Terms Used In Maryland Code, FAMILY LAW 9-302

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • state: means :

    (1) a state, possession, territory, or commonwealth of the United States; or

    (2) the District of Columbia. See
(a) An equity court has jurisdiction over custody and visitation of a child who is removed from this State by a parent of the child, if:

(1) the parents are separated or divorced and this State was:

(i) the marital domicile of the parents; or

(ii) the domicile in which the marriage contract was last performed;

(2) 1 of the parents was a resident of this State when the child was removed and that parent continues to reside in this State; and

(3) the court obtains personal jurisdiction over the parent who removes the child.

(b) This section does not affect any other basis of an equity court’s jurisdiction over custody and visitation of a child.