Charged with something you don't fully understand? Start here. The terms behind Maryland DUI, criminal, injury, and family cases — explained in plain English by the attorneys who handle them every day.
The complete, final end of a marriage in Maryland — restoring both spouses to single status and resolving property and support.
Learn more →The license suspension the MVA imposes for a failed or refused test. It runs on its own track, independent of what happens in court.
Learn more →Circumstances — a very high BAC, an accident, a child in the car — that can push DUI penalties beyond the standard range.
Learn more →Payments from one spouse to another during or after a divorce, meant to address a financial imbalance.
Learn more →Your first formal court appearance, where the charges are read and you enter a plea. Having counsel before this point protects your options.
Learn more →The percentage of alcohol in your bloodstream. In Maryland, 0.08 is the per se limit for DUI; a lower reading can still support a DWI.
Learn more →Money or conditions set to secure your release while a case is pending. We push for release on terms you can actually meet.
Learn more →The standard Maryland courts use to decide custody, weighing stability, each parent's role, the child's needs, and more.
Learn more →A device that estimates your BAC from your breath. In Maryland the evidentiary breath test happens at the station, and its results can be contested.
Learn more →Maryland's legal term for regulated drugs. CDS charges range from possession to distribution, with penalties that scale accordingly.
Learn more →Court-ordered payments to cover a child's needs, calculated in Maryland using state guidelines based on income and custody.
Learn more →A search you agree to. You can decline — and declining is not evidence of wrongdoing.
Learn more →A fee arrangement common in injury cases — the attorney's fee comes from any recovery, so you generally pay nothing up front.
Learn more →Maryland's strict rule: if you're found even 1% at fault for your own injury, you may recover nothing. It makes skilled representation especially critical here.
Learn more →Questioning while you're not free to leave. This is the trigger for Miranda warnings.
Learn more →The compensation you can recover — medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering among them.
Learn more →The formal letter to an insurer laying out your claim, the facts, and the compensation you're seeking.
Learn more →The pre-trial exchange of evidence between the State and the defense — police reports, video, test results, and more.
Learn more →An alternative to prosecution — often education or community service — that can lead to a charge being dismissed once completed.
Learn more →Maryland's more serious impaired-driving charge — for greater impairment or a BAC of 0.08 or higher. A first offense can bring fines, points, a license suspension, and up to a year in jail.
Learn more →The lesser of Maryland's two impaired-driving charges — but still serious, with fines, points, and possible jail. You can be charged with DWI even below a 0.08 BAC.
Learn more →A court order that removes a charge or record from public view once you're eligible, so it stops surfacing on most background checks.
Learn more →A serious crime carrying the potential for more than a year of incarceration, plus lasting consequences for your rights and record.
Learn more →The roadside tests — walk-and-turn, one-leg stand, and eye tracking — used to gauge impairment. In Maryland they're voluntary, and you can decline politely.
Learn more →The “follow my pen with your eyes” test. Officers look for involuntary eye jerking that can signal impairment — though many sober conditions cause it too.
Learn more →A breath-test device wired to your car's ignition that prevents it from starting if it detects alcohol. Often required after a DUI.
Learn more →Maryland's program that lets many drivers keep driving with an interlock installed instead of serving a full license suspension.
Learn more →By driving in Maryland, you've already agreed to a breath or blood test if lawfully stopped for DUI. Refusing triggers its own automatic license penalties.
Learn more →The right to make major decisions for your child — school, medical care, and religion among them. It can be joint or sole.
Learn more →Legal responsibility for the harm that occurred. Establishing who's liable is the heart of an injury case.
Learn more →A Maryland status short of a full divorce — a court-supervised separation that can settle support and other issues while spouses live apart.
Learn more →How far back the court counts your prior offenses when deciding penalties on a new one. Longer look-backs mean steeper consequences.
Learn more →The warning police must give before questioning you in custody — your right to stay silent and to have a lawyer. If they skip it, statements may be tossed.
Learn more →The less serious category of crime — but don't dismiss it. A misdemeanor can still carry jail time, fines, and a record that follows you to jobs and housing.
Learn more →A request asking the judge to throw out evidence that was obtained illegally. Win it, and the State's case can fall apart.
Learn more →An administrative hearing with the Motor Vehicle Administration to protect your driver's license — separate from your criminal case. You have only 10 days from the stop to request one.
Learn more →Failing to use reasonable care and causing harm as a result — the foundation of most injury claims.
Learn more →Latin for “we shall no longer prosecute.” The State's decision to drop a charge against you.
Learn more →Compensation for the physical pain and emotional distress an injury causes — beyond bills and lost wages.
Learn more →A Maryland disposition where the judge withholds a conviction. Complete probation successfully and you avoid a conviction on your record — often the difference-maker in a case.
Learn more →The BAC at which the law presumes you're impaired — 0.08 in Maryland — regardless of how you were actually driving.
Learn more →Where the child primarily lives and who handles day-to-day care. It can be shared in many arrangements.
Learn more →An agreement to plead guilty, often to a reduced charge, in exchange for a lighter or more predictable outcome.
Learn more →Maryland assigns points to driving offenses. Enough points can trigger MVA action against your license, on top of any court penalty.
Learn more →A portable roadside breath test. In Maryland it's voluntary and its number generally can't be used against you at trial — only to help establish probable cause.
Learn more →An early hearing in some felony cases where a judge decides whether there's enough evidence to send the case forward.
Learn more →The reasonable, fact-based belief police need to arrest you or conduct a search. Weak probable cause is a common defense angle.
Learn more →A civil court order to protect someone from domestic violence or abuse. It can order no contact, remove someone from a home, and more.
Learn more →The lower standard of proof police need to briefly stop and detain you — less than probable cause, but still based on specific facts.
Learn more →Money a court orders a defendant to pay to make a victim whole for their losses.
Learn more →Limited driving privileges — to and from work or treatment, for example — sometimes available during a suspension.
Learn more →Your constitutional right to a lawyer. Invoke it clearly and questioning should stop until your attorney is present.
Learn more →You don't have to answer questions. Staying polite and quiet isn't an admission of guilt — it's a protection. Ask for a lawyer, out loud.
Learn more →Resolving a claim without a trial, through a negotiated agreement and payment.
Learn more →The three roadside tests validated by federal (NHTSA) research. Officers are trained to score them a precise way — and when they don't, the results can be challenged.
Learn more →The deadline for the State to bring charges. Once it passes, most cases can no longer be prosecuted.
Learn more →In Maryland you generally have three years from the date of injury to file most personal-injury claims, with some shorter exceptions.
Learn more →A Maryland option that moves a charge to an inactive docket — not a dismissal, but not prosecuted either. It can be brought back within a year.
Learn more →A formal court order requiring someone to appear, testify, or produce documents.
Learn more →A brief investigative detention based on reasonable suspicion, along with a limited pat-down for weapons.
Learn more →Declining the station breath or blood test. It avoids a BAC result, but carries an automatic — often longer — license suspension under implied-consent law.
Learn more →A plea where you don't admit guilt but accept the court's punishment as if you had. In Maryland it's treated much like a guilty plea for sentencing — and for some charges can still trigger consequences like registration.
Learn more →Maryland sorts registerable sex offenses into three tiers that set how long you must register: Tier I is 15 years, Tier II is 25 years, and Tier III is life. Read the full guide.
Learn more →The Fourth Amendment's protection against searches without a warrant or a valid exception. Evidence from an unlawful search can often be excluded.
Learn more →For drivers under 21, Maryland charges impaired driving at a BAC of just 0.02 — a small fraction of the adult limit.
Learn more →A confidential review of your case, at no cost. We respond within 24 hours.
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