Gerard Tolland
Senior attorney
Divorce, separation and child support.
Gerard handles the family-court side of a household in transition: divorce, separation, parenting plans and child support, for parents who are also working through an agency's case plan. He negotiates and, when it helps, takes part in mediation, so that the two cases pull in the same direction instead of against each other.
Handles
- Divorce
- Separation
- Parenting plans
- Child support
Admissions, courts and schooling
Bar admissions
Maryland
2007
Virginia
2009
Courts
Circuit Court for Montgomery County
District Court of Maryland
Appellate Court of Maryland
Education
J.D., George Washington University Law School
B.A., Gettysburg College
Languages
English
Memberships
Maryland State Bar Association
How Gerard coordinates two cases
A parent with an open agency case and a divorce is answering to two sets of deadlines and, sometimes, two judges. Gerard starts by putting every date on one calendar, so that nothing you agree to in one case quietly undercuts the other.
He is direct about money. Support, housing and the cost of a case plan's classes and appointments all press on the same budget, and he asks about them early so that a settlement doesn't set you up to miss a requirement.
Where the other parent is willing, he will often propose mediation first. Where they aren't, he prepares as though the judge will decide, and tells you honestly which path he thinks serves the children.
The best outcome is the one both of you can follow on a Tuesday in March, not only on the day of the hearing.