Columbus Ohio Family Law Attorneys

This is the 3rd installment in a series by Virginia Cornwell, a Columbus Ohio Divorce Attorney and Ohio State Bar Association Certified Family Relations Specialist.  Virginia is one of approximate 100 attorneys in Ohio to have received this honor. This series is about the process and options for ending your marriage in Ohio, and about Ohio divorce laws.

The other articles in the series can be seen here:

Sometimes there are valid reasons not to go the Dissolution route

To successfully negotiate a dissolution with your soon to be ex, at a minimum you need to be able to implement the old axiom “trust, but verify”.  You may not particularly like your spouse at that point, but at a minimum you need to be able to trust that they are dealing with you fairly while negotiating terms to end the marriage.  This may be difficult to do, especially where issues of deception led to the demise of the marriage.  If one or both spouses kept secrets from the other during the marriage, it may make it difficult to negotiate a dissolution.

If you are able to successfully verify the finances of the marriage and both spouses, you may still be able to negotiate a dissolution.  You may or may not need the help of a Columbus Ohio Divorce Lawyer to assist you in negotiating an acceptable agreement.

Remember, the marriage is ending.  You no longer have to trust your spouse to be faithful.  If your spouse was relatively honest with you during the marriage about finances, and will do all of the following, you may still be able to negotiate a satisfactory dissolution:

• Sign releases allowing you to investigate your spouses finances, at your own expense, for a period of time before and after the dissolution (for example up to one year after the dissolution)
• Put a clause in the Separation Agreement that if you discover assets not disclosed in the dissolution, they will give you one-half of the asset PLUS reimburse you in full for the expense and/ or attorney fees to discover the asset and enforce that provision of the Separation Agreement.  (If you want additional incentive do disclose, you can agree that you get ALL of the asset, but usually there is a dollar amount attached to a clause like this, so that the clause is not used to harass each other over items of inconsequential value)

If, during the course of the marriage, your spouse was very secretive about money, you may have some very good reasons to consider pursuing divorce rather than dissolution.  You should be concerned if your spouse behaved in the following ways during the marriage:

• Kept all financial documents under lock and key, and did not let you have access to them
• Discarded, shredded, or kept all or most  of his or her financial documents in a place you did not have access to them
• Had some or all of their mail delivered to another address, such as a post office box, a relative, or to his or her office, and did not provide you with access to those documents
• Was controlling and/or secretive about financial matters
• Did not let you see his or her paycheck or documents relating to his or her employment
• Had meetings with financial planners, accountants or attorneys they did not disclose to you
• Created a trust without your input
• Transferred assets to family members
• Had a lock box or storage facility which you did not have access to
• Had almost exclusive control over the money in the marriage

It’s important to note that these concerns are not all equally important.  For instance, in many marriages one spouse balances the checkbook and pays the bills.  The concern comes when the other spouse did not have access to the information and/or the documents.

The reason a person who finds themselves in this situation may need a divorce rather than a dissolution is that in a divorce, a person has the following protections which are not available in dissolution:

1. Temporary restraining Orders (See Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 75)
2. Compulsory Discovery (See Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure 26-37 and 45)
3. Court Orders which are imposed, rather than Agreed.
4. If warranted, Emergency Custody Orders.

Even if you suspect your spouse IS hiding something financially, think about this – how much could they really be hiding?  Consider their resources and income.  They may be hiding an inheritance, but under the law of Ohio, an inheritance is separate property anyway.  So if the most they could be hiding, based on their income during the marriage, does not exceed the cost you will pay for a a contested divorce, then it is probably not in your financial best interest to pursue it other than the release and Separation Agreement provisions described.  But if the amount of money they could be hiding exceeds the cost of a potential divorce, then divorce may be your only option.

In addition, if you simply cannot reach an fair and appropriate  agreement as to all matters, even with the help of mediation and/or your lawyer, then divorce is the only way you will be able to end the marriage.

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

Adultery, Annulment, Alimony (Spousal Support), Best Interest of the Child, Child Custody, Child Custody Jurisdiction, Child Support (deviation), Child Support (how much), Child Support (how to pay), Child Support (lower), Child Support (myths), Child Support (resources), Child Support (sign up),Contempt, Dissolution, Divorce Basics, Divorce Myths, Foreclosure Mediation, Grandparents, Guardian ad Litem, House, International Abduction,Legal Separation, Mediation, Moving, Packet of Forms vs. Getting a Lawyer, Prenuptial Agreements (Antenuptial Agreements), Shared Parenting,Temporary Orders, Temporary Orders Affidavits, Where to File for Divorce

DISCLAIMER

We are Franklin County Divorce Lawyers , Ohio Family Law Attorneys and Columbus Custody Attorneys who honor our duty to act in your best interest. The firm is owned by an Ohio State Bar Association Certified Family Relations Specialist, one of approximately 100 attorneys in Ohio to receive this honor.  We can help clients and their children in  Columbus, Franklin County, and in all 88 Ohio counties with Family Law matters such as:

Answers to your Columbus Ohio Divorce questions from a Columbus Ohio Divorce Lawyer.

Is your Ohio divorce case taking forever?  Do you go to court only to have continuance after continuance?  Here’s what you need to know.

First, the old days are gone.  Divorces aren’t supposed to last for several years in Ohio.  The Supreme Court of Ohio has made rules regarding how long divorce cases are supposed to last.  Generally, a divorce case with children is supposed to last no longer than 18 months before you have a trial.  Divorces without children are supposed to either be settled or get a trial date in nine months.  However, the longer the trial was, the longer the Judge or Magistrate is going to take before they make a decision based on the evidence they received at trial.  Why?  Because the longer the trial was, the more evidence and testimony the Judge or Magistrate has to review before making a decision.  Besides reviewing all the evidence, they have to compare the evidence to the law and compose a written decision.  In Ohio, it generally takes anywhere between 4 months and one year to get a decision after a divorce trial.  A year is extreme, but it happens.   Occasionally, Judges or Magistrates take even longer, but this is becoming increasingly rare.

Second, there are going to be several hearings in a divorce before you actually get your trial date.  At a minimum, there will be one pre-trial date, but often you will have a temporary orders hearing, at least one pre-trial conference, and sometimes, a status conference or settlement conference.  THEN you get your trial date.  At most of those hearings, the clients have to be available to provide information requested by the court, and to consent to any possible settlement.  But the clients cannot be present when the attorneys talk to the Judge or Magistrate – and for good reason.  Unless you are representing yourself in your divorce case, any time you talk to the Magistrate you are giving the Magistrate evidence.  The Magistrate is only supposed to take evidence during a contested hearing, when both sides are presenting evidence.  You are not going to have a contested hearing on every court date – the cost would be outrageous, and even if you could afford it – the court doesn’t have the time.  There are simply too many cases on the docket for that.  Your divorce truly would last for years if every court date was a contested hearing.  In Ohio divorces, some things are settled by agreement or procedure, not a hearing.

Third, there are rules that attorneys, Judges and Magistrates are supposed to following when requesting and granting continuances.  In addition to whatever local rules may be established in the county and court that is hearing your divorce, the Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio provide guidelines which are designed to prevent excessive or abusive continuances.  Click here to see Ohio Rule of Superintendence Rule 41 – Conflict of Trial Court Assignment Dates, Continuances and Engaged Counsel.

In Ohio, attorney fees awards are often sought in domestic relations cases.  Courts used to require that a expert testimony be presented regarding the reasonableness of the attorney fees sought.  However, in Franklin County Ohio there is a court case which states that the domestic relations court may take notice of the complexity of the case from the court’s own record.  A copy of that case is at the bottom of this post.

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