Do mothers have an advantage in custody proceedings?
An honest answer to this question must separate what Maryland courts and law aspire to from what really happens. In Maryland, the legal preference for awarding custody to mothers was abolished by the courts and by the state ERA many years ago. Still, mothers are awarded custody much more often than fathers. This could be because the maternal preference still survives in the hearts and minds of some judges, or it could be because primary caretakers are more often mothers than fathers.
