Jan 17, 2010 | Family Law |
Divorce is purely a matter of statute and each of the acceptable grounds for divorce in Ohio are fixed by statute. This means that you and your spouse cannot simply list whatever reasons you personally have for wanting the divorce in your Pro Se complaint and have the Court accept them. Rather, your complaint for divorce must list one or more legally sufficient grounds, enumerated under the applicable statute, and put on evidence of that ground at the hearing.
So, what are legally sufficient grounds in Ohio? Generally, any of the following will suffice:
1. Either party entering into a bigamous marriage
2. Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
3. Adultery (obviously!)
4. Extreme cruelty (carefully defined under statute)
5. Fraudulent contract (marriage is a contract, after all)
6. Any gross neglect of marital duty
7. Habitual drunkenness
8. Imprisonment of the adverse party in a state or federal prison when the petition is filed with the Court
9. Procurement of a divorce outside Ohio, by a husband or wife, by virtue of which the party who procured it is released from the obligations of the marriage, while such obligations remain binding upon the other party
10. On the application of either party, when husband and wife have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
So there you go, now you know that “he is a jerk” will not suffice as legally sufficient grounds to state in your complaint. You must plead and prove one of statutorily enumerated grounds established by the Ohio Legislature to obtain a divorce.
Aug 19, 2009 | Family Law |
Child Support in Ohio is established by statute and is based upon a standard formula. Only in rare cases does the Court deviate from the amount that the formula prescribes for the divorcing couples’ situation (if the divorcing couple makes a lot of money or very little money combined, the Court has the power to ignore the prescribed formula and establish an amount itself). This formula is useful and may be fair at the time of the divorce decree, but many clients want to know what happens if circumstances change such that the amount of child support is too much or too little a few years down the road. For example, maybe the father has lost his job and can no longer pay the amount originally set-down in the divorce decree. Or, say the wife wins the lottery and now has a better financial position than she did when the couple divorced. Well, a child support obligor can ask for an Administrative review of the child support amount (through the Child Support Enforcement Agency) and ask that it be reduced based upon a change of circumstances. Or, the obligor can file a motion with the Court (as a post-decree motion) and ask that the Court modify the amount based upon the change in circumstances. If the Child Support Agency (CSEA) declines the obligor’s request for a modification downward, he can appeal that ruling to the Court afterward. So, in short, if you are a current child support obligor and you feel that based upon a change in circumstances, the amount you are paying is no longer appropriate, there are avenues to pursue where you might have it reduced. Speak with an attorney about whether you can have your child support reduced (or increased) and how best to go about it.
Aug 2, 2009 | Family Law |
It can be very confusing as to which court is the proper court to file a motion for alteration of parental rights and responsibilities. Do I file in the Domestic Relations Court? Or, do I file in the Juvenile Court? How are they different? It seems that they both handle child custody issues in Ohio, so which is the right one? Well, the answer is a simple one. If the parents were married and divorced, then the Domestic relations Court will handle all post-decree motions, including those related to child custody, child support and spousal support. However, if the parents were never married, then any original custody determination was made in the Juvenile Court and that Court would handle all subsequent motions related to child custody. Basically, go back to the Court where the original determination was made. If you cannot remember which Court or find your papers, then simply apply the general rule.
If you have never been married to the other parent, and there has never been a Court Order determining child custody, then you would need to file in the Juvenile Court initially.
In Sum: always file in the court that originally issued any order respecting child custody. If there has never been a Court Order respecting child custody and you ar
May 3, 2009 | Family Law |
Many divorcing couples say that they want to work out Joint-Custody of their children, but wonder how to make that a part of the Divorce Decree. Well, the answer is that there is such a thing as Joint Custody under Ohio divorce statutes, but it is not actually called “Joint Custody”. Rather, in Ohio, what people generally mean by Joint Custody is something called “Shared Parenting Plan”. With a shared parenting plan, the parties agree to share the parenting responsibilities such that one parent is not designated as the sole residential parent and legal custodian of the minor children. The parties agree on some form of shared parenting plan and submit the plan to the court for its approval. If the Court accepts the shared parenting plan, then both parents will have custody of the children, as opposed to one parent being the residential/custodial parent and the other having visitation rights only.
Apr 26, 2009 | Criminal Law |
Most people think that when someone is indicted in Ohio for a felony that there are only two possible resolutions: (1) The person will plead or be found guilty, or (2) the person will be acquitted of the charges. That is not entirely true. Ohio has a couple of alternatives that an attorney could pursue on behalf of a felony criminal defendant. First, the attorney could file a motion for Intervention in Lieu of Conviction (“ILC”). In short, ILC basically allows a person who committed a crime due to their addiction to drugs or alcohol to receive treatment for their substance abuse problems instead of a conviction and prison time. But, ILC is not available for all felony defendants and a given defendant must first be found to qualify for ILC. Ask your attorney whether you qualify (ILC is not available for certain crimes and certain offenders). If the Court accepts the ILC it will then prescribe a particular treatment program for the defendant and suspend the pending criminal action. If the defendant does what the Court demands as far as the treatment goes, the Court will dismiss the charges and the defendant can avoid a felony conviction altogether.
The second possibility is something called “Diversion.” Diversion is similar to ILC in that if the defendant is accepted for diversion and completes a program, then ultimately he or she is not convicted of a felony. The defendant is “diverted” out of the criminal court system and given a chance to accomplish certain goals set by the program. If the defendant successfully completes the diversion program, then the Court will dismiss the charges. However, like ILC, only certain charges and certain types of criminal defendants are eligible for a diversion program.
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