Posted in Divorce
High conflict custody disputes frequently continue long after a divorce is finalized. Disputes over school decisions, medical care, extracurricular activities, and schedule changes recur repeatedly, and returning to court for each one is both costly and emotionally exhausting for everyone involved, including the children. Parenting coordinators are a resource Maryland courts use specifically to help parents in these situations manage ongoing conflict without litigation.
What a Parenting Coordinator Does
A parenting coordinator is a neutral professional, typically a licensed mental health professional or an attorney with family law experience, appointed to assist parents in implementing a parenting plan and resolving disputes about day-to-day custody and visitation matters. Unlike a mediator, whose role is purely facilitative, a parenting coordinator may have limited authority to make binding decisions on certain disputes, depending on what the court order establishing their role authorizes.
In Maryland, parenting coordinators operate under the framework established by the court’s appointment order. That order specifies the scope of the coordinator’s authority, the issues they can address, how their costs will be allocated between the parties, and how long the appointment will last. The Maryland Courts have increasingly used parenting coordination as a way to reduce the burden on the court system in high conflict cases while keeping disputes from escalating unnecessarily.
A Potomac high conflict divorce lawyer can advise on whether parenting coordination is appropriate in your case, how to request it from the court, and what the appointment process looks like.
When Parenting Coordination Is Most Useful
Not every custody case benefits from parenting coordination. It tends to be most effective in situations where:
- Parents have frequent, ongoing disputes about the implementation of an existing parenting plan
- The disputes involve relatively minor day-to-day decisions rather than major custody modifications
- Both parents are capable of engaging in the process without a significant power imbalance that coordination cannot address
- The children are being affected by repeated conflict and court involvement
In cases involving domestic violence, significant power imbalances, or situations where one parent’s behavior rises to a level requiring court intervention, parenting coordination may not be appropriate and other legal remedies may need to be pursued instead.
How Decisions Are Made
When parents cannot agree on a specific dispute through the parenting coordinator’s facilitation, the coordinator may make a recommendation or, if authorized by the court order, issue a temporary decision that is binding unless a party appeals it to the court. This binding authority is what distinguishes parenting coordinators from mediators and is why the scope of their role is carefully defined in the appointment order.
Parties retain the right to bring significant disagreements to the court, and the coordinator’s decisions can be challenged. The goal, however, is to keep routine disputes from becoming court proceedings at all.
Costs and Practical Considerations
Parenting coordinators charge for their time, and those costs can accumulate in high conflict situations where disputes arise frequently. The court typically allocates costs between the parties, sometimes equally and sometimes based on ability to pay or which party is generating more conflict.
Fait & DiLima Family Law works with clients navigating high conflict custody situations in Potomac and throughout Maryland, including cases where parenting coordination has been ordered or is being considered as a next step.
If ongoing custody disputes are consuming time, money, and emotional energy without resolution, speaking with a Potomac high conflict divorce lawyer about whether parenting coordination or other mechanisms might reduce that burden is a practical conversation worth having.
