Germantown Family Lawyers

Any legal concern involving family relationships requires sound decision-making based on clear, informed counsel. Whether you are facing a divorce, a matter that involves your children, or a post-divorce issue, you need to have competent, experienced legal representation on your side.

Shah & Kishore is led by Rahul Kishore, an accomplished divorce & family lawyer. In addition to Rahul’s extensive family law experience, he has a strong financial background that sets him apart from many Montgomery County family law attorneys. This combination allows him to navigate the complexities that are involved in family law matters, particularly when it comes to dividing assets such as businesses, real estate, and retirement accounts.

If you live in Germantown or anywhere within Montgomery County, Shah & Kishore can provide the legal assistance you need on your family law case. Our goal is to understand the elements that are most critical to achieving the outcome you desire with a Germantown, MD family lawyer. Contact our office today at (301) 315-0001 to schedule a free initial consultation.

Types of Family Law Cases

Our firm understands how overwhelming many family law cases can be for people when it concerns their emotions, but our experienced Maryland family law attorneys have helped countless clients all over Maryland achieve the most favorable outcomes for their family law cases.

Our Montgomery County family law firm is especially familiar with people living in the greater Germantown area, as we know all about how people spend time at locations such as Bohrer Park, Butler’s Orchard, or Great Seneca Valley Stream Park. Our law firm has a wide range of experience in family law cases that includes assisting people with such matters as:

• Child Custody — Maryland law will presume that both natural parents are the natural custodians of their children, and the law will not favor a mother or father. When there is any dispute about child custody, one parent is allowed to petition a circuit court in Maryland for custody of the child. If the parties cannot agree about custody, a court can grant custody solely to one parent or have custody shared between the parents. The best interests of a child will be the determining factor in child custody and visitation cases. It is possible for grandparents or certain other parties to seek custody although natural parents typically retain these rights initially. A custody or visitation arrangement will not be permanent because parents will always retain the right to petition a court and modify an order.

• Property Division — All property possessed by a spouse in Maryland is presumed to be marital property unless the spouse can prove the property is in fact separate property. This makes Maryland an equitable property state. Courts do not divide property equally when division will be unjust. The phrase marital property usually includes all earnings that occurred during a marriage and everything else acquired with those earnings as well as all debts incurred during a marriage, but non-marital property includes gifts and inheritances given to one spouse, and proceeds of any pension vested before a marriage. Businesses owned by one spouse before a marriage will remain separate property during a marriage, although a portion of a business may be considered marital property when a business increases in value during a marriage or both spouses worked at the business.

• Alimony — An alimony award in Maryland could be rehabilitative, which means that it will only last long enough for the dependent spouse to become self-supporting. Alimony can only be awarded before a divorce is finalized, so a party who does not make a claim for alimony will not be able to return later and file a claim. In Altman v. Altman, 282 Md. 483, 386 A.2d 766 (Md. 1978), the Court of Appeals of Maryland held that the “long-standing rule in Maryland has been that the right to claim alimony is extinguished at the time of the severance of the marital relationship.” Either a husband or wife can be ordered to pay alimony.

• Spousal Support — Spousal support basically translates to being alimony, and there are three different kinds of spousal support. Pendente lite support or temporary alimony is temporary relief that ends when a judge issues a new support order and/or finalizes a divorce. Rehabilitative support will last for a specific period of time. Indefinite alimony will be paid in perpetuity.
• Mediation — Mediation will be a completely voluntary effort of both parties to determine an agreement in a family law case. Mediation will be mandated by the court in some cases. Agreements are not required in mediation, so it is always possible that people could end up not reaching agreements and cases will continue in court. Mediation will offer certain benefits to participants, such as being confidential, so anything said in mediation cannot be used against people in court. While there are costs to mediation, it may be possible that some people can use it to resolve their cases for far less than they would spend in court.
• Parenting Plans— When any family law case involves custody of a minor child, then a court will require the parties to submit a parenting plan. Both sides will receive parenting plan documents at the first court hearing, and failure to agree on a plan will require the parties to submit a Joint Statement or CC-DR-110. Parenting plans are written documents that outline how the parties will raise their child, how they will make major decisions about a child, and when a child will spend time with each parent.
• Asset Division — For certain property division concerns, the Marital Property Act in Maryland will make determinations. Common kinds of assets in these cases include stocks, bonds, cash balances, security deposits, insurance policies, investment portfolios, retirement accounts, art, collectibles, and memorabilia.
• Business Division in a Divorce or Military Divorce — Any business owner entering a divorce or other family law issue in Maryland is going to have multiple concerns about legal consequences for their business. Some of the most common issues can be equipment, real property tied to a business, vehicles, products, office furniture, and other physical assets a company owns and uses as well as stocks and shares in a company itself and certain financial assets or records like income, profit, and tax returns. It will be important for a person to work with a business valuation expert who can assist in estimating the current value of a business.

The Maryland statutes divide the family law section into 16 titles:

• Title 1. Definitions; General Provisions
• Title 2. Marriage
• Title 3. Breach of Promise to Marry and Alienation of Affections
• Title 4. Spouses
• Title 5. Children
• Title 6. Single Parents [Repealed]
• Title 7. Divorce
• Title 8. Deeds, Agreements, and Settlements Between Spouses; Property Disposition in Divorce and Annulment
• Title 9. Child Custody and Visitation
• Title 9.5. Maryland Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act
• Title 10. Support in General
• Title 11. Alimony
• Title 12. Child Support
• Title 13. Support of Parents and Adult Children
• Title 14. Adult Protective Services
• Title 15. Governor’s Council on Adolescent Pregnancy [Transferred]

Contact Our Germantown Family Law Attorney

Are you thinking that you are about to be dealing with or are you already in the midst of a family law dispute in the greater Germantown area of Maryland? It will be important for you to get in touch with Shah & Kishore as soon as possible because our firm will be able to help you in numerous ways and can take as much pressure off of you so you can finally breathe easier.

Our firm is based in Rockville but serves clients in communities throughout the greater Germantown area, including Bethesda, Gaithersburg, Potomac, Silver Spring, Montgomery Village, Burtonsville, and Olney. Call (301) 315-0001 or contact our Germantown family law attorneys to set up a free consultation.