Columbus Ohio Family Law Attorneys

Law Offices of Virginia C. Cornwell

(614) 225-9316
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10 Things You Need to Know About Dissolution in Ohio

DISSOLUTION LAWYER

  1. Dissolution has a lot of different names.  Legally, it is called dissolution, but it is sometimes referred to as amicable divorce, no-fault divorce, uncontested divorce, quickie divorce, fast divorce, agreed divorce, dissolutionment, and disillusionment, just to name a few.
  2. You need to agree on everything before you file – everything.  To get an idea regarding all the issues you have to agree upon, take a look at this worksheet called ” Terms of Dissolution“.

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3.  When you file a dissolution, you need to wait at least 30 days from when you file to have your final hearing, except when your agreement was negotiated through collaborative law.  Depending on the professionals you are working with, and whether they insist you bring in numerous other professionals into the mix, Collaborative law can save money or it can be expensive.  Ask questions and do the math – it might be worth waiting the 30 days unless you are in a big hurry for some reason.

4.  If you have children, your local court will probably require you to attend a parenting seminar .  If so, the seminar must be completed and your certificate of completion must be filed with the court on or before the date of your final hearing.

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5.  There is a lot of paperwork involved, especially if you have children.  Plan on chasing down the details and being patient with the process.

6.  Even if you drafted your own paperwork, it might be a good idea to go over the paperwork with an attorney to make sure you understand what the paperwork means.  You will have to live with it for a long time, and it is not as easy to get it changed as you might think.

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7.  If you do not want to go to the court house for your dissolution hearing, your attorney can have a visiting judge come to his/her office.  The fee for the judge to do this is about $150 (but is set by the judge and can change at any time).  Some counties are more resistant to allowing the parties to use a private judge than others.

8.  In a dissolution, the document that you use to describe how you are agreeing to settle your affairs is called a “Separation Agreement”.  Signing a Separation Agreement does NOT mean you are getting a legal separation, it is just the name of the document you are signing.

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9.  The Supreme Court of Ohio has published some forms that make it easier for people to end their marriage by dissolution without an attorney.  People who do this assume the risk that they have thought of everything, and should plan to live with the paperwork AS-IS, because it is very, very, very hard, nearly impossible, to change the terms of the agreement after the dissolution becomes final.  However, as long as you understand what you are doing, the forms are more available than they used to be.  Most of the forms needed can be found by clicking this link.

10.  The Law Offices of Virginia C. Cornwell helps people with dissolutions in numerous ways.  Some people have a complete agreement and want a flat fee dissolution.  Prices for flat fee dissolutions can be found on our FAQ page.  Some people have not reached dissolution, but after meeting for a consultation, the attorney believes that an agreement could be reached through negotiation, and so they retain us to negotiate on their behalf to work toward a dissolution.  Some people cannot afford a lawyer, and need to represent themselves, they just have no idea where to start.  Those people have a consultation with us where the attorney gives them blank forms that they will need and talks to them about some of the more complicated issues in the forms.  Dissolutions are not one size fits all!

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FAMILY LAWYERVirginia Cornwell is an Ohio State Bar Association Certified Family Relations Specialist.

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I live in one state and my spouse lives in another. Where do I file for divorce?

OHIO FAMILY LAWYER Virginia Cornwell is an Family Lawyer in Central Ohio.  She is an Ohio State Bar Association Certified Family Relations Specialist.  

Where you must file for divorce depends on jurisdiction.  To make it more complicated, it depends on more than one kind of jurisdiction.

COLUMBUS FAMILY LAWYERIf children are involved, the first consideration is subject matter jurisdiction.  Subject matter jurisdiction means the court is authorized to hear a certain kind of claim, in this case, custody matters.  Under the UCCJEA, which is adopted in Ohio and most states, a court make initial custody decisions unless, generally, 1) the child has been living in that state for the last six months (the child’s home state), or, if the child has no home state, the state where the child has the most significant connection.  Custody modifications have different rules.  To learn more about the UCCJEA, click any of these links: https://cornwell-law.com/01/columbus-ohio-child-custody-part-4/,  https://cornwell-law.com/06/interstate-family-law-jurisdiction-attorney-series-part-i/.

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A court either has subject matter jurisdiction or it does not.  It is not something the parties can give the court by agreement.  If an Ohio court makes orders that it did not have subject matter jurisdiction to make, those orders can be challenged, and voided, at any time.  So step number one, if there are kids involved, figure out which state has subject matter jurisdiction.

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HOWThe second type of jurisdiction involved in divorce is personal jurisdiction.  This is what a court needs to make order over the parents, the parents’ property, and the parents’ money.  This can be kind of tricky.  Personal jurisdiction is usually where each parent lives.  Sometimes, if parents have connections to more than one state, then a court can have “long arm” personal jurisdiction.  However, your children living in a state is not enough to give a court personal jurisdiction over you.  Generally, what is enough is you living in a state, you having property there, you being served with papers in a state, you (or your lawyer) filing a general entry or notice of appearance, you (or your lawyer) making an appearance in a court proceeding without stating that you are making an appearance for the purpose of  challenging jurisdiction, or doing something to invoke the jurisdiction of the court which you assert has no jurisdiction over you.

So at this point, take a look at which state (or states) have personal jurisdiction over the parents (and their property and money).  If there is a state that has personal jurisdiction over at least one of the parents, AND subject matter jurisdiction over the children, then that is probably the best state to file in.  But there’s a hitch.  There’s always a hitch.

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WHERE In Ohio divorce cases, according to Ohio Revised Code 3105.03, the PLAINTIFF (the person who files the divorce), has to have been a resident of the state (lived in the state) for six months before filing a complaint for divorce.  So what if you do not live in Ohio, your spouse and children do, and your spouse will not file for divorce?  You may have to file for divorce in the state where you live.  Unless that court has “long arm” jurisdiction over your spouse, the court will only be able to end the marriage.  It will not be able to make orders regarding your spouse’s property or money, and will not be able to make orders regarding the children.  Once your marriage is ended in the other state, you can file an action in juvenile court in Ohio to secure orders regarding your children.

Sound complicated?   If you would like to talk to one of our Columbus Ohio Family Lawyers, please give our office a call at 614-225-9316 to schedule a telephone or office consultation.

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

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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  • 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.

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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.

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

DISCLAIMER – Read it, it’s important!

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Columbus Ohio Dissolution Attorney series Part 7: Dividing Assets in a Dissolution

Thisis the 7th in a series of articles by a Columbus Ohio Dissolution Attorneyabout the benefits of dissolution. Virginia Cornwell is an Ohio State Bar Association Certified Family Relations Specialist.  Approximately 100 attorneys in Ohio have received this honor. You  can view other articles in the Dissolution in Ohio series by clicking any of the following links:

When ending a marriage, assets – great and small – have to be divided.  Before you decide you that you don’t have any assets to divide, take a look at these questions.  You may be surprised.

1.  Marital Property or Separate Property?  Under Ohio law, marital property must be divided among husband and wife, but separate property must be awarded solely to the person who owns it.  Basically, everything is marital property unless the person who claims it is separate property can prove it is separate property.  When you and your spouse are deciding who gets what, you need to consider whether some of your property, furniture, automobiles, real estate or money is the separate property of only one spouse.  Ask yourself these questions:

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  • Did either party own anything before marriage that they still have?
  • Did either party inherit anything during the marriage?
  • Was a gift made solely to one spouse or the other during the marriage by a third party?
  • Did either party have a personal injury award?
  • Is there property which is excluded from division through a Prenuptial Agreement?
  • Does either party have any other separate property as that is defined in Ohio Revised Code 3105.18?

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  • If you answered “yes” to any of the above questions, is the separate property kept COMPLETELY separate from marital property?  If not, can you (possibly with the help of accountants) separate the value of the asset you had before marriage from the appreciation that has resulted from marital income or assets (called “tracing”)?
  • Has income earned during the marriage been spent towards the separate property?

If you don’t have anything substantial and don’t really care about preserving anything you had before marriage, this may not concern you.  If you are not sure whether you have separate property, it is a worthwhile investment of your time to consult with an attorney.

2.  Household Goods, Furniture, Heirlooms, Antiques, Art, Jewelry, etc.

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  • Each spouse gets to keep his or her wedding ring.  It’s the law in Ohio, even if it was an heirloom.  If it was an heirloom and you want it back, consider giving your spouse something that he or she would like to keep in exchange.
  • Unless it’s separate property (see above), everything else is up for grabs.  You and your spouse must agree as to who gets what.  You have a right to have things valued, and if you have something of significant value, you may want to have it appraised, but you are not required to do so in a dissolution.

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3.  Who gets to keep the car?

  • The car, like everything else, is an asset that has to be divided.  If the car has a lien on it, then the lien is a debt that has to be divided.
  • If the party who is keeping the car is not the party whose name is on the title to the car and/or the title to the car, then you need to look into getting the title changed and refinancing the car.
  • Refinancing is something you would want to investigate BEFORE you sign paperwork deciding who gets the car.  If your spouse is not creditworthy, they are not going to get a loan, whether they are court ordered to do so or not, so plan accordingly.

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4.  Who gets to keep the house? Or should you sell it? You and your spouse are the only ones that can decide what is appropriate, and Ohio law does not require any particular party to get the house, but when discussing with your spouse what to do about the house, you should consider:

  • What would you house sell for if you put it on the market and priced it to sell quickly (within a few months)?  Remember, in this economy you are competing with foreclosures, so you may want to ask a realtor to get a realistic idea of what selling your house would bring.
  • If your house can sell, after you pay real estate commission and closing costs, would there be any money left to divide among you?  If not, is your mortgage holder willing to discuss a short sale or a deed in lieu of foreclosure?

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  • If there are tax implications from the sale of your house, short sale, or deed in lieu of foreclosure, who will pay the tax?
  • Is your house realistically worth more than you owe?  If so, you have equity in house, and the equity is a marital asset.  How are you going to divide that equity?  Is your spouse going to “buy you out”, or vice versa?
  • If the house doesn’t sell for enough to pay for closing costs and commissions, who is going to pay the shortfall, you are your spouse?  Or are you going to split it?
  • Is one of you going to live in the house while it is for sale?  Will this help your house sell?  Will they get to live in the house rent free?
  • Who will be responsible for any taxes due on the house until it sells?

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  • Who will be responsible for maintenance required on the house?
  • Are repairs necessary to make the house sell?  If so, who is going to do them or pay for them?
  • Are you creating a situation where a person who cannot afford the house, but wants to stay in the house as long as possible, is the person who will be making the house presentable for sale?  If the answer is yes, how hard do you think that person is going to work to make the house sell?
  • Are you going to put a provision in place for how long that person can live in the house before they have to move out?

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

In addition to the other installments in the Dissolution in Ohio collection of articles (see links at top of the page), you may also find the following topics, which relate to divorce, to be helpful.

DISCLAIMER – Read it, it’s stuff you need to know!

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Columbus Dissolution Attorney series Part 6: More Dissolution Decisions for Parents

This is the 6th installment in a collection by a Columbus Dissolution Attorney about the benefits of dissolution. Virginia Cornwell is an Ohio State Bar Association Certified Family Relations Specialist.  Approximately 100 attorneys in Ohio have received this honor. You  can view other articles in the Dissolution in Ohio series by clicking any of the following links:
In Part 5 we covered the following topics: attorneys, grounds for dissolution, spousal support / alimony, and health insurance (children and adults).  Part 6 will deal with child related matters that must be decided if the parties are to have a dissolution.  If you don’t have children, you may want to skip ahead to part 7 of the series.  Please remember that this list is not meant to cover all issues which might apply to your case – it is NOT the same thing as talking to an attorney about your dissolution.  There will almost certainly be something that is an issue in your case that is not discussed here.1.  Are the parties going to have shared parenting after the dissolution or is one party going to have sole custody? With shared parenting, both parents are residential parents, and with sole custody, only one parent is the residential parent.  Before you get too hung up on this, please realize that sole custody is going to the way of the dodo (extinction).  There are a few courts in Ohio that fail to make the distinction between parents that are unable to communicate and parents that are unwilling to communicate, but the majority of courts take the more modern view that having both parents fully invested in the details of the child’s life is in the best interest of the child.  Once upon a time the party that did not want shared parenting CHOSE not to communicate or get along with the other parties, but this attitude has not stood the test of time, and, in this writer’s experience, many courts take the “tough beans” approach and award shared parenting anyway.  So unless one of the parents is a really, really bad person in a way that negatively affects the child, shared parenting is on the table.

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2.  If the parents will have shared parenting, who is going to be the school placement parent?  It’s not just about the “grades” that the school district receives.  The school placement parent is the child’s “home base”.  By default, although not always, the school placement parent is the party who receives child support.  For more information on the terms residential parent, school placement parent, and residential parent for school placement purposes, see this article: School Placement Parent

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3.  What will your parenting time schedule be? Regardless of whether you have sole custody or shared parenting, you are going to have to plan a parenting time schedule.  Of course you can’t predict every event that will come up between now and the time your children are 18, but you need to have a basic plan in place that you can rely on if you can’t agree to a different schedule.  Parents want to see their children frequently, and children want to see each parent frequently, but they don’t want to live out of a suitcase, never spending the night in the same bed two nights in a row.  The better approach is to pick a plan that allows the child to see both parents frequently, but doesn’t have the child switching houses every other day.  Even if the parenting time is split 50/50, that doesn’t mean the parents need to exchange the child every other day. 

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4.  Will you use part or all of your county’s local visitation schedule as part of your parenting time schedule?  When deciding a schedule for time with the child, parents need to look at their county’s local visitation schedule.  This amount of time is generally the LEAST amount of time that a fit parent will receive with a child.  That means it is the floor, not the ceiling.  In addition, even if you don’t like the schedule in the plan at all, it gives you an idea of all the issues that go with parenting time that you really didn’t even think about before, but now you need to agree to and spell out.  For instance, Franklin County Local Rule 22 / Franklin County Local Rule 27 addresses the following issues:

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  • What day and time does a weekend start and end?
  • Extracurricular acitivities
  • Parenting for children who are too young to go to school vs. children that are old enough to go to school
  • Holiday and birthday schedules
  • Summer schedule
  • Vacations
  • Long weekends
  • Mothers Day and Father Day
  • Religious holidays
  • Out of town travel
  • Telephone access
  • Transportation
  • Moving
  • Waiting
  • Cancellation
  • Illness
  • Make-up Parenting Time
  • Providing each other with current address and phone numbers
  • Emergency contact
  • Exchanging clothing
  • Car Seat
  • Long distance parenting time schedule

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Other county schedules include some features that are not included in Franklin County Local Rule 27 such as:

  • Specific schedules for infants
  • Access to day care and medical records
  • Parenting time is not to be exercised in a bar
  • Parenting time is not to be used to leave your kids with an unrelated babysitter
  • Right of First Refusal
  • Hair cuts, piercings, tattoos (altering child’s appearance)
  • Discipline
  • Consuming alcohol during your parenting time
  • Seat belts

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5.  Will either party pay child support to the other?

  • If so, who pays child support and who receives it?
  • How much is the guidelines child support amount?  Child Support (how much)
  • Should child support be lower or higher than the guidelines amount? Child Support (deviation)
  • If child support should be deviated, why should it be more or less than the guidelines child support amount?
  • Does either party pay child support for another child?
  • Will spousal support be paid (hint: counts as income)
  • Does either parent have a child living with him or her from another relationship?
  • Does either party pay union dues?
  • If either party pays for health insurance for the child, how much extra money does it cost per year to add the child to health insurance?
  • What will be the effective date of the child support?
  • Will either party be required to pay cash medical support?  If so, how much will it be.

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6.  Extracurricular acitivities. Lessons, Tutors, Summer School, School Tuition

  • Who is allowed to enroll the child in extracurricular activities?
  • Is either parent allowed to enroll the child in activities which fall during the other parent’s parenting time?  If so, must permission from both parents be obtained first?
  • Who pays for activities and for the equipment that is required?  Do both parents split the expense?  Do parents only split expenses which both parents agreed to? Is it supposed to be paid for with child support?
  • Who pays school fees and school tuition (not college)?  Is it going to be part of child support, or split between the parties?
  • If summer school or tutors are necessary, who will pay for them?

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7.  College Tuition.  In Ohio, payment of college tuition is NOT part of child support and you cannot be ordered to pay it for your child.  However, if you AGREE to pay it as part of your dissolution, divorce or legal separation  (not just verbally, but in writing, in the proper legal form), then the court can enforce this agreement.  You are always free to pay for your child’s tuition, but think about this:

  • What if your circumstances change between now and when your child goes to college and you cannot afford it?  You may be locked into an obligation you simply cannot pay, and your adult child’s expectation that you will pay can cause estrangement between you and your child.  The estrangement may be encouraged by your former spouse (parental alienation).
  • What if you do not have enough retirement saved when your child begins college?

For these reasons, you should give strong consideration to making a promise to your children that you may not be able to keep without neglecting your own retirement.

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8.  Who will claim the child as a dependent exemption on their taxes (who gets the tax exemption)?

There is no Ohio law that says one parent is automatically entitled to claim the kids as a dependent on his or her tax return.  The IRS has their own guidelines about who is supposed to claim the children on their taxes, and federal law trumps state law, so if  you are going to so something other than what federal law says, get the waiver in writing. Don’t forget, the Child Tax Credit goes along with the dependency exemption.  So here are some things you’ll need to decide….

  • Is the parent who pays child support going to claim the tax deductions?
    • If so, do they have to be subtantially current in their child support to claim it?
    • How are you going to define substantially current?
  • Do you want the parent who receives child support to be the one who claims the children as dependents?
    • If so, does that mean they have to pay for certain expenses that would otherwise be split between the parents?
    • Does that parent have to be working full time to claim the exemptions?  Part-time?  Do they have to be working at all?

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9. Don’t forget about health insurance!  For a recap of health insurance related decisions that will affect your child see: Part 5: Five Things You Need to Decide When You Want a Dissolution.

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

In addition to the other installments in the Dissolution in Ohio collection of articles (see links at top of the page), you may also find the following topics, which relate to divorce, to be helpful.

DISCLAIMER – Read it, it’s stuff you need to know!