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3 Child Advocacy: Permanency plans consider child as an individual
Permanency plans help court determine how to best help Child in Need of Assistance.
4 Cover Story: Crypto and divorce
Cyrpto is becoming common enough that it should be part of an discovery request in divorce cases and may take experts to determine a value.
6 In the News: Court upholds ruling rejecting claim of abuse of process
The Montgomery County Circuit Court has been upheld in dismissing a lawsuit by a husband who was suing his wife for abuse of process and malicious use of process, where he alleged that she obtained a protective order by making false statements.
7 In the News: Can $1,000 at birth change a child’s future?
A House GOP proposal that has the backing of President Donald Trump would create tax-deferred investment accounts for babies born in the U.S. over the next four years, starting each of them with $1,000. At age 18, they could withdraw the money for payments toward a home, education or starting a small business. If it was used for other purposes, it would be taxed at a higher rate.
8 Monthly Memo
Judge denies privacy request in divorce case of Hawaii anesthesiologist accused of attempting to kill his wife on a hiking trail. … The former lawyer of the husband of a missing Connecticut mom pleaded guilty to interfering with police in the case. … A Massachusetts lawyer and client who failed to show for a scheduled divorce trial in 2023 are stuck with the property division ruled in the case. … In vitro fertilization becomes a central issue in the Alabama Supreme Court race as a fertility lawyer announced her candidacy. … Swedish commission recommended that international adoptions be stopped after an investigation found a series of abuses and fraud going back decades.
Child Advocacy
Permanency plans consider child as an individual
When a child is in the care and custody of the state of Maryland in a Child in Need of Assistance case, that child must have a permanency plan, which is determined by the juvenile court.
“The permanency plan is an integral part of the statutory scheme designed to expedite the movement of Maryland’s children from foster care to a permanent living, and hopefully, family arrangement.”
One of the most important roles of the court is to determine the permanency plan for the child who is in the care and custody of the local Department of Social Services.
Under Maryland law, permanency plans are to be determined with a heavy emphasis on the child’s perspective and on the child’s lived experience of the world.
The court determines the permanency plan for a child at permanency planning hearings, where the court shall “Change the permanency plan if a change in the permanency plan would be in the child’s best interest.”
The presumptive plan for CINAs is reunification with a parent, which the court should change if there are “weighty circumstances indicating that reunification with the parent is not in the child’s best interest.”
To determine the permanency plan that is in the child’s best interest, the Court must consider six specific childcentered factors.
These factors include a strong emphasis on the child’s experience, perspective, bonds, and attachments.
These factors are “(i) the child’s ability to be safe and healthy in the home of the child’s parent; (ii) the child’s attachment and emotional ties to the child’s natural parents and
PERRY RICHARD.
Child Advocacy
siblings; (iii) the child’s emotional attachment to the child’s current caregiver and the caregiver’s family; (iv) the length of time the child has resided with the current caregiver; (v) the potential emotional, developmental, and educational harm to the child if moved from the child’s current placement; and (vi) the potential harm to the child by remaining in State custody for an excessive period of time.”
Maryland law also gives a hierarchy of permanency plans.
Reunification is first in this hierarchy, followed by adoption by a relative, custody and guardianship to a relative, then adoption by a nonrelative, followed by custody and guardianship to a non-relative.
However, this hierarchy of permanency plans is limited “to the extent consistent with the best interest of the child” and to the child-centered factors that the court must consider.
As stated by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals: “As reflected in the statutory factors that the court must consider, permanency planning requires examination of the child’s actual lived experience in the world by considering the child’s point of view, valuing the child’s current emotional attachments, recognizing that time has an effect on the child, and recognizing that removing a child from a placement where the child has formed emotional attachments can cause potential emotional, developmental, and educational harm to the child.”
The experiences and the attachments of the child must
take center stage in the court’s consideration of the permanency plan.
This child-centered focus is instructive in the following example, where a substance-exposed child had been placed with foster parents since infancy, and after 18 months, the plan was to grant custody and guardianship to those foster parents.
At that time, the child’s mother, who was not able to reunify, sought to have the child placed with an uncle, who was unknown to the child.
The court correctly emphasized the child’s emotional attachment to the foster parents, and the potential harm of removing the child from the only home the child had known and effectuated the permanency plan of custody and guardianship to a nonrelative.
Some substance-exposed newborns are placed with relatives, who have been trained to meet the needs of the newborn, after they are released from the hospital.
In those situations, where more than 15 months have passed, the child is emotionally attached to that relative.
In that case, just as in a nonrelative placement, if a parent were to suggest a different relative for a new placement of the child after 15 months, the court should consider the child’s bonds and attachments to the relative with whom the child was originally placed, in determining the child’s best interests.
Under Maryland law, the court’s determination of a child’s permanency must be exercised with heavy consideration for the child’s attachments and lived experience of the world.
Richard Perry is a Supervising Attorney at Maryland Legal Aid.
Crypto and divorce: What attorneys need to know
By Hope Keller Special to The Daily Record
Divorce can be fraught enough without adding cryptocurrencies to the mix. Or at least that’s been the scuttlebutt, with news reports recounting tales of spouses trying to hide crypto riches from their estranged partners.
But divorce attorneys interviewed about crypto say the issue is not really a problem.
“The good thing about crypto –and this is the inherent thing about crypto – is that there’s a transaction log of every single transaction that’s ever occurred on the blockchain,” said Christopher Castellano, a principal at Joseph Greenwald & Laake in Rockville, describing the digital ledger that records the purchase and sale of cryptocurrency.
He put the matter in context: “If you’ve got a case where someone’s writing checks to cash, good luck finding the cash. Or they’re engaged in buying gold bullion and they’re burying it in the backyard. You can’t trace that as well as you can with crypto.”
Castellano urged family law attorneys to educate themselves about crypto and not to regard it as “some kind of drug dealer haven.”
“I think some of the early information about crypto was, oh, this is a way that you can engage in illicit activities with the dark web because it’s untraceable,” he said. “That’s just not true.”
However, Castellano said, it’s important that attorneys hire a forensic expert if a divorce case involves, or might involve, cryptocurrency assets.
“You’re going to have an expert in your corner, a forensic analyst, and you should have a tax expert
In this Feb. 9, 2021 photo, the Bitcoin logo appears on
at the Smoker’s Choice store in Salem, N.H. Family law
cryptocurrencies as part of a divorce according to experts.
on hand as well,” Castellano said in a podcast on crypto and divorce that he did in March with his colleague David Bulitt.
Basic discovery request
Erin Kopelman, a principal at Lerch, Early & Brewer in Bethesda, said crypto should be in every family law attorney’s basic discovery request.
“That is a standard question that does need to be asked,” she said.
If attorneys suspect cryptocurrency assets exist, they should make a plan to determine the time period in question and the documents to be requested, Kopelman advised.
“That would be all the bank statements, all the credit card statements for a set period of time,” she said. “And hopefully you
would be able to see in those statements money going out in order to be able to start to trace what was purchased and when.”
The proliferation in recent years of platforms to buy and sell crypto has made tracing the assets more difficult, Kopelman acknowledged.
“(While) before we might be able to look at the account statements and we were only looking for a few places where we would see transfers out or purchases of Bitcoin, we now have to do significantly more keyword searches,” she said. “So if it was done in small amounts over various time periods, that would be significantly harder to track.”
Kopelman added that attorneys should educate themselves about how crypto works.
AP FILE PHOTO/CHARLES KRUPA
the display screen of a crypto currency ATM
attorneys need to be aware of
Chris Catellano is a principal at Joseph Greenwald & Laake in Rockville, says one of the positives about cryptocurrency is there is a digital log of every transaction.
“There’s actually a lot of great YouTube videos that explain to you what this means and how to value it,” she said.
Valuing crypto assets
Crypto’s value fluctuates, sometimes significantly. Take Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency: It hit $1 a coin in early 2011. As of June 16, 2025, a coin was worth $107,650. And Bitcoin’s value can rise or fall by as much as 10% in a single day, according to Fidelity.
Which begs the question: How do you value crypto assets for purposes of equitable distribution in a divorce?
“It’s like an extremely volatile stock; sometimes you just have to hold your nose and pick a date,” Castellano said in the March podcast. “You plug in today’s value on
Google and, boom, you have a present-day value for the asset.”
Michael Goldberg, the managing attorney of Goldberg Tax Law in New York, often works with Maryland divorce lawyers as a financial expert witness in cases involving cryptocurrencies.
According to Goldberg, most people with crypto are not trying to hide it in divorce negotiations.
“The most complicated part is probably not (when there are) nefarious reasons but when one of the parties has gone through an exchange that does not keep good records,” said Goldberg, who is an attorney as well as a certified public accountant.
Crypto exchanges are online platforms where users can buy, sell and trade cryptocurrencies. Some exchanges are blockchain-based,
Cover Story
Michael Goldberg is the managing attorney of Goldberg Tax Law in New York and often works with divorce lawyers in Maryland as a financial expert witness.
while others function more like traditional financial institutions.
Exchanges such as Coinbase and Gemini keep good records, Goldberg said, adding that others, such as “random Russian exchanges,” make tracing crypto difficult.
Goldberg pointed to a significant forthcoming development that will make it easier to trace crypto assets: Starting next year, the IRS will require crypto exchanges and other brokers to issue customers a new form, 1099-DA, for reporting digital asset transactions.
“It will really help lawyers and experts,” Goldberg said. “They’ll be in a much easier position to identify cryptocurrency once that comes into effect.”
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Erin Kopelman is a principal at Lerch, Early & Brewer in Bethesda said crypto should be in a family law attorney’s discovery request.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
SUBMITTED PHOTO
In the News
Court upholds ruling rejecting claim of abuse of process
Daily recorD staff
Where a husband sued his wife for abuse of process and malicious use of process, alleging she obtained a protective order by making false statements, his lawsuit was dismissed and wife was awarded attorney’s fees, the Maryland Appellate Court ruled.
In upholding a decision by the Montgomery County Circuit Court, the appeals court also concluded that the amended complaint failed to plead facts of improper purpose and the commissioner and district court both found probable cause to issue the order.
The case is Charles v. Charles, No. 2342, Sept. Term, 2023 (filed May 30, 2025) (Judges Berger, NAZARIAN, Ripken).
FACTS: After years of strain in their marriage, Tiffany Summerfield Charles told her husband, Nathan Charles that she wanted a divorce. Husband, however, was “adamantly opposed to divorce.” He attempted one morning “to rekindle an emotional and physical connection” with wife, but she made clear that his advances were unwanted, rejected them and reiterated her desire for a divorce.
Husband filed a complaint for a limited divorce that afternoon. Wife then filed a petition for a protective order, alleging, among other things, that husband’s “attempt at reconciliation” was sexual abuse. The district court granted wife a temporary protective order and, within that order, gave wife temporary possession of the marital home and prohibited husband from entering it.
Husband then sued wife, alleging that she made false statements in her protective order petition. He later filed an amended complaint and dismissed all but two claims, one for abuse of process and one
for malicious use of process. The circuit court dismissed the amended complaint and awarded wife $12,693 in attorney’s fees.
LAW: Regarding the abuse of process claim, husband asserts that wife used the interim and temporary protective orders to obtain possession and use of the marital home while the divorce proceedings were pending and “to extract concessions from [him] during the divorce negotiations.” The amended complaint, however, fails to plead facts that could support this conclusory claim of an improper purpose. Temporary use and possession of a shared residence is a permissible form of relief in protective orders.
Nevertheless, husband argues that the relief offered under these statutes is distinct from a property agreement in a divorce settlement. Even if this were an accurate characterization though, the amended complaint fails to allege facts sufficient to establish that wife used the protective order process to gain an unfair or inappropriate advantage in the divorce rather than for the legitimate purpose of securing safety from an alleged abuser.
Husband also alleged that wife’s “false statements caused [him] to lose at least one client, resulting in a loss of at least $5,000.00 in fees.” This does not satisfy the damages element for an abuse of process claim.
The second count that remained in husband’s amended complaint was malicious use of process. Unlike a claim for abuse of process, which centers on the improper use of a process after a case or action has been initiated, a claim for malicious use of process is concerned with the bringing of the case in the first instance.
Husband alleged in the amended complaint that wife filed the petition without probable cause. Specifically, he claimed that his conduct “did not constitute the crimes that [wife] claimed [he] had committed,” and “no reasonable person in her position would fear for her own safety or the safety of her children in the context of [his] cited conduct.” The fact that the commissioner and the district court found reasonable grounds to believe wife had been abused, however, established that she had probable cause to initiate the protective order proceedings, a judicial finding husband knew well about before filing his complaint.
Husband also alleged that wife “instituted the [protective order] proceeding with malice, specifically in retaliation for [husband] filing a complaint in limited divorce.” Even if she had acted with malintent, however, husband’s claim cannot survive when wife in fact had probable cause to file the petition against husband.
The second question husband raises on appeal is whether the court abused its discretion in granting wife’s motion for attorney’s fees. It did not. The circuit court considered the entire record, including husband’s opposition to wife’s motion for attorney’s fees, the history of the protective order proceedings and husband’s insistence on pursuing these meritless collateral complaints against his wife alongside their divorce proceedings for what the court seemed to agree were inappropriate motives. Under these circumstances, this court sees no abuse of discretion in the court’s decision to grant wife’s motion for attorneys’ fees in the (unchallenged) amount requested.
Judgment of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County affirmed.
Can $1,000 at birth change a child’s future?
associateD press
WASHINGTON — When children of wealthy families reach adulthood, they often benefit from the largesse of parents in the form of a trust fund. It’s another way they get a leg up on less affluent peers, who may receive nothing at all — or even be expected to support their families.
But what if all children — regardless of their family’s circumstances — could get a financial boost when they turn 18?
That’s the idea behind a House GOP proposal backed by President Donald Trump. It would create tax-deferred investment accounts — coined “Trump Accounts” — for babies born in the U.S. over the next four years, starting them each with $1,000. At age 18, they could withdraw the money to put toward a down payment for a home, education or to start a small business. If the money is used for other purposes, it’ll be taxed at a higher rate.
“This is a pro-family initiative that will help millions of Americans harness the strength of our economy to lift up the next generation,” Trump said at a White House event Monday for the proposal. “They’ll really be getting a big jump on life, especially if we get a little bit lucky with some of the numbers and the economy.”
While the investment would be symbolically meaningful, it’s a relatively small financial commitment to addressing child poverty in the wider $7 trillion federal budget. Assuming a 7% return, the $1,000 would grow to roughly $3,570 over 18 years.
It builds on the concept of “baby bonds,” which two states — California and Connecticut — and the District of Columbia have introduced as a way to reduce gaps between wealthy people and poor people.
At at time when wealth inequality
has soured some young people on capitalism, giving them a stake in Wall Street could be the antidote, said Utah Republican Rep. Blake Moore, who led the effort to get the initiative into a massive House spending bill.
“We know that America’s economic engine is working, but not everyone feels connected to its value and the ways it can benefit them,” Moore wrote in an oped for the Washington Examiner. “If we can demonstrate to our next generation the benefits of investing and financial health, we can put them on a path toward prosperity.”
Families of all income levels could receive ‘Trump Accounts’
The bill would require at least one parent to produce a Social Security number with work authorizations, meaning the U.S. citizen children born to some categories of immigrants would be excluded from the benefit. But unlike other baby bond programs, which generally target disadvantaged groups, this one would be available to families of all incomes.
Economist Darrick Hamilton of The New School, who first pitched the idea of baby bonds a quarter-century ago, said the GOP proposal would exacerbate rather than reduce wealth gaps. When he dreamed up baby bonds, he envisioned a program that would be universal but would give children from poor families a larger endowment than their wealthier peers, in an attempt to level the playing field. The money would be handled by the government, not by private firms on Wall Street.
“It is upside down,” Hamilton said. “It’s going to enhance inequality.”
Hamilton added that $1,000 — even with interest — would not be enough to make a significant difference for a child living in poverty.
A Silicon Valley investor who created
the blueprint for the proposal, Brad Gerstner, said in an interview with CNBC last year that the accounts could help address the wealth gap and the loss of faith in capitalism that represent an existential crisis for the U.S.
“The rise and fall of nations occurs when you have a wealth gap that grows, when you have people who lose faith in the system,” Gerstner said. “We’re not agentless. We can do something.”
Critics say poor families have more immediate needs
The proposal comes as Congressional Republicans and Trump face backlash for proposed cuts to programs that poor families with children rely on, including food assistance and Medicaid.
Even some who back the idea of baby bonds are skeptical, noting Trump wants to cut higher education grants and programs that aid young people on the cusp of adulthood — the same age group Trump Accounts are supposed to help. Pending federal legislation would slash Medicaid and food and housing assistance that many families with children rely on.
Young adults who grew up in poverty often struggle with covering basics like rent and transportation — expenses that Trump Accounts could not be tapped to cover, said Eve Valdez, an advocate for youth in foster care in southern California. Valdez, a former foster youth, said she was homeless when she turned 18.
Accounts for newborn children that cannot be accessed for 18 years mean little to families struggling to meet basic needs today, said Shimica Gaskins of End Child Poverty California.
“Having children have health care, having their families have access to SNAP and food are what we really need ... the country focused on,” Gaskins said.
Judge denies privacy in divorce case Of doctor charged with trying to kill wife
A judge denied a request to keep proceedings private in a divorce case for a Hawaii anesthesiologist accused of attempting to kill his wife on a hiking trail.
Gerhardt Konig’s wife filed for divorce last month after he was indicted on an attempted murder charge. Konig has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say he pushed her toward the edge of a cliff, attempted to inject her with a syringe and then bashed her head with a rock while they were hiking in Honolulu in March.
The couple had been visiting Oahu while their children stayed home on Maui.
An attorney representing the wife filed a motion to withhold the divorce case from the public to protect the privacy of the couple’s young children. The wife also objected to allowing news cameras to document their divorce proceedings.
According to court records, a judge denied her requests to seal the case during a hearing Monday.
An attorney for Konig said he and his client don’t have any comments on the hearing or ruling.
Konig didn’t oppose the wife’s motion to seal the divorce case.
Associated Press
GOP proposal would give child $1,000 at birth for the future
When children of wealthy families reach adulthood, they often benefit from the largesse of parents in the form of a trust fund. It’s another way they get a leg up on less affluent peers, who may receive nothing at all — or even be expected to support their families.
But what if all children — regardless of their family’s circumstances — could get a financial boost when they turn 18?
That’s the idea behind a House GOP proposal backed by President Donald Trump. It would create tax-deferred investment accounts — coined “Trump Accounts” — for babies born in the U.S. over the next four years, starting them each with $1,000. At age 18, they could withdraw the money to put toward a down payment for a home, education or to start a small business. If the money is used for other purposes, it’ll be taxed at a higher rate.
While the investment would be symbolically meaningful, it’s a relatively small
Monthly Memo
financial commitment to addressing child poverty in the wider $7 trillion federal budget. Assuming a 7% return, the $1,000 would grow to roughly $3,570 over 18 years.
It builds on the concept of “baby bonds,” which two states — California and Connecticut — and the District of Columbia have introduced as a way to reduce gaps between wealthy people and poor people.
Associated Press
No-show lawyer, client stuck with property division
One need look no further than the Plymouth, Massachusetts, Probate & Family Court to discover what can happen when the golden rule on assumptions is not heeded.
In Milka v. Milka, defendant Anita Milka wanted more time to conduct property appraisals before trial in her divorce from plaintiff William Milka.
According to court records, Judge Denise L. Meagher had scheduled trial for Dec. 5, 2023. But on Nov. 15, defense counsel Beyanid Montoya-Sheehan filed a motion for continuance, citing both the desired appraisals and the fact that she had other matters scheduled for Dec. 5.
Meagher took no action on the motion for continuance, so the original trial date remained on the schedule. But on Dec. 5, neither the defendant nor her attorney appeared for trial, though the plaintiff and his lawyer were ready and waiting.
After a two-hour delay and frantic but unsuccessful efforts by court personnel to reach the defendant and Montoya-Sheehan, Meagher proceeded with the trial.
On Jan. 10, 2024, she issued a judgment of divorce nisi that included a division of marital property based on valuations in financial statements the parties had submitted in the case.
BridgeTower Media
In vitro fertilization emerges as a central issue in the Alabama Supreme Court race
An Alabama fertility lawyer announced her candidacy for the state Supreme Court, emphasizing her personal experience with in vitro fertilization and blasting a controversial 2024 decision that ruled frozen embryos can be considered children under state law.
AshLeigh Dunham on Wednesday an-
nounced she will run in the Democratic primary in 2026 for the seat held by Republican Associate Justice Greg Shaw.
Dunham currently works as a court referee in juvenile court in Jefferson County, and also owns a law firm that specializes in helping families navigate “assisted fertilization,” according to her statement. Dunham said her work with fertility law is personal because she left Alabama to use IVF to conceive her daughter.
“Our Supreme Court needs justices who understand the real challenges families face. The court has made some anti-family rulings that are wildly out of touch with the people of Alabama,” said Dunham, referring to the 2024 ruling that said three couples whose frozen embryos were destroyed in an accident at a storage facility could pursue wrongful death lawsuits for their “extrauterine children.”
Incumbent Justice Shaw concurred in the decision and wrote a special opinion. Seven of the nine justices concurred in the result, one gave partial concurrence and one dissented.
The ruling temporarily brought IVF services to an abrupt halt statewide, drawing criticism from politicians on both sides of the aisle. The ruling swiftly prompted legislation in Alabama that shields doctors from potential legal liability.
Associated Press
Swedish inquiry finds longstanding abuse, fraud in international adoptions
A Swedish commission recommended that international adoptions be stopped after an investigation found a series of abuses and fraud dating back decades.
Sweden is the latest country to examine its international adoption policies after allegations of unethical practices, particularly in South Korea.
The commission was formed in 2021 following a report by Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter detailing Sweden’s problematic international adoption system. Monday’s recommendations were sent to Minister of Social Services Camilla Waltersson Grönvall, who said her department would review the report.
The commission called on the government to formally apologize to adoptees and their families.
