Shurupoff v. Vockroth

WILNER, Judge.

In Ross v. Hoffman, 280 Md. 172, 372 A.2d 582 (1977), we announced standards and guidelines for the judicial resolution of child custody disputes between the child’s parent and someone who is not the child’s parent — a third party. Synthesizing holdings and statements from earlier cases, we made clear, first, that “the best interest of the child standard is always determinative in child custody disputes,” including those kinds of cases. Id. at 178, 372 A.2d at 587. More particularly, we held that, in disputes between a parent and a third party, “it is presumed that the child’s…