“Litigation” is one of several words — synonyms — for using the court system as a method of resolving a dispute. Litigation tends to mean a very extensive use of the legal system, with the parties being willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to win their case. Litigation also tends to imply the use of EVERY tool provided by the Rules of Civil Procedure and Evidence to locate anything and everything that might help win the case. For example, the Civil Rules allow the parties in a case — the litigants — to send subpoenas to parties not involved in the case. Subpoenas are now routinely sent to social media and internet platforms seeking to identify all user accounts, email accounts, and the contents thereof. Such subpoenas might also be sent to other businesses and people asking for documents, video, photos, etc., related to a litigant or to an event/happening

In more traditional low-intensity civil legal dispute resolution, there might be a few subpoenas sent out. In high-intensity civil litigation, dozens of subpoenas will go out not only to find potential original evidence but to challenge the truthfulness of information provided by the parties. Examples here are financial and bank records. Why assume your soon-to-be-ex spouse is telling the truth when that can be verified by obtaining the records directly?

What about Child Custody Litigation?

What has just been said about litigation in general can also be applied to child custody litigation. Such litigation would entail high-intensity legal efforts to ferret out any and all information that might impact the court’s child custody decision. In general, the court must use the legal standard of the “best interests of the child” when making that decision, and there are dozens and dozens of factors that might determine what is in the best interests of the child. Each case is unique, but often the aim of a high-intensity litigation campaign is to show that the other parent is unfit to have custody. The fitness of a parent to be a child custodian is one factor that Maryland divorce courts must consider. But there are also several factors to be examined when determining whether a parent is unfit. These are listed from the case Burak v. Burak, 455 Md. 564 (Md. Court of Appeals 2017) as follows:

• The parent has neglected the child by manifesting such indifference to the child’s welfare that it reflects a lack of intent or an inability to discharge their parental duties
• The parent has abandoned the child
• There is evidence that the parent inflicted or allowed another person to inflict physical or mental injury on the child, including, but not limited to, physical, sexual, or emotional abuse
• The parent suffers from an emotional or mental illness that has a detrimental impact on the parent’s ability to care for and provide for the child
• The parent otherwise renounces their duties to care and provide for the child
• The parent has engaged in behavior or conduct that is detrimental to the child’s welfare

So, if there are facts in a case the might demonstrate unfitness, high intensity child custody litigation is one method of bringing to light any evidence that would support the claim. The same can be used in other cases where criminal behavior is the basis for claiming a parent is unfit.

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.