Venue

• Jurisdiction: Maryland

III. VENUE

A. Original Venue

Courts & Judicial Proceedings §§ 6-201 and 6-602 make it clear that proper venue is to be determined at the time an action is filed.⁶⁴ Venue is to be distinguished from jurisdiction. Venue concerns the place, among courts having jurisdiction, that an action will be litigated.⁶⁵

Courts & Judicial Proceedings § 6-201, is the general venue statute, and Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 6-202(5) authorizes additional venue where "the mother of the child resides." Neither statute has priority.

According to Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 6-201, action shall be brought in county where defendant resides, carries on a regular business, is employed, or habitually engages in a vocation. Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 6-201(b) allows suit to be brought in the "county where the cause of action arose" if there are multiple defendants and no single venue applies to all of them.

However, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 6-201(b) applies only to causes of action sounding in contract or tort.⁶⁶

According to Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 6-202(5), an action relating to custody, guardianship, maintenance or support of a child may be brought where the father, alleged father, or mother of the child resides, or where the child resides. The residency of a child is deemed to be the same as that of the person to whom custody has been granted.⁶⁷

These rules do not apply in adoption proceedings. Pursuant to Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 6-203(e)(1) adoptions may be brought only in county or counties:

(1) Where petitioner is domiciled;

(2)

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