Filing for Divorce, MD, custody issue

[nofeardad]

What is the name of your state? MD

My wife filed for sole custody, but no divorce was spoken of; there is no initial determination yet. Now I want to file for absolute divorce. Should I ask for custody on the divorce papers? If I do, will it change the judge already handling the custody issues? If I don't, can wife answer divorce papers asking for sole custody again and start the whole thing over AGAIN? Please help.

[LdiJ]

Originally Posted by nofeardad

What is the name of your state? MD

My wife filed for sole custody, but no divorce was spoken of; there is no initial determination yet. Now I want to file for absolute divorce. Should I ask for custody on the divorce papers? If I do, will it change the judge already handling the custody issues? If I don't, can wife answer divorce papers asking for sole custody again and start the whole thing over AGAIN? Please help.

You can certainly file for divorce if you wish to do so. However, you already have a custody proceeding in the works, therefore the issue of custody would remain with the current case, with the current judge.

Depending on how the courts work in your area, its likely/probable that your divorce would end up before the same judge as well.

However, even if it were possible for you to get rid of the current proceeding by filing for divorce and asking for custody in the divorce, of course your wife would be able to respond to your divorce petition by asking for sole custody again.

[Gracie3787]

nofeardad, it helps everyone if you post your question only once and keep all further questions in the same thread. You'll get better answers and it's less confusing to those who are trying to answer.