A Maryland court may award separated parents joint custody of their minor children. “Joint custody” actually has a few different meanings. There is shared physical custody–i.e., the children split their time among both parents’ residences–and joint legal custody. With the latter, the child may live with one parent, but both parents have an equal voice in making important decisions that affect the child.

There are a number of factors that a Maryland court will consider before deciding to make an award of joint custody. According to the Maryland Court of Appeals, the “most important factor” is the “capacity of the parents to communicate and to reach shared decisions affecting the child’s welfare.” In other words, if the parents lack the maturity to work with one another–say, because they are still bitter about the breakup of their own marriage–then a judge will generally not agree to joint custody.

A Court Can End Joint Custody if the Parents Can No Longer Communicate

Take this recent unreported decision from the Court of Special Appeals, Brown v. Simpson. In this case, two unmarried parents of a single child previously lived together. In 2010, the mother moved out with the child. The father then filed a petition in Montgomery County Circuit Court seeking joint legal and shared physical custody of the child. Later, the father asked for sole legal custody.

The parents eventually agreed to joint legal and shared physical custody, which the Court approved. Later, the Court amended this to give the mother primary physical custody while preserving joint legal custody. In 2017, the father married and relocated to Virginia. His new wife had five children of her own. The father also had two additional children from another relationship, which meant there were eight children in his household altogether, including his child with the mother.

The father asked for another amendment, this time to grant him primary physical custody. The mother opposed. At a subsequent hearing, the judge found that communications between the parents had broken down to the point where they could no longer “make joint legal decisions together.” As such, the judge found it was not in the child’s best interests to continue under joint custody. Given the size of the father’s household and other factors, the judge decided it was best to give the mother sole legal custody and primary physical custody.

The father appealed, but the Court of Special Appeals upheld the judge’s decision. The appellate court reiterated that joint legal custody was predicated on the ability of both parents to “effectively communicate” with one another. In this case, the parents had been unable to make any joint decisions over the past four years. Both parents described the other as “difficult to work with.” In the end, the Court said that made joint legal custody impossible.

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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 lawyer at (301) 870-1200.