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Md. Code, Family Law § 9-301

This is the official text of Md. Code, Family Law § 9-301, part of Maryland’s Code, Family Law — governs marriage, divorce, child custody and support, and adoption.

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§9–301.

Official statutory text

(a) In this subtitle the following words have the meanings indicated.

(b) (1) “Lawful custodian” means a person who is authorized to have custody of and exercise control over a child who is under the age of 16 years.

(2) “Lawful custodian” includes a person who is authorized to have custody by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction in this State or any other state.

(c) “Relative” means:

(1) a parent;

(2) a grandparent or other ancestor;

(3) a brother;

(4) a sister;

(5) an aunt;

(6) an uncle; or

(7) an individual who was a lawful custodian before the commission of an act that violates § 9-304 or § 9-305 of this subtitle.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.