Child Custody – Page 6

Columbus Ohio Family Law Attorney on Moving or Relocating in the context of Ohio Child Custody, Shared Parenting or Visitation, Part 2.

December 20, 2010

A Columbus Ohio Family Law Attorney article on Moving or Relocation.

This article is the second in a series about moving and how it relates to Ohio child custody, shared parenting and visitation. To read the other articles in this series, see

Part 1, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

In situations where court ordered parenting time has been established, and the residential parent wants to move, pursuant to Ohio Revised Code 3019.051(G)(1), the other parent is entitled to notice of the move and, if requested or ordered by the court, a hearing. These notice provisions apply REGARDLESS of whether the non-residential or non-moving parent contests the move.

A parent has a fundamental right to live where he or she wants to live, BUT they do not have a fundamental right to permanently relocate the child in violation of the Ohio Revised Code or the parties’ court order.

Depending on the language of your court order and/or the language in the Local Rules of the court who issued the order, simply moving a certain distance away MAY automatically trigger a change in the ,custody, shared parenting, school placement parent, parenting time or other provisions of your parenting order.

Ohio Revised Code 3109.04(F)(1)(j) specifically requires a court to consider whether either parent has established a residence, or is planning to establish a residence, outside this state when determining the best interest of the child.

In addition, pursuant to Ohio Revised Code 3109.04(F)(2) when determining whether shared parenting is still in the best interest of the child the court must consider,

The geographic proximity of the parents to each other, as the proximity relates to the practical considerations of shared parenting;

Ohio Revised Code 3019.051 requires a court to consider

The geographical location of the residence of each parent and the distance between those residences, and if the person is not a parent, the geographical location of that person’s residence and the distance between that person’s residence and the child’s residence;
Whether either parent has established a residence or is planning to establish a residence outside this state;

Sometimes parents want to move for legitimate reasons, and sometimes they want to move to thwart the other parent’s access to the child. Regardless of the reason for the move, if the move creates additional distance between the child and the other parent, the move IS going to have an impact on the parenting time of the non-moving parent. The question is, how much of an impact, and does the non-moving parent object?

If the non-moving parent believes that the impact upon their parenting time and relationship with the child is significant, he or she may wish to modify custody, shared parenting, or the school placement parent in a shared parenting plan. At a minimum, the parties will need to consider whether a new parenting time schedule is appropriate.

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A Columbus Ohio Family Law Attorney on Moving and Relocation, Part 1

December 17, 2010

A Columbus Ohio Family Law Lawyer article on Moving and Relocation Requirements and Restrictions. This article applies to both in state and interstate moves. It is the first article in a four-part series on relocation. To view the other articles, click any of the following links: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

In Family Law, moving, or, as the Ohio Revised Code calls it, “relocation” is often problematic. When court ordered parenting time has already been established, with few exceptions (primarily domestic violence convictions) Ohio Revised Code 3019.051(G)(1) requires the residential parent (in shared parenting BOTH parents are the residential parent) to file a Notice of Intent to Relocate with the court if they intend to move to any residence other than the residence specified in the parenting time (visitation) or decree (shared parenting). Once that happens, the court is required to send a notice to the other parent. (Note, however, that the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure require the parent filing the Notice of Intent to Relocate to serve the other parent with a copy of ALL documents filed with the court.)

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Ohio Family Law Attorney Once the court receives the notice it must send a copy to the other parent. Pursuant to Ohio Revised Code 3019.051(G)(1), the court, on it’s own, MAY (but is not required to) schedule a hearing, with notice to both parents, to determine whether it is in the best interest of the child to modify the current parenting time schedule. Even if the court does not set a hearing, the parent who is not moving can also file a motion and request a hearing to review parenting time, custody, shared parenting, school placement parent and more.

Ohio Interstate Family Law Attorney The amount of notice the moving parent must give is governed by the terms of the parties’ current parenting time order or shared parenting plan. In addition, terms regarding moving may be addressed in the Local Rules of the Court which made the original parenting time order. For example, in some counties the Local Rules mandate that if the school placement parent moves out of the county, the other parent automatically becomes the school placement parent until further order of the court. While that example is extreme, it helps to explain why it is important to read the local rules of your court to determine what, if any, provisions are contained regarding relocation notices.

Most courts have a form for providing notice of relocation. Franklin County’s form is less detailed than some other county forms, but it gives you an idea of what to expect. If your county does not, you could probably modify the form of another county and use that.

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Ohio Visitation in the Context of Domestic Violence

May 11, 2010

A Columbus Ohio Visitation Attorney article about Domestic Violence, Visitation, and Child Custody.

In Ohio, domestic violence is legally relevant, and something the court must take into account when making orders regarding children.

Ohio Revised Code 3109.04 (http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3109.04) specifically mentions domestic violence when discussing factors the court must consider when determining what is in the best interest of the child. To read more about the best interest of the child, follow this link:

https://cornwell-law.com/answers/childrens-best-interest/

It is important to note that the law does not require a court to consider allegations of domestic violence; it requires the court to consider convictions of domestic violence. There is a reason for this. False reports of domestic violence are fairly common when parties are fighting over custody. Sometimes, one parent will attempt to create the illusion of domestic violence in order to gain the advantage in a custody battle. Unfortunately, domestic violence is everywhere, in every income level, and in every culture, and often claims of domestic violence are very real.

If you have a court order for visitation between a parent and a child, NOTHING but another court order will relieve you from your obligation to provide the child for visitation. ALLEGATIONS of domestic violence do not change your court orders. The advice of a police officer does not change your court orders. Filing a police report and/or pressing charges does not change your court orders. Only another court order will change your obligation to provide the child for visitation.

In addition, domestic violence perpetrated against you, even if it results in a conviction, will not necessarily stop visitation. In the eyes of the court, sometimes parents who cannot get along with each other, and who have anger management problems can still parent their child without violence. However, the more incidents of domestic violence that have occurred between parents, the more concerned the court becomes that it is likely to occur between the abusive parent and the child. For the victim of domestic violence, it is a frightening but all too common nightmare to have to let their child visit with their abuser.

Unfortunately, due to the many, many false reports of domestic violence that a court making a custody decision receives every year, they are skeptical, and sometimes jaded, regarding the reality of domestic violence. If you are the victim of domestic violence, and you are withholding your child from visitation without a court order which allows you to do this, you are putting yourself at risk of contempt of court, and possibly a jail sentence.

So what can you do? If you have been a victim of domestic violence at the hands of a current or former spouse or partner, you may qualify for a Domestic Violence Protection Order (also called a civil protection order). If your child has suffered from the violence, he or she may be protected as well. You do not need an attorney to ask for a Domestic Violence Protection Order. The forms are the same statewide in Ohio, and you can download them at http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/JCS/domesticViolence/protection_forms/DVForms/default.asp

You do not need the cooperation of the police to get a Domestic Violence Protection Order, but you do need be able to convince a court, by a preponderance of the evidence, that YOU were afraid of imminent physical harm, or that your child is in danger of imminent physical harm.

You can also file a police report and request to press criminal charges against the person who committed the domestic violence. Criminal prosecutors may be more likely to believe you because they may not experience as many false reports as a domestic relations court, and for good reason. If someone makes a false report to the police or a prosecutor they can, and sometimes are, charged with the crime. Making a false statement to a court, under oath, is an act of perjury in Ohio.

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What to do if your husband or wife (or ex) has abducted your child to a foreign country.

March 1, 2010

Ohio child abduction information from an Ohio Family Law Attorney.

What to Do If Your Spouse or Other Parent Abducts Your Child from Ohio to Another Country

It can be a scary revelation to learn that your spouse or the other parent may have abducted your child to another county. It is important that you act quickly and take the necessary steps to protect your rights as a parent and to insure the safe return of your child. Here are a few sources that you should contact.

1. Contact Your Local Police Department – Your local police will be able to create a missing person report for both the other parent and the child. More importantly, you will need to follow-up with the police and make sure that the information is entered into the National Criminal Information Center (NCIC), this is a database that is utilized by various national agencies such as the FBI and the U.S. Department of State. Once the report is in the NCIC, INTERPOL or other agencies may be able to flag the passports of your child and the other parent so that they can be picked up at a border by the appropriate authorities.

The Franklin County Police’s website can be found at: http://www.columbuspolice.org/

A good resource for all of the law enforcement agencies in Ohio : http://www.the911site.com/911pd/ohio.shtml

2. Contact the U.S. Department of State, Office of Children’s Issues – The U.S. Department of State is available to help you open an International Parental Abduction Case. This office will also be able to assist you with the process and even contact other agencies to coordinate the efforts to locate your child.

You can find out more about opening an International Parental Abduction Case here: http://travel.state.gov/family/abduction/Solutions/Solutions_3848.html

You may want to locate an attorney experienced in assisting parents with the return of abducted children. Whether your child has been abducted to a country which is part of the Hague Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, or to another country, help is available. You may need the assistance of an attorney who is admitted to practice in federal court. Call the Law Offices of Virginia C. Cornwell today at 614-225-9316 to discuss your options.

Virginia Cornwell is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio.

DISCLAIMER

Interstate Family Law Jurisdiction Attorney Series Part 1

June 2, 2009

This article is the first installment in a series of articles written by Virginia C. Cornwell, an Ohio Child Custody Jurisdiction Attorney and an Ohio State Bar Association Certified Family Relations Specialist. This article pertains to intestate custody jurisdiction and the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, which has been adopted as law in the state of Ohio and the majority of U.S. states.

THE UCCJEA and Ohio Law –

There is no more general custody jurisdiction in Ohio,

not even in Juvenile Court. There hasn’t been for years.

Once upon a time, in the land of Ohio, the law used to follow the UCCJA. Now, this law caused all sorts of chaos in the courts of Ohio and many other states that followed this law. You see, this law had “loopholes”, and led to many jurisdictional battles over which state properly had jurisdiction over the custody of a child. Unfortunately, the UCCJA did not conform with a federal law called the PKPA (Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act), which basically said three important things:

· For INITIAL (first time) custody orders, “home state” jurisdiction trumps “significant connection”, jurisdiction and

· Any custody order which was made pursuant to a law that does NOT follow the home state trumps significant connection requirement was NOT entitled to full faith and credit in other states. This means that if you went and got a custody order in a state other than the state where you should have, no other state has to honor and enforce that order.

· Jurisdiction to MODIFY a custody order stays with the state that initially made the order until everyone has relocated to another state

The UCCJA was a sticky problem for Ohio, and so they changed their law in 2005 and adopted the UCCJEA (Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act). Along with many other changes to the law, the UCCJEA clarified that Ohio MUST exercised jurisdiction over any custody proceeding in compliance with the UCCJEA.

Prior to the enactment of Substitute Senate Bill 185, Ohio Revised Code 2151.23(A) was often interpreted to be a “general jurisdiction statute”, which gave the juvenile court jurisdiction over any child who was not already a ward of another court of the state. Unfortunately, this language opened the door to a lot of frivolous custody litigation in which Ohio did NOT rightfully have jurisdiction. When the UCCJEA was adopted in Ohio, ORC 2151.23 was also changed, and a section was added to make it clear that Ohio juvenile courts MAY NOT exercise jurisdiction over a child for an initial custody determination if the child has another “home state” as that term is defined by the UCCJEA, adopted in the Ohio Revised Code as Chapter 3127.

The only exception to this is when Ohio has emergency jurisdiction, and even then, emergency jurisdiction is only temporary until a proceeding can be filed in the child’s home state.

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