Ohio Divorce Laws
There are legal grounds for divorce such as
No Fault Divorce:
1.Incompatibility, unless denied by the other spouse
2.Living separate and apart without cohabitation at any time for 1 year
General Divorce:
3.Adultery
4.Imprisonment
5.Willful desertion from spouse for 1 year
6.Cruel and inhuman treatment/abuse
7.Bigamy
8.Habitual drunkenness
9.When a final divorce decree has been obtained outside of the state of Ohio that does not release the other spouse from the obligations of the marriage inside the state of Ohio
10.Fraud
11.Neglect
The spouse filing for divorce or dissolution of a marriage must have been a resident of Ohio for at least 6 months and a resident of the county for at least 90 days prior to filing.
Simplified/Special Divorce Procedures in Ohio
both spouses may jointly file a petition for dissolution of marriage. The petition must:
Be signed by both spouses
Have attached to it a separation agreement which provides for Division of property, Spousal support including, if the spouses desire, the authorization of the court to modify any spousal support terms Custody, visitation, and child support, if there are any minor children
The spouses may include a parenting plan in the agreement. Between 30 and 90 days after filing such a petition, both spouses must appear in court and state under oath that he or she indeed
1.Voluntarily signed the agreement
2.Is satisfied with the agreement
3.Seeks dissolution of the marriage
I divorced my first husband in this way and since we agreed on everything it made it much simpler, faster and cheaper then going threw a long costly divorce proceeding.
Ohio is an equitable division state. Each spouse retains his or her separate property, including gifts, inheritances, property acquired prior to the marriage, income, or appreciation of separate property, and individual personal injury awards. An equitable division of all of the spouse’s marital property acquired during the marriage is allowed based on the following factors:
The desirability of awarding the family home, or right to reside in it, is to the spouse with custody of the children
The liquidity of the property to be distributed
The financial resources of both spouses
The needs and obligations of each spouse
The duration of the marriage
The costs of any sale of an asset, if a sale is necessary for division purposes
Any other relevant factor
The division of the marital property will be equal, unless such a division would be inequitable. Marital fault is not a consideration. The amount of any spousal support award is not considered in the division of property.
Shared parenting or sole child custody may be awarded according to the best interests of the child. Factors to be considered are:
1 The preference of the child, if the child is of sufficient age and capacity
2 The child’s adjustment to his or her home, school, and community
3 The mental and physical health of all individuals involved
4 The relationship of the child with parents, siblings, and other significant family members
5 Whether 1 parent has willfully denied visitation to the other parent
6 Whether either parent lives or intends to live outside of Ohio
7The ability of the parents to cooperate and make joint decisions
8 The ability of each parent to encourage the sharing of love, affection, and contact between the child and the other parent
9 Any history of child abuse, spouse abuse, or domestic violence by a parent or anyone who is or will be a member of the household where the child will reside, or parental kidnapping
Both parents are considered to have equal rights to custody.
In addition, for shared parenting to be awarded, both parents must request it and submit a plan for shared parenting. The financial status of a parent is not to be considered for allocating any parental rights and responsibilities. The court may require an investigation of the parents and any evidence of neglect or child or spousal abuse will be considered against the granting of shared parenting.
Either parent may be ordered to pay child support. Marital misconduct is not to be considered in this award. Health care insurance may be ordered to be provided for the child. Child support payments may be ordered to be paid through the state child support agency. There are official child support guidelines that are presumed to be correct unless there is a showing that the amount of the support award would be unjust or inappropriate under the particular circumstances of a case. Child support payments stay in effect and required to be paid for each child until each child reaches the age of 18 unless they are still in high school then the child support must still be paid until the child graduates.
