plans and IRAs and pension benefits earned during a couple's marriage may need to be addressed during a divorce. A couple may reach agreements on how funds in these accounts may be divided, but the proper steps will need to be taken during these transfers to avoid taxes and penalties. Our lawyers can make sure clients use Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs) or similar methods when making these types of transfers or allocating pension benefits between spouses.

Business interests may be a source of conflict between spouses during divorce. A business owner may want to make sure they will be able to maintain ownership of their business, or a couple may believe that selling a business will be the best solution when dividing marital property. A professional business valuation can help ensure that the value of a business is fully understood. Our attorneys can make sure businesses will be valued correctly, and we can provide guidance on buyouts, business sales, or other options for handling business assets.

We can also help clients address assets such as vehicles, personal property, and jewelry, artwork, or other valuables. We can also make sure debts will be divided correctly, and we will work to negotiate agreements that will protect our clients' interests.

Contact Our Crownsville Divorce Attorneys

The team at Silverman Thompson can provide the legal help and representation you need to complete your divorce successfully. Our attorneys will help you address every issue that you may encounter, resolve disputes that may arise, and make sure you will be prepared to move forward after your divorce has been finalized. Contact our Crownsville, MD divorce lawyers today by calling 410-385-2225 and arranging a consultation.