In an article published by Law.com on March 25, 2026, Christopher Castellano discusses recent changes to Maryland’s child support framework, including the adoption of the Multifamily Adjustment, which took effect October 1, 2025.
Chris explains that the update is not intended to reinvent Maryland’s child support system, but rather to refine it to better reflect modern family structures. Maryland continues to rely on a formula-based approach that uses parents’ income and certain child-related expenses to calculate a presumptively correct child support award.
He also notes that while the guidelines are standardized, disputes often arise over how key inputs—such as a parent’s actual income or physical custody arrangements—are defined and applied. With the addition of the Multifamily Adjustment, which accounts for children living in a parent’s household who are not part of the support order, those interpretations may take on greater importance in future cases.
A central theme of the framework, Chris emphasizes, is the continued focus on children’s welfare. “It is in this best-interests backstop that the ever-present goal of the Maryland legislature remains apparent: the preservation and consideration of that which is in the best interests of the minor child in question,” he said.
Read the full article “Maryland Child Support Law in 2026: A Guidelines System Adapts to Blended Families” (PDF)
