Family Law Related Legislative Update as of 2/6/2012

This is the list of family law and related legislation currently before the Maryland General Assembly as of 2/6/12.

There have been several additions since the last list, among them:

• HB 565/SB 525, deals with the possible loss of the homestead tax credit under some circumstances for those in default on child support;
• HB 397, deals with criminal nonsupport;
• HB 474, an anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment
• HB 438, cross-filed with the already filed SB 241 – the civil marriage protection act;
• SB 620, a further definition of income for child support purposes;
• HB 459, sets up a task force for the study of joint custody;
• HB 485/SB 481, deals with getting a hearing on temporary custody within 7 days under certain circumstances;
• SB 291, for unemployment benefits purposes, makes being the victim of DV a “good cause” for voluntarily quitting a job;
• SB 359, expands the definition of “person eligible for relief” in the DV statute;
• SB 561, authorizes a judge to order the respondent in a DV case to stay a certain distance away from school, home, or work.

As always, if you have comments about the legislation, or if there are bills I've missed, please leave comments here and I will incorporate them into the next update of the list.