Yes. When a Maryland divorce court is making decisions about child custody, the court is required to consider a large number of facts and issues that might be relevant to that decision. Maryland divorce courts are required to award custody based on the legal standard of what is in the “best interests” of the child or children. A parent’s employment is one of those many factors. If you have questions about child custody in your Calvert County, Maryland divorce, call the Custody Lawyers here at the Law Office of Robert Castro. We are a Child Custody Law Firm in Calvert County, Maryland with offices in Waldorf, MD. Call us at (301) 870-1200. We provide divorce and family law legal services for all communities in Southern Maryland.

In many ways, common sense shows that a parent’s employment can affect child custody outcomes. It is not really about what kind of job a parent has, but more about how the job might impact a parent’s ability to be a good caregiver to their child. For example, if a parent’s job requires that they travel every other week and stay over in another city for two or three days each trip, that schedule is obviously relevant to child custody decisions. Awarding sole physical custody of children to a parent with that kind of schedule can be a difficult decision for a Maryland divorce court to make. Much will need to be explained and “put in place” for those four to six days when the parent’s employment requires them to be away from the children and their home.

If confronted with a custody battle where the other parent has no such travel requirements, a Maryland divorce court judge might lean in the direction of joint custody — which could be an ideal solution — or lean toward awarding full custody to the other parent while granting extensive visitation rights for the traveling parent.

All of this is true for other types of jobs that require extended absences from home. These might include overseas employment engagements, military deployments, oil and natural resource extraction jobs, maritime vessel assignments, and more.

That being said, there are some circumstances where the type of job might have an impact on child custody decisions. As one example from years ago, a famous Hollywood actress lost custody of her child because she appeared nude in one of her movies. The California divorce court determined that the child would be better off without that influence in her upbringing. Of course, times have changed and, maybe, one non-erotic nude scene does not create the same concern today.

However, custody decisions will likely still be impacted by employment in the erotic entertainment industry or by the generating of income via the self-posting of erotic images on the internet. Likewise, any employment that is criminal or on the edges of criminality will likely impact custody decisions. This might cause problems for those employed in the cannabis industry, for example. It is to be noted that cannabis is still illegal at the federal level.

Contact Waldorf, Maryland Family Law and Child Custody Lawyer Robert Castro Today

This article has been provided by the Law Office of Robert Castro. For more information or questions, contact our office to speak to an experienced Maryland family law and divorce lawyer at (301) 870-1200. We are Waldorf, MD, Family Law lawyers. Our address is 2670 Crain Highway, Waldorf, MD, 20601.