Divorce in Maryland can be straightforward or complex. 

If you and your spouse have an amicable relationship and easily agree to a settlement arrangement, you have what’s called an uncontested divorce. In this instance, you may find the divorce process fairly uncomplicated.

If, however, you have to make difficult financial or child custody decisions and you and your spouse disagree about any matters, that’s a contested divorce. Dissolving your marriage may be a more prolonged, painful or complicated experience. People who have an acrimonious relationship or difficult history with their spouse may find divorce particularly challenging.

No matter your circumstances, taking the time to understand what’s involved with getting a divorce in Maryland can help you prepare for the process. Below we answer some of the most common questions about divorce in Maryland.

What are the legal grounds for divorce in Maryland?

People seeking to dissolve their marriage in Maryland are seeking what’s known as an absolute divorce. The parties must provide at least one of the following reasons, or grounds, for the court to grant them an absolute divorce. These grounds differ depending on if the divorce is fault-based or no-fault.

No-fault divorce

In a no-fault divorce, even though the parties may say that one or the other is responsible for the demise of the marriage, they choose to agree and move on. The following are grounds for a no-fault absolute divorce in Maryland:

• Mutual consent: Full agreement on the terms of a divorce—including the division of assets and custody of any children—provides a basis for an uncontested divorce by mutual consent.

• Separate lives: Couples who live separately for at least 12 months and have no sexual contact during that time are entitled to a divorce. If this is the grounds for divorce, the division of the assets can be based on factors that include responsibility for the split.

Fault-based divorce

Fault-based divorces are generally contested, as one party alleges that the other is responsible for the breakdown of the marriage. The following are grounds for fault-based absolute divorce in Maryland. The spouse filing for divorce must provide evidence of the ground(s) they list when filing. 

• Adultery: If someone can prove that their spouse cheated on them during their marriage, they can petition the court to grant a fault-based absolute divorce right away. Proof of adultery means text messages, emails, photographs or other hard evidence that suggests someone had both the inclination and opportunity to have intercourse outside of their marriage. 

• Desertion: Desertion can be “actual” or “constructive”. Actual desertion means that a spouse has abandoned their home and their marriage. To be found at fault, they must be gone for more than a year without justification, without spousal consent and with no intention of returning. Constructive desertion means someone has been so cruel, they forced their spouse to leave their home against their will. 

• Cruelty and excessively vicious conduct: If a spouse can prove that their partner is physically or emotionally abusive to them or their children, the court will consider that a ground for an immediate absolute divorce. 

• Insanity: When one spouse has a mental illness that is extreme, incurable and permanent. In order for the court to take an insanity claim seriously, the petitioner must bring two psychiatric experts to testify to their spouse’s condition. They must also prove that their spouse has been in a mental institution or hospital due to their condition for at least the last three years. 

• Imprisonment or incarceration: If a person has been convicted of a crime and sentenced to three or more years behind bars and has served at least one year of the sentence.

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Limited divorce

If none of the above grounds applies to the marriage, a spouse can file for a limited divorce. This is essentially an absolute divorce in the making, though the paperwork timing is different.

Filing for a limited divorce allows the court an opportunity to weigh in on interim issues—including support, custody and who can live in the house—while the couple tries to work out their issues and the litigation proceeds. But without any agreement, the divorce won’t be absolute until 12 months pass. 

Effectively, a limited divorce is Maryland’s version of being legally separated with the help of a court to solve the immediate needs of the parties. 

What are the residency requirements for divorce in Maryland?

The residency requirements for divorce in Maryland depend on where the grounds for divorce occurred.

If the grounds for the divorce took place in Maryland, you need to be living in Maryland at the time you file for divorce. 

If the grounds for the divorce occurred outside Maryland, you or your spouse must have lived in Maryland for at least six months before filing your divorce complaint.

Can I get spousal support? What factors will a judge consider?

Spousal support, sometimes called alimony, isn’t consistently awarded in Maryland. Instead, courts reserve it for situations with a large income discrepancy or a dependent spouse who can’t work. Maryland recognizes two types of spousal support:

• Rehabilitative alimony: If one spouse needs help to maintain their status quo during the divorce process or to get back on their feet financially after a divorce is finalized, the court can award “rehabilitative alimony”. This lasts for a limited time, allowing the party to catch up professionally and financially.
• Indefinite alimony: On occasion, judges may decide to award “permanent” or “indefinite” spousal support. In this case, one party must pay spousal support to the other party for an unspecified period after a divorce is finalized—sometimes until the supported party dies. 

Indefinite or permanent spousal support is very rare and usually reserved for situations when someone is mentally or physically ill or otherwise incapable of supporting themselves in the long term. It can also happen if a court decides there are “unconscionably disparate” or extreme differences between how wealthy the spouses are and how they’ll live after the divorce. 

In an effort to resolve discrepancies in income, Maryland courts consider the following when determining alimony: 

• The ability of each individual to be self-supporting and the time it might take them to get on their feet
• The quality of life each individual enjoyed when they were married and whether they can sustain that lifestyle on their own
• The duration of the marriage
• The monetary and non-monetary contributions each individual made to the well-being of the relationship
• The circumstances and grounds of the divorce
• The financial resources and non-marital assets of each individual, including retirement benefits and property
• Each spouse’s age and physical and mental health history
• The child custody and parenting responsibility arrangements

The terms around spousal support are determined during divorce proceedings and can be difficult to change after a marriage is officially dissolved.

How is marital property divided in Maryland?

Many couples in Maryland, particularly those going through a no-fault divorce, decide themselves how to divide their property and debt. However, if a couple can’t agree, a judge will determine an arrangement based on state law.

Like most states in America, Maryland is an “equitable distribution” state, meaning that when a couple decides to get divorced, all marital property is divided between them. This includes income, debt and property acquired during the marriage. On the other hand, gifts, inheritance, property purchased before the marriage or with individual funds and any business owned by one spouse before the marriage are considered non-marital and aren’t included when the courts divide assets. 

How is child custody determined in Maryland?

If parents can’t reach an agreement on child custody themselves, a judge will determine the arrangements. Maryland courts prioritize the best interests of the child when deciding child custody. 

Unless there’s abuse, neglect or other maltreatment, judges presume that both parents have an equal right to parent. There’s no preference for mothers over fathers, and the parent’s right to parent is less important than what’s the best arrangement for the child.

Child custody generally falls into two categories: physical and legal. Physical custody allows someone to make everyday parenting decisions for a child, including where they live and how to meet their needs. Legal custody allows someone to make long-term decisions for a child, including their academic and religious education, discipline and non-emergency medical care. 

Some of the factors courts use to decide long-term custodial arrangements include: 

• Each parent’s financial, emotional and physical fitness 
• Each parent’s relationship with the child 
• Any parental histories of criminality or substance abuse 
• Any parental histories of physical or emotional abuse or neglect 
• The presence of any siblings and their custodial arrangements
• The child’s age and maturity level 
• The child’s existing educational arrangements
• The environment that can provide the safest and most stable experience for the child

During divorce proceedings, a parent may file for temporary custody to allow them to make decisions for their child while longer-term arrangements are determined. Temporary custody rights can be important to establish in divorces where there’s significant parental disagreement or when one parent is unable to care for the child due to illness, prolonged work obligations or military deployment. In those situations, the court decides temporary custody decisions based on the best interests of a child, much in the same way they decide permanent custody solutions.

If you disagree with or wish to change your custody plan, you can petition the court to revisit its decision. 

How is child support determined in Maryland?

For most cases, child support in Maryland is based on a shared income formula that’s set by the legislature. For couples who make a combined monthly salary of more than $30,000, Maryland courts determine child support based on the child’s needs. Or, if it’s in the best interest of the children, the courts can step up the shared income formula to accommodate their higher incomes.

The shared income formula considers the following: 

• Each parent’s monthly income, including earnings, bonuses, benefits and alimony
• Each parent’s monthly costs, including child care expenses, child support payments for other children and health insurance premiums
• Each parent’s financial responsibilities around medical expenses like dental treatments, asthma treatments, mental health treatments and physical therapy 

You can’t get out of paying child support by purposefully avoiding work or being paid less than what you should earn. If the courts decide that you’ve “voluntarily impoverished” yourself, they can determine an income based on what you could earn given your education background and employment history. They’ll use that income to determine the amount of child support. 

How to file for divorce in Maryland

Depending on your circumstances, filing for divorce in Maryland can be fairly efficient, or it can be a more drawn-out process. Below are the main steps.

1. Complete and file all applicable divorce forms

Download and fill out either the complaint for absolute divorce or the complaint for limited divorce. In addition, depending on your circumstances, you may have to fill out a civil domestic information report, marital settlement agreement or a financial statement for alimony and child support and attach them to your complaint.

Once you complete your paperwork, file all documents with the circuit court in whatever county you or your spouse reside. Be sure to make at least two copies of everything you submit. 

2. Legally notify your spouse

After the court gives you a case number and issues a summons, you’re legally obligated to share all relevant paperwork with your spouse. (This is called “service of process”.) You also must prove that you delivered your documents correctly. (Called “proof of service of process”.) 

You can send your paperwork to your spouse in several ways: 

• Through the U.S. postal service: Ask someone 18 or older to bring your documents to the post office and mail them to your spouse via certified mail, restricted delivery, return receipt requested. Once they complete the task, this person must fill out an affidavit of service to attest that they sent the documents on your behalf. Wait for a signed receipt indicating your mail was delivered, then file that with the affidavit of service and a copy of the summons at the county court. 

• Through the sheriff’s department: A representative from the sheriff’s department delivers your documents and completes an affidavit of service for a fee, which is currently $30 to $40.

• Via a private process server: A private, professional process server delivers your paperwork and completes an affidavit of service for a fee, which varies depending on the case.

• Via a friend: Any adult over the age of 18 other than you or an immediate family member delivers the documents into your spouse’s hand and then completes an affidavit of service for you to file.

3. Wait for your spouse’s response

Once your spouse has received the paperwork, they have a set period to respond by filling out an answer to complaint form and, if relevant, a counter-complaint for absolute or limited divorce. If your spouse lives in Maryland, they have 30 days to respond, but if they live in another state, they have 60 days to respond. Spouses living out of the country have 90 days to respond. From there, your divorce process will proceed according to the specifics of your case. 

If your spouse doesn’t reply, notify the court that the appropriate time frame passed without a response and file a request for a default order of divorce. The court will give your spouse an additional 30 days to respond to the default order of divorce.

4. Go before a judge

Whether you’re filing a no-fault or a fault-based divorce, you appear before a judge or a magistrate to finalize the divorce. 

If all the terms are agreed upon and set forth in a settlement agreement, your hearing will simply be to testify (that is, verify) the agreement.

If you don’t agree, you go to trial. During this process, you and your spouse (often with the help of attorneys) may call witnesses, provide evidence and present arguments that detail your marriage experience and the divorce terms you would prefer. The judge listens to your case, considers your presentations and makes any necessary decisions around property, child custody or other issues. Then they issue a decree, legally binding you to the terms they’ve arranged and finalizing your divorce.

How long will it take to get divorced in Maryland?

It can take anywhere from 30 days to more than a year to decide a case and issue a final divorce decree in Maryland. However, the exact timing of a divorce in Maryland depends on a couple’s specific circumstances, including how complex their financial and family life is, how acrimonious their relationship is and the grounds to justify ending their marriage. A divorce can also become delayed by rescheduled hearings and the number of cases on a judge’s docket at any given time. 

In general, the fastest way to get a divorce is to come to terms on a settlement agreement ahead of time and file for a no-fault divorce, citing mutual consent or a 12-month separation as the grounds for dissolving your partnership. 

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How much does divorce cost in Maryland?

It’s hard to say how much a specific divorce in Maryland will cost because the number often comes down to whether or not attorneys or other professionals are involved. The more contested a divorce is, the more expensive it typically gets due to multiple negotiations, court hearings and expert witnesses. 

At the very least, you’ll pay an administrative fee—currently about $215, depending on where you live—when you file the initial complaint.

If you can’t afford this fee, you can fill out a motion for waiver of prepaid costs and a financial statement that the court will use to determine whether you have to pay. Their decision usually takes some time—after a few days, call the county clerk to see if you still owe the filing fee. If they decide to waive your fee, file that motion along with your complaint and other documents.

Can we agree to a divorce settlement outside of court?

You and your partner can come to terms on a settlement agreement at any point between the time you file your paperwork up until you take your divorce case to trial. Courts encourage people to settle because it saves everyone time and money and often leads to smoother post-divorce relationships in the long run. 

If you decide to craft a settlement agreement with your spouse, ensure it includes information about the following: 

• Child custody and child support: How you and your spouse plan to care and provide for your children.

• Spousal support: How you or your spouse will financially care for the other during the divorce proceedings or after the marriage has ended.

• Division of jointly owned property: How you and your spouse agree to divide any marital assets, including earned income, debt and physical property.

Creating a settlement agreement doesn’t dissolve a marriage. You must file the agreement with the court to have your divorce finalized and get a divorce decree before you’re officially divorced. 

When to speak to a divorce attorney

Divorces can be complex, with high-stakes repercussions and confusing court procedures. If you’re concerned about your case, believe that it might get contentious or just want to make sure you complete your documents and forms correctly, you may want to talk to an attorney. They can provide clarity about your case, help ensure your interests are protected and guide you through any court proceedings.