Homeschooling Laws In Maryland

Thinking about homeschooling your kids? You may want to consider the legal implications. The Home School Legal Defense Association provides a brief overview of the applicable laws in Maryland. For a more detailed analysis, the Association also provides a 2 page PDF entitled
"Maryland-A Legal Analysis."

Posting Pictures On Your Website

What are the legal implications of posting photographs of individuals on your website? If you’re interested in this topic, the case on point for this issue seems to be Lawrence v. A.S. Abell Company, 299 Md. 697 (1984). Unfortunately, this case doesn’t appear to be online. This page does provide a brief overview of the case, however. Also take a look at the Maryland Tort Law Handbook Sec. 15.3. From these sources, it looks like one should obtain permission from the individuals displayed in the photograph. Take a look at an example of one such Photo Release Form from the American Association of Law Libraries.

MD Lead Poisoning Prevention Program

The National Center for Healthy Housing has a page on the Maryland Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, Housing Bill 760 which was enacted in May 1994 and was incorporated into the Code in Environmental Article 6-8. The law was intended to make pre 1950 privately owned rental units safer for children. See this page for some of the highlights of the Act.

Maryland Adoption Laws

Adoption.org, a website which gathers resources on the net relating to adoption, has a page on Maryland adoption laws. The links on this page simply provide summaries of adoption laws in the Code, organized by topic. Still, for a quick overview, may be useful.

Tax Refund Database

If you're still waiting to receive tax refunds from the IRS, you may want to search the Baltimore Sun's Tax Database For Unclaimed Checks and Credits. According to the IRS, 1,485 Maryland refund checks, totaling over $1.2 million were returned to the IRS by the Postal Service marked "undeliverable."

Maryland Trademark Office

Filing or searching for a trademark in MD? Check out the Trademark Division of the Office of the Secretary of State. Included on this page are MD trademark laws, a database of Maryland trade and service marks and an application form for filing a trademark. The site also provides a useful page with links to other state trademark offices around the country.

Buying/Selling A Car In MD

If you’re buying or selling a vehicle in MD through a private transaction, you should check out the MVA’s “Buying A Vehicle In Maryland” guide. This guide also provides info on donating your car to charity.

‘05 General Assembly Laws Passed

There are a couple of items worth noting in the May 13, 2005 Maryland Register. First, clicking on the “General Assembly” link gives you a full listing of laws passed by the MD General Assembly during the ’05 session. Second, by clicking on “The Judiciary” link, you can see the first published listing of the attorneys who have most recently passed the Bar.

Code of Baltimore County Regulations

I happened to notice on the Baltimore Couny Government page that the County is in the process of publishing it's own version of COMAR, dubbed the Code of Baltimore County Regulations. I've never heard of such a thing on the county level! The COBAR is scheduled to be completed by 2006. In the meantime, agencies (eg. Food Service Facilities) are publishing proposed or adopted regs on their individual web pages.

Victim Information And Notification System

The Maryland version of VINE-The Victim Information and Notification Everyday system-went online about a month ago. VINE allows you to recieve notification about an offender's change in status--ie., out on bail, released, etc. You can search by last name and partial first name. The system provides basic information about the offender, including name, DOB, gender, race, custody status, and the agency where they're held. You can select notification either by phone or email.

Predatory Lending Laws

The National Conference on State Legislatures offers a list of legislation (scroll down to see Maryland) enacted to counter predatory lending schemes. Here's a newclip from the time when the '02 legislation was enacted. The Maryland People's Law site has a brief description and a list of links to more info on this topic.

Tenants In Common Investments

Today's Daily Record has an article about tenants-in-common investments. The article claims that Maryland is poised to be among the states that will see a huge rise in these type of investments. Check out this article for a description of this new investment structure. The IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2002-22 which deals with tenant-in-common exchanges and their relationship to so-called "1031 exchanges." This article from the Tenant In Common Association discusses the IRS ruling.

Maryland Motor Vehicle Laws/Legislation

The Maryland Motor Vehicle Administation provides access to recently enacted legislation relating to motor vehicles. The page does not include 2005 legislation. Naturally, Maryland's motor vehicle laws can be accessed via the Maryland Code under the "Transportation" title. This information is also available in print, for a fee, from MVA under the title "Maryland Motor Vehicle Law Book."