Corroboration No Longer Required Obtaining A Decree of Divorce in Maryland

Effective October 1, 2016, Maryland Courts no longer require corroboration to obtain a decree of divorce. What is corroboration? The rules required that  a party seeking a divorce needed a third party to present testimony to corroborate the grounds for divorce. If you were requesting the divorce you needed a witness to come to court an testify that you and your spouse had actually lived separate and apart during the entire separation. The newly passed Senate Bill 359 effectively deletes Family Law Article §7-101(b) of the Family Law Article eliminating the requirement for corroboration.   This is particularly helpful to parties seeking an uncontested divorce, including on the grounds of “Mutual Consent”, obviating the need to bring a third party to testify.   Additionally, Senate Bill 359 deletes Family Law Article §8-104 in its entirety (more particularly, Family Law Article §8-104 allowed a separation agreement to be corroboration of the voluntary separation).