Yes. Having a criminal record will have an impact on child custody decisions in a Maryland divorce case. Whether that impact is large or small depends on the facts and the criminal record at issue. For example, given the decriminalization of personal marijuana use, arrests and/or convictions for cannabis possession will probably have little impact. However, that is likely NOT true for arrests and/or convictions for marijuana trafficking. If you have a criminal record or have questions about child custody in Maryland, contact one of the Charles County, Maryland, child support lawyers here at the Law Office of Robert Castro at (301) 870-1200. We are Family Law and Divorce attorneys in Waldorf, Maryland. Call us at (301) 870-1200 or use our contact page. Here is some additional information.

What Maryland divorce courts must consider when deciding child custody

Under Maryland statutes, a Maryland divorce court must consider at least a dozen listed factors and any other factor that would be relevant to the decision. Under Maryland law, the standard for making decisions about custody is the “best interests” of the child or children. Thus, even a parent’s driving record could be relevant to making a decision about what is in a child’s best interests. Because of this, “criminal record” IS one of the factors on the statutory list.

Now, as noted above, having a criminal record does NOT automatically mean that a parent will be denied custody and/or visitation. With respect to visitation, note that Maryland divorce courts CAN grant supervised visitation. This generally means having “time with the kids” at a center or facility that is designed for supervised visitations.

In any event, as Maryland divorce courts consider criminal records, there are many sub-factors. These include:

• Nature of crimes — violent crimes, crimes of abuse, sex crimes, and other severe crimes will tend to weigh heavily against custody or unsupervised visitation rights; for example, those convicted of murder will not be awarded custody of children; financial crimes will be deemed less problematic but will still be considered as a negative factor in awarding custody.
• Age of crimes — crimes that occurred 10 or 20 years ago (with a clean criminal record since then) will be deemed less decisive; current and ongoing criminal conduct will mean that child custody will not be awarded.
• Juvenile crimes — depending on the crime, the current age of the parent, and the status of the criminal record as an adult, juvenile crimes may have little impact on child custody decisions.
• Number of crimes — depending on the crime, one crime will be less problematic than a dozen arrests and convictions.
• Arrests vs. charges vs. convictions — arrests are less problematic, charged crimes are more problematic, and convictions are the most problematic.
• Whether crimes were deemed misdemeanor or felony crimes — convictions for felony crimes, particularly violent crimes, will often prevent a divorce court from granting custody.
• Expungement, pardons, etc. — that a crime has been expunged or pardoned will factor positively into a child custody decision, but the court will still consider that a crime has been committed.

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.