It’s been six (6) years since Maryland made divorce more simple, eliminating the need for a corroborating witness at trial. Now, it’s again being simplified. On October 1st, 2023, Maryland law will make it easier to get a divorce, or if not easier, more simple.
Legal Separations, or Limited Divorces, Will Go Away
A major changes to the law is the elimination of limited divorces – or what most people think of as a legal separation where couples could remain married but seek support, child custody arrangements, maintain health insurance and other financial benefits.
Fault Grounds for Divorce are Eliminated
the other major change is that many current grounds for divorce are going away, including Adultery, Desertion, Criminal Convictions, 12-month separation, Insanity, and Cruelty of Treatment. The Court will be able to grant a divorce based on Mutual Consent or Irreconcilable Differences after six (6) months of separation. Under the old laws, although it was technically possible to prove separation if you lived in the same home, although maintained separate bedrooms, the new law makes it more possible to live in the same home and prove separation.
Simpler, if not Easier
Although the grounds for divorce have been simplified, couples will still face the same litigation issues they had under the old laws if adultery, or cruelty of treatment, for example were reasons for the breakup of the marriage as those reasons affect a Court’s division on support and the equitable division of the couple’s marital property. If you have questions about divorce, now or under the law after October 1st, give me a call at the law firm of Byrd & Byrd, LLC at 301-464-7448 ext. 105
