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Law Offices of Virginia C. Cornwell

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Can you get a divorce in Ohio while pregnant (or a dissolution, annulment or legal separation)?

January 21, 2012

Virginia Cornwell is a Columbus Ohio Family Law Attorney who assists clients with family law matters throughout Ohio.

COLUMBUS OHIO FAMILY LAW ATTORNEYSTrying to end your marriage in Ohio can be difficult if the wife is pregnant.  Difficult, but not impossible.

Ironically, the difficulty does not come from any obstacle in the law, but rather from the practices in your county, or from the preferences of the Judge in your case.  Ohio law does not contain any authority for a Judge or Magistrate to refuse to grant a divorce, dissolution, annulment or legal separation on the basis of pregnancy.  Nevertheless, for several reasons, many Ohio courts will delay granting the divorce (or ending the marriage) if the wife is pregnant.

CALL NOW  at (614) 225-9316 or contact us by e-mail

COLUMBUS OHIO DISSOLUTION ATTORNEYOne reason that Ohio courts will sometimes decline to grant the divorce until the child is born is so that child support will be established.  The court does not want the child to go without support for several months while paternity is established and support is ordered through the child support enforcement agency.

Another reason the court may be reluctant to grant the divorce while the wife is pregnant may be that the Judge does not want the mother and father to have to go through yet another court action to establish parentage, support and parental rights.   In such cases, it is possible that the domestic court believes that if the paternity is not established in the divorce case, that the father will have to seek parental rights in a juvenile court case.  The domestic court Judge may also be concerned that if the father has to file a separate action in juvenile court to establish paternity of the child, he will be disadvantaged.  For various reasons, unmarried fathers in Ohio juvenile courts sometimes have to work harder to receive the same rights they would receive in domestic court.

CALL NOW  at (614) 225-9316 or contact us by e-mail

DIVORCE ATTORNEY COLUMBUSHowever, Ohio Revised Code 3111.06(A)  states:

If an action for divorce, dissolution, or legal separation has been filed in a court of common pleas, that court of common pleas has original jurisdiction to determine if the parent and child relationship exists between one or both of the parties and any child alleged or presumed to be the child of one or both of the parties.

This would allow the domestic relations court to retain jurisdiction over the parents for purposes of establishing paternity of the unborn child.  The statute does not limit such jurisdiction only to the divorce proceedings.  Thus, there appears to be no legal reason the court cannot grant the divorce now, and deal with paternity, support and parental rights later, on a post-decree basis in the domestic court (divorce, dissolution, annulment, or legal separation) case.

CALL NOW  at (614) 225-9316 or contact us by e-mail

DIVORCE LAWYER COLUMBUSIf the parties want to get divorced NOW, and do not want to wait until the child is born, there may be some steps the parties can take to convince the court to approve the divorce.

First, the issue of whether a Judge will or will not grant a divorce while the wife is pregnant often boils down to the preferences of the individual Judge (and possibly Magistrate) assigned to your case.

Second, the level of cooperation between the parties may have some influence on whether the Judge will trust that the issues of paternity, support and parental rights will be dealt with quickly after the child is born.  There are several ways the parties can cooperate to assure the Judge there is no reason to hold the case open.

CALL NOW  at (614) 225-9316 or contact us by e-mail

  • DISSOLUTION ATTORNEY COLUMBUSIf the husband and wife know that the husband could not possibly be the father of the baby, they should stipulate to this fact in the divorce decree.  The court can then make findings rebutting the legal presumption that the husband is the father and “disestablish paternity” in the divorce decree.
  • The parties can give the court stipulated findings of fact that contain all information needed to make a child support order.
  • COLUMBUS PATERNITY LAWYERThe parties could bring a post decree motion to establish paternity, support and parental rights of the child to the court for filing on the day of the divorce decree, file the motion on the day of their final hearing, and set the first hearing date to occur in front of the same judge a few weeks after the child’s due date.  If either of the parties wants genetic testing, they could agree to the manner in which the genetic testing will be done.  If the parties use a private service for the testing, they could have the results before they attend their first hearing.

    CALL NOW  at (614) 225-9316 or contact us by e-mail

COLUMBUS DISSOLUTION ATTORNEYYou might wonder how courts can just decide to hold a divorce case open for many months against the parties’ wishes.  First, domestic courts have broad discretion.  They cannot just do anything they want, but they can do a lot.

Second, even if a party were to try to take the issue up the court of appeals, babies develop faster than appellate courts make decisions.  By the time your case was heard in the court of appeals, the baby would be born, rendering the issue on appeal moot.

Third, even if somehow the court of appeals agreed to hear your case quickly, I’ll say it again:  domestic courts have a lot of discretion in Ohio.  They are probably going to be allowed to do what they think is best in this case.

An Ohio family law attorney can help you decide what is the best course of action in your case.

CALL NOW  at (614) 225-9316 or contact us by e-mail

You may also be interested in some of our other divorce articles:

  • Part 1: Conciliation or Legal Separation
  • Part 2: Dissolution or Uncontested Divorce
  • Part 3: Reasons to Choose Divorce
  • Part 4: Restraining Orders
  • Part 5: Where will you live?
  • Part 6:Paper Work
  • Part 7: Health Insurance
  • Part 8: Attorney Fees
  • Part 9: 5 Dirty Divorce Tricks
  • Part 10: 5 More Dirty Divorce Tricks
  • Part 11: Columbus Ohio Divorce Jurisdiction
  • Part 12: Columbus Ohio Professional Practice Divorce
  • Part 13: Military Divorce Jurisdiction – What State to File In
  • Series on Divorce Part 14: Interstate Divorce
  • Series on Divorce Part 15: Interstate Divorce and Child Custody
  • Series on Divorce Part 16: Psychological Evaluations in Ohio Divorce and Custody Cases
  • Series on Divorce Part 17: Divorce and Medical Practice Owners
  • Series on Divorce Part 18: Can you get a divorce or dissolution in Ohio while pregnant?
  • Series on Divorce Part 19: Separate Property
  • Series on Divorce Part 20: Average Cost of a divorce in Ohio

DISCLAIMER – Read it, it’s important!

Comments

  1. E says

    June 25, 2023 at 5:46 am

    My husband and I have been separated since late 2022 and I am currently pregnant with another man’s child. Besides putting this in the documentation are there any other steps I would need to take to ensure we can go through with the dissolution?

  2. N says

    January 7, 2017 at 10:59 am

    I have been separated from my husband since 2012 and I just found out I’m pregnant with my boyfriends baby. How do I make sure that I can put my boyfriends name on the birth certificate instead of my husband?

  3. D says

    March 31, 2016 at 12:31 pm

    interested in annulment divorce only been married one month husband abusive just terminated pregnancy

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Read this before you read our website

1. This site applies to the state of Ohio and matters of federal law only.

2. The info on our site is not legal advice because we don't know the facts of your case. If you want legal advice, you must meet with a lawyer.

3. Reading this website or sending documents to us does not create an attorney-client relationship and information or documents you give us will not be kept confidential unless you call us, tell us who is involved in your case, and let us do a conflict of interest check.

AREAS OF PRACTICE

  • Annulment of Marriage
  • Appeals
  • CERTIFIED SPECIALIST – OSBA Certified Family Relations Specialist
  • Child Support
  • Columbus Ohio Collaborative Family Law
  • Contempt of Court
  • Custody
  • Dissolution of Marriage
  • Divorce
  • Divorce & Alimony
  • Divorce & Assets
  • Divorce & Business Owners
  • Divorce & Child Support
  • Divorce & Custody
  • Divorce & Professional or Medical Practice Owners
  • Family Law
  • Father's Rights
  • Franklin County & 88 Ohio Counties
  • Grandparents Rights
  • Legal Separation
  • LGBT Family Law, Divorce, Custody
  • Military Divorce
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  • Ohio Collaborative Divorce
  • Parental Alienation
  • Paternity
  • Post-Decree Modifications
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  • Shared Parenting
  • Temporary Orders in Ohio
  • Uncontested Divorce
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From our downtown Columbus offices we serve clients throughout Ohio. We also service areas such as Gahanna, Bexley, Blacklick, Columbus, Dublin, Hilliard, Lancaster, Westerville, New Albany, Pickerington, Powell, Upper Arlington, Worthington, Lancaster, Franklin County, Fairfield County and more. In addition, we serve clients in several Ohio Counties, including, but not limited to: Franklin County, Delaware County, Licking County, and Fairfield County.

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  • Adoption (4)
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  • Annulment (5)
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  • Child Custody (39)
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  • Civil Protection Orders & Domestic Violence (3)
  • Collaborative Divorce (1)
  • Contempt & Enforcement (12)
  • Dissolution , Amicable Divorce, No Fault Divorce (15)
  • Divorce (45)
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  • Father's Rights and Paternity (12)
  • Grandparents Rights in Ohio (14)
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Recent Posts:

  • Appealing Your Ohio Family Law Judgment Entry
  • The Ohio LGBT community’s new right to marry also means the right to step-parent adoption
  • Ohio LGBT Shared Custody Agreements: Get it in Writing!
  • Columbus Ohio Same Sex Divorce Lawyer & Prenuptial Agreement Lawyer
  • Same Sex Divorce in Ohio: U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Bans on Same Sex Marriage

From our downtown Columbus offices we serve clients throughout Ohio. We also service areas such as Bexley, Blacklick, Columbus, Delaware, Dublin, Gahanna, Hilliard, Lancaster, Marysville, Westerville, New Albany, Newark, Pickerington, Plain City, Powell, Upper Arlington, Worthington, Lancaster, Zanesville and more. In addition, we serve clients in all Ohio Counties, including, but not limited to: Franklin County, Delaware, Licking, Logan, Fairfield, Union, Marion, Muskingum, Pickaway, Ross, Richland, Madison, Morrow, Knox, and more.

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Law Offices of Virginia C. Cornwell
408 Emory St
Columbus , OH , 43230
(614) 225-9316
Latitude: 40.00734
Longitude: -82.84535