Talk With Us
Thank you!
Your submission has been received. We will be in touch soon!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
The legal standard is the “best interest of the children.” This does NOT mean what YOU think is in the child’s best interest, but rather what the COURT believes is in the child’s best interest. Sometimes a Guardian ad litem is appointed to a child in efforts to investigate and make recommendation as to what is in the child’s best interest. The court is the finder of fact, and not a specific parent or their wishes.
Yes. Any child related issues and/or child support issues are modifiable as long as there is a change of circumstances since your most recent order and the child is still a minor and currently enrolled in high school.
Parental rights differ in the State of Ohio depending on whether you are married or unmarried when the child is born.
Married:
There's a presumption that a man is the father of a child if:
He and the mother are married.
He and the mother were married and the child was born during the marriage or within 300 days after the marriage was terminated.
He and the mother attempted to marry each other before the child's birth and either (1) the marriage can only be declared invalid by a court and the child is born during the marriage or within 300 days of the end of the marriage; or (2) the attempted marriage is invalid without a court order and the child is born within 300 days after the couple stopped living together.
An acknowledgment of paternity has been filed
Unmarried:
In Ohio, the legal relationship between a parent and child extends equally to all parents and all children, regardless of the parents' marital status.
An unmarried mother establishes her parent-child relationship by proving that she gave birth.
An unmarried father may establish his parent-child relationship through an acknowledgement of paternity.
An unmarried woman who gives birth to a child is automatically the sole "residential parent and legal custodian" of the child, unless and until a court orders otherwise. When parents are unmarried, a father doesn't have child custody rights until a court order establishes his rights. An unmarried father must establish paternity of the minor child to gain parental rights.
In Ohio, child support is calculated using the Ohio Child Support Guideline Worksheet which applies statutory guidelines set forth by the Ohio Revised Code. The basic information going into child support calculations includes each parent’s income, the parent’s work related child care expenses, health insurance premiums incurred for the minor child, each parent’s local income taxes, and whether any other child support or spousal support (alimony) is being paid or received by either parent.
An unmarried father seeking to establish his parental right through court will receive a child support order.
A Child Support order can also be achieved administratively through CSEA (Child Support Enforcement Agency) of the county in which a mother resides. This process takes place outside of court.
Child support is income based and calculations are mandatory through court proceedings. Parties can agree to deviate from the support calculation if they so choose and the facts and circumstances of the case meet the qualifying criteria to justify a deviation. There is no blanket requirement that a Father pay a Mother child support. Depending on the income of the parties and other factors of your legal matter, the higher income earner may be the one ordered to pay support.
Spousal Support can be one of the most contentious and difficult issues in a divorce to predict as the amount and length of spousal support is primarily within the discretion of the judge. While there are general guidelines and factors to be considered required by statute in Ohio, this issue must be litigated and is very fact specific.
What is Spousal Support?
“Spousal support” means any payment or payments to be made to a spouse or former spouse, or to a third party for the benefit of a spouse or a former spouse, both for sustenance and support of the spouse or former spouse. “Spousal support” does not include any payment that is made as part of a division or distribution of property or a distributive award.
How to calculate Spousal Support?
It is important to know that although Ohio courts have a statutory formula to calculate child support, no formula or “guideline” exists for spousal support. Ohio courts have wide discretion to determine the amount and duration of support awards for a spouse on a case by case basis, after taking into consideration the statutory factors currently in place.
Spousal support may be temporary, short-term, long-term, or permanent, depending on a number of statutory factors which the Court must consider. It may be granted to help a spouse “get back on their feet” or get the education to be self-supporting. If the court grants spousal support on a permanent basis, it will last until the recipient dies or remarries.
What factors does the Court consider?
The court does consider several factors as required by statute when calculating spousal support and some of the most common are:
Income of the parties from all sources, including but not limited to, income derived from property divided, disbursed, or distributed;
Relative earning abilities of the parties;
Ages and the physical, mental, and emotional conditions of the parties;
Retirement benefits of the parties;
Duration of the marriage;
Standard of living of the parties established during the marriage; and
Relative assets and liabilities of the parties including but limited to any court-ordered payments by the parties.