POSITIVES:

• Maryland's PTA appropriately takes into account the effect of the PTA on both parents' households.

• Maryland's PTA appropriately results in no presumptive child support transfer payment when parental income and parenting time are both equal.

NEGATIVES: 

• Maryland's PTA has an extraordinarily and unjustifiably high threshold of 128 days.

• Maryland's PTA has an extremely large discontinuity (or discontinuities), creating an extremely large cliff effect or multiple cliff effects.

• Maryland's PTA significantly overestimates the fixed, duplicated costs involved in shared parenting.

POSITIVES:

• Maryland statutes permit a court to award joint custody. MD. CODE ANN. FAM. LAW § 5-203

NEGATIVES: 

• Maryland has no statutory preference for, or presumption of, shared parenting (joint legal custody and shared physical custody) for temporary or final orders.

• Maryland statutes do not explicitly provide for shared parenting during temporary orders.

• Maryland statutes do not require courts to consider “friendly parent” factors in awarding custody.

• Maryland statute does not contain any policy statement or other language encouraging shared parenting.

Maryland proclaimed April 26 Shared Parenting Day in 2021. State Chair Andrew Marshall led this effort.