Taylor v. Taylor, 306 Md. 290, is an important case decision handed down by the Maryland Supreme Court in 1986. Taylor was the first time that the Maryland Supreme Court explicitly held that a Maryland divorce court had the power and authority to order joint custody of children to parents during a divorce. Part of the reasoning in Taylor was the fact that, in practice, Maryland divorce courts had been awarding joint custody under the name of “shared or split custody.” Split custody had many varieties — which are still in use today — including:

• Custody to one parent during the school year and custody to the other parent during summer vacations
• Custody that splits weekdays from weekends
• Custody involving alternating weeks

In Taylor, the Maryland Supreme Court noted that all of these were forms of joint custody.

In deciding that joint custody was permissible, the Maryland Supreme Court noted and defined the important distinction between legal and physical custody. The former relates to the right (and obligation) of a parent to make long-range decisions involving education, religious training, discipline, medical care, and “other matters of major significance” concerning the child’s welfare. Physical custody relates to the right (and obligation) of a parent to provide a home for the children, to provide for other necessities (like food and clothing), and to make the day-to-day decisions required during the time the child is actually physically with the parent.

This distinction is now commonly understood, and Maryland divorce courts now make explicit decisions about both types of custody. Often, the types of custody are handled differently. For example, it is not uncommon now for Maryland divorce courts to award joint legal custody while awarding one parent sole physical custody (along with visitation for the other parent). Indeed, that is probably the most common custody outcome where both parents seek physical custody.

The Taylor court recognized that joint custody involves a more involved and intricate family relationship than a split custody arrangement. Joint custody often involves very short intervals of sole physical custody, which may even revolve around parts of a single day. And often, joint custody arrangements involve close living arrangements between the parents (maybe in the same household or living arrangements that are geographically quite close). As a consequence, the Taylor court noted a number of factors that Maryland divorce courts should evaluate when considering joint custody arrangements. These include:

• Desire of the parents
• The ability of the parents to cooperate and communicate without undue rancor — the parents are expected to be able to reach an agreement about matters that affect the children
• The level at which parents are able to cooperate and communicate — parents may be able to agree peaceably about smaller day-to-day matters, but what about more important and long-term matters?
• The relationship between the children and each parent
• Preferences of the children
• Impact of joint custody on the children — that is, is joint custody in the “best interests” of the children?

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.