Divorce is civil lawsuit one spouse files against the other. The person filing it has to be a 6-month resident of Ohio, and it has to be filed in the county where that person has lived for the last 90 days. The other spouse is usually served with the divorce documents by certified mail, but sometimes in order to get immediate protection for my client I have the documents hand-delivered to the spouse. Very often I obtain a Temporary Restraining Order when I file a divorce, which stops the other spouse from disposing of assets, creating additional debts, or running off with the children. Part of the early phase of a divorce is obtaining temporary court orders concerning parenting rights, child support, and spousal support (which is what we used to call “alimony”). These orders typically stay in effect while we go through the divorce process, but are often changed as part of the final outcome. The orders are intended to meet the financial needs of the parties and their children, and provide a schedule for when the children are with each parent. My experience plays an important role in carefully drafting the documents used to obtain these orders which protect my clients right from the start.

Too often one spouse does not have a good understanding of what assets and debts the couple have. So how do I protect that person? By engaging in a process called “discovery,” in which I make the other spouse produce all the personal and financial records, going back several years, that I believe are needed to get a clear and accurate picture of what the parties have. At the end of this process my clients often say, “I had no idea we had that,” or “She told me she had paid those bills with the money I gave her.” My clients may not like what I discover, but we’re ready to take action.

Once we know what the assets and debts are, we start to look for ways to divide them. In Ohio they are generally divided “equitably,” and that typically, but not always, means divided “equally.” If you brought assets to the marriage, or received something by gift or inheritance during the marriage, that asset is likely to be awarded to you. Sometimes we have to “trace” the roots of the asset through documents in order to get it back.

In any divorce the parties can reach an agreement on how to divide their assets and debts, and I make every effort to do so through a Settlement Conference. These take place in my office, or the other lawyer’s office, with the four of us engaging in a non-confrontational discussion, and they are frequently helpful in reaching full or partial agreements.

If we can’t reach agreement on one or more property issues, a magistrate or judge in the Domestic Relations Court will eventually decide the issue. A magistrate is appointed by the Presiding Judge of the court, and the magistrate’s decisions are subject to an appeal process to the judge assigned to our case. This litigation process generally makes your case last longer and cost more than if we are able to reach an agreement outside of court, and that’s why I often tell clients that we have to keep our eye on what we hope to gain, and what the cost will be to go after that possible gain.

Most divorces or even legal separations involve children. Often the anger and bitterness parents feel towards each other spills over into the kids’ lives, and ultimately harms relationships between them and one or both parents. I consider it fundamentally important to take steps to not let this situation get created in the first place, or to let it persist.

There are two ways parental rights and responsibilities are allocated between parents. One is when the parents have “shared parenting,” and the other is when one of them is designated the “residential parent and legal custodian.” In either case, each parent is likely to have specific parenting time with the kids, and one parent is likely to pay child support to the other. Child support is in most cases (those in which the parties’ joint income is less than $150,000.00 per year) determined by a formula that takes into account the number of children, each party’s income, and health and daycare expenses. Each parent will almost always be entitled to equal access to all school and medical records. The key difference is who makes decisions on matters such as where the kids go to school and elective medical or dental procedures. Read more details on child custody – Child Custody

There are often reasons why one parent should be the sole residential parent and legal custodian, and often there are reasons why shared parenting makes sense for the children and their parents. The decision on which way to go is extremely important, and calls into question many factors. There is simply no substitute for the experience I bring to these matters as a lawyer, father, foster parent, Big Brother, and former Domestic Relations Court Referee. I tell my clients this: a custody battle is long, expensive, and ugly. It frequently creates as many problems as it solves. I have personally fought many such highly-contested battles over the years, and the better course for parents and their children is to look hard for ways to avoid them.

Dissolution ends a marriage through a complete, written Separation Agreement between a husband and wife on all property and parenting issues. A dissolution case can’t be filed with that agreement. In order to conclude an agreement it’s often necessary to engage in detailed information-gathering like what is done in “discovery” in a divorce. The process generally involves one or more Settlement Conferences. Major advantages of dissolution are that they typically can be accomplished much quicker and at much less cost than a divorce.

Spousal Support is what used to be called “alimony.” It is part of both divorces and dissolutions. It is generally monthly payments made by one person to a former spouse. Today it is common for either the woman or man to be the person who pays spousal support. Unlike child support, there is no formula to apply. How much is paid, and for how long, are subject to many factors listed in the law, and other arguments not listed in the law. The money is ordinary income to the person who receives it, and is deductible by the person who pays it. Suffice it to say, in most cases I handle spousal support is an issue which has to be addressed. Doing so requires a mix of skills that reflect my many years in this profession.