Section 7-103.2 - Child support and custody educational seminar.
§ 7-103.2. Child support and custody educational seminar.
(a) Applicability.- This section applies to an action for divorce in which issues of child support, custody, or visitation are raised.
(b) Participation by all parties.- Prior to granting a decree of divorce, the court may require all parties to participate in an educational seminar that is designed to educate parents about the effects, and to minimize the disruption, of a divorce on the lives of children.
(c) Rules.-
(1) The Court of Appeals shall adopt rules to implement this section.
(2) Rules adopted in accordance with this subsection shall:
(i) provide for the content of the seminar required under this section;
(ii) require successful completion of the seminar by all parties to the action within a certain time after the service of the original complaint upon the defendant;
(iii) establish sanctions for failure to successfully complete the seminar required under this section;
(iv) for purposes of funding the cost of the seminar, establish a fee that:
1. shall be assessed as costs; and
2. may be waived under appropriate circumstances; and
(v) establish criteria for exemption from the requirement that the parties participate in an educational seminar, except that a court may not exempt the parties from attending the educational seminar if there is any evidence of domestic violence or child abuse or neglect.
(d) Contract to provide seminar.- The seminar required under this section may be provided under contract with a public or private agency.
(e) Seminar proceedings inadmissible in divorce proceedings.- Unless the parties stipulate otherwise, any information about a party, including statements or reports, obtained from an educational seminar required by this section, is not admissible during the action for divorce of that party.
(f) Attendance.- This section may not be construed to require the parties to an action for divorce to attend the educational seminar together.
[1997, ch. 323.]