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Programs
The Bruce A. Kaufman Center for family law includes the following
programs:
Family Law
Hotline
Legal Forms Helpline
Protection Order Advocacy
and Representation Project
Reduced Fee Child Custody Project
Research
Publications
Kaufman Alimony Guidelines
Family Law Hotline (Statewide)
The Hotline is a free service to people with basic family law questions such as "What are the grounds for divorce?" or "If I leave with the kids, can I still get child support?" The volunteer attorneys screen the clients for income eligibility and collect basic data required by the funding source, Maryland Legal Services Corporation. The hotline is staffed by attorneys experienced in family law.
The Hotline operates at 1-800-845-8550 Monday through Friday 9:30 am - 4:30 pm.
Would you like to volunteer?
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Legal Forms Helpline (Statewide)
The Helpline is a free telephone service for people who are able to file their family law cases pro se, because their cases are uncomplicated and uncontested. These pro se litigants may need some assistance understanding the process or completing form pleadings.
The project operates at 1-800-818-9888 Tuesday and Friday 9:00 am - 12:30 pm, Wednesday 9:00 am -12:30 pm and 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm, and Thursday 9:00 am - 4:00 pm. A Spanish-speaking attorney is available by calling 1-877-293-2507. Leave a message and a Spanish-speaking attorney will return your call.
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Protection Order Advocacy and Representation Project
(Baltimore City, Baltimore County and Carroll County)
The Protection Order Advocacy and Representation Project represents victims of domestic violence at protection order hearings in Baltimore City, Baltimore County and Carroll County Circuit Courts. The Project's attorneys represent people who have been abused by an intimate partner (current or past boyfriend/girlfriend, current or ex spouse) in proceedings to obtain protection orders, enforce protection orders through contempt, and modify existing protection orders.
The project is open Monday through Friday and there is no charge. For more information, call 410-783-0377 in Baltimore City, 410-887-3162 in Baltimore County, and 410-386-2440 in Carroll County.
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Reduced Fee Child Custody Project
(Baltimore County)
The Reduced Fee Child Custody Project provides professional legal representation in contested child custody cases to 40 low-income litigants in Baltimore County per year. The WLC screens potential clients for eligibility. Clients accepted into the program are provided an attorney for their case. The attorneys are paid $80 per hour up to a $1,600 cap for each case.
For more information about this project, call 410-321-8761.
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Research
Families in Transition is the second installment in a series of initiatives undertaken by the Women's Law Center of Maryland, Inc. The first initiative, Custody and Financial Distribution in Maryland, released in April 2004, analyzed an extensive dataset consisting of domestic cases filed in Maryland during Fiscal Year 1999. That report offered an historical overview of Maryland divorce and custody law, setting the stage for the data and illuminating the trends in the state. That first study was born from a collective desire to explore whether or to what extent anecdotal stories about the experience of litigants in the family law arena rang true.
This newest initiative, Families in Transition, examining family law cases from Fiscal Year 2003, explores how the family law landscape has changed in the past several years, and continues the process of informing and educating advocates, policy-makers and litigants themselves about the process by which very personal issues are resolved.
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Publications
Informational handbooks are available at nominal cost, which help people preserve their rights and prepare them for encounters with judges, lawyers, and the legal system.
To order publications, use our publications order form.
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The Kaufman Alimony Guidelines are a tool to help lawyers and decision-makers develop appropriate alimony awards that achieve equitable results and improve outcomes for Maryland's families. The Kaufman Alimony Guidelines provide a recommendation regarding whether alimony should be awarded, including an amount and duration. Child support is calculated using the Maryland Child Support Guidelines, and tax implications of the award are reflected. The software takes into account: length of the marriage; age of claimant; education and earning potential of the claimant; income of the parties; and, child care responsibilities. The Women's Law Center is providing the Kaufman Alimony Guidelines to the legal community as a public service. Legal professionals can download and use the Kaufman Alimony Guidelines free of charge.
Contact the Women's Law Center at 410-321-8761 or admin@wlcmd.org for instructions and log in information.
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