Maryland

All states

Luck of the Draw score: 90 out of 100

Maryland judges decide how to split marital property and how much alimony to award by weighing lists of factors, and they must consider what caused the marriage to break down. Alimony is normally for a fixed period, open-ended alimony requires specific findings, and only property acquired during the marriage can be divided. On the book’s scale, 0 is a contract you can read and 100 is one that mostly says “ask the judge.” Maryland ranks 42 of 51, counting from the state that leaves the least to the judge. How the index works, and every state’s score.

Part	Score	The rule, and where it comes from
Property	15 / 20	The court divides only marital property, which excludes property acquired before the marriage or by gift or inheritance, through a monetary award or transfer that adjusts the equities after weighing eleven factors, and no statute sets a presumption of equal division. Md. Code, Fam. Law §§ 8-201(e), 8-205(a)-(b)
Alimony	15 / 20	Amount is set by weighing twelve listed factors with no formula; the court must fix the period of the award and may award alimony for an indefinite period only if it finds the recipient cannot make substantial progress toward self-support because of age, illness, infirmity or disability, or that the parties’ living standards will be unconscionably disparate. Md. Code, Fam. Law § 11-106(a)-(c)
Fault	20 / 20	The court must consider ‘the circumstances that contributed to the estrangement of the parties’ both in making a monetary award and in setting alimony. Md. Code, Fam. Law §§ 8-205(b)(4), 11-106(b)(6)
Lawyers’ fees	20 / 20	The court may order either party to pay the other’s reasonable and necessary counsel fees after considering both parties’ financial resources and needs and whether each side had substantial justification, and must award fees against a party found to lack substantial justification absent good cause. Md. Code, Fam. Law §§ 7-107, 8-214, 11-110
Second opinion	20 / 20	No rule was found that lets a divorce party remove the assigned judge without cause, and property and alimony are decided by the circuit court judge without a jury. None located; Md. Rule 2-505 removal to another county requires a showing that a fair trial cannot be had (not yet checked against the source)

Getting in

A 2-day wait. One partner applies at the circuit court clerk’s office for the county where the ceremony will happen, and the license works only in that county. It takes effect at 6 a.m. on the second calendar day after issue and lasts 6 months. A circuit judge may shorten the wait for good cause if a partner is a Maryland resident or service member.
Md. Code, Fam. Law §§ 2-401, 2-402, 2-403(a)(2), 2-404, 2-405(d)

Who can marry you. A clerk, a designated deputy clerk, a judge, or an official of a religious body authorized by that body’s rules may perform the marriage. A Society of Friends couple marries without an officiant: the couple signs the certificate and two overseers attest. The statute does not address online or mail-order ordination.
Md. Code, Fam. Law §§ 2-406(a), 2-403(b)(2), 2-409(a)

Common-law marriage: Not available here. A couple cannot form a common-law marriage in Maryland, because marrying in the state requires a license. Maryland courts do honor a common-law marriage validly formed in a state that allows one, and the person claiming the marriage has to prove it.
Md. Code, Fam. Law § 2-401; Goldin v. Goldin, 48 Md. App. 154 (1981)

Chapter 5 of the book covers getting in, and whether you are in at all.

The property system

Maryland is one of forty-one equitable distribution jurisdictions. Equitable distribution. Each of you owns what’s in your own name during the marriage. At a divorce a judge divides the marital property as the judge finds equitable, which is not a promise of half. Chapter 11 of the book covers what that means, and Chapter 22 covers what happens to it when you move.

What counts as marital. Marital property is what either spouse acquires during the marriage, however titled, up to the divorce decree. Property owned before marriage, inherited, or given by a third party stays nonmarital if directly traceable. Growth from passive ownership stays nonmarital; growth from a spouse’s active efforts can become marital.
Md. Code, Fam. Law § 8-201(e); Alston v. Alston, 331 Md. 496 (1993); Innerbichler v. Innerbichler, 132 Md. App. 207 (2000)

An inheritance that touches a joint account

It can stay separate if you can trace it. An inheritance put into a joint account stays nonmarital if it can be directly traced, unless the owner expressly gave up that status. The deposit may still give the other spouse co-ownership. Money mixed so far that direct tracing is impossible is marital. Real estate held as tenants by the entirety is marital by statute unless a valid agreement excludes it.
Md. Code, Fam. Law § 8-201(e)(2)-(3); Watson v. Watson, 77 Md. App. 622 (1989); Choate v. Choate, 97 Md. App. 347 (1993); Melrod v. Melrod, 83 Md. App. 180 (1990); Noffsinger v. Noffsinger, 95 Md. App. 265 (1993)

Chapter 12 explains how mine becomes ours.

Your spouse’s medical bills (Article 5)

Generally, you don’t owe your spouse’s bills. Neither spouse is liable for necessaries, such as medical care, furnished to the other unless that spouse contracted to pay; the Court of Appeals held the common-law necessaries doctrine violated the state Equal Rights Amendment, declined to extend it to wives, and no family-expense statute has replaced it.
Condore v. Prince George’s County, 289 Md. 516 (1981)

Chapter 8 of the book explains the three ways states handle this.

If one of you dies (Article 9)

A surviving spouse may elect one-third of the estate subject to election if the decedent left issue, or one-half if not, reduced by spousal benefits; the estate is an augmented estate that includes the probate estate, revocable trusts, property under a qualifying power of disposition, qualifying joint interests, qualifying lifetime transfers (generally those within two years of death), and some life insurance.
Md. Code, Est. & Trusts §§ 3-401, 3-403, 3-404

Chapter 9 covers what a will can and can’t take away from a spouse.

Prenups and postnups (Article 12)

One look, under case law only (Hartz 1967; Cannon 2005). Engaged parties are in a confidential relationship, so the party seeking enforcement bears the burden of showing a frank, full and truthful disclosure of assets (or the other party’s adequate knowledge of them) and no overreaching, meaning no unfairness or inequity in the agreement’s result or its procurement; a challenge for unconscionability is judged as of the time the agreement was entered, not by later events. Spouses may make valid agreements on alimony, support, property and personal rights during marriage, so postnuptial agreements are enforceable.
Hartz v. Hartz, 248 Md. 47 (1967); Cannon v. Cannon, 384 Md. 537 (2005); Martin v. Farber, 68 Md. App. 137 (1986); Md. Code, Fam. Law § 8-101

What an agreement needs. No Maryland statute sets execution formalities for premarital agreements; case law requires a frank, full and truthful disclosure (or proof that the other party already knew the assets) and treats independent counsel as a factor bearing on voluntariness, not a requirement. A court may modify an agreed spousal-support term unless the agreement expressly waives alimony or states that its support terms are not subject to court modification.
Cannon v. Cannon, 384 Md. 537 (2005); Md. Code, Fam. Law § 8-103(b)-(c)

Chapter 29 explains one look and two, and what makes agreements stick.

Children (Article 8)

Child support: income shares. Both parents’ incomes are combined to find a basic obligation, which is then split in proportion to income. Support ends at 18, or continues for a child still in secondary school until graduation or 19. A judge cannot order a parent to pay for college, but a court can enforce a college agreement the parents put in a consent order or settlement.
Md. Code, Fam. Law §§ 12-201, 12-204(a)(1); Md. Code, Gen. Prov. § 1-401; Kirby v. Kirby, 129 Md. App. 212 (1999)

Moving away with a child. A custody order may require at least 90 days’ written notice before a parent moves, inside or outside Maryland; the statute applies only if the order includes that condition, and a judge waives it where notice risks abuse or for good cause. If the move is disputed, the judge decides on the child’s best interests, with no presumption for either parent.
Md. Code, Fam. Law § 9-106; Domingues v. Johnson, 323 Md. 486 (1991); Braun v. Headley, 131 Md. App. 588 (2000)

Chapter 17 covers the children.

Getting out (Article 2)

How long you must live here before filing: six months. If the grounds for divorce occurred outside Maryland, one spouse must have lived in Maryland at least 6 months before filing. If the grounds occurred in Maryland, the statute sets no minimum period. Where the marriage was performed does not matter.
Md. Code, Fam. Law § 7-101

How long it takes. Maryland now has three grounds, all no-fault: irreconcilable differences stated by the filing spouse, 6 months apart, or mutual consent with a full written settlement. One spouse can file on irreconcilable differences with no separation period and no consent from the other spouse. No statute sets a waiting period after filing.
Md. Code, Fam. Law §§ 7-101, 7-103(a)

The legal minimum for a spouse who moves here alone and files as soon as allowed, with no minor children and the other spouse objecting, is about 180 days from arrival to a final decree (180 days of residence, using irreconcilable differences). Courts often take longer.

Chapter 22 covers what changes when you move.

Each entry on this page comes from the statute, rule or case it cites, read in September or November 2026, except where the entry says it has not been checked. A rule can change after that, and a rule on paper can play out differently in a particular courthouse. No lawyer reviews these pages.

If you practice family law in Maryland and would like to correct or contribute to this page, write to me.

Meanwhile

• The default contract, with the options states choose among. Read it with a Maryland lawyer, or paste it into a chatbot along with “I live in Maryland” and treat what comes back as a list of questions, not answers.
• Three contracts you could sign instead.
• A worksheet for reading it together, and every state’s Luck of the Draw score.
• Corrections, including changes in the law since the book went to press.
• About the book.