Divorce, Dissolution, Custody Law in Cincinnati, OH

There is no entity in our society more powerful than the family. As a result, legal issues arising out of intra-family matters can be devastating. Even if you are fortunate enough to live a life free of divorce, dissolution, and/or child custody and child support matters, it is likely that others close to you have dealt with these types of issues, or will in the future. If you or someone you know is facing divorce, dissolution and/or child custody and child support issues in Cincinnati, Ohio, there is a need for legal advice. When dealing with a divorce in Cincinnati, Ohio and surrounding areas, it is ideal to have an experienced and knowledgeable divorce attorney on your side.

Attorneys at Keller, Barrett, & Higgins have been helping people just like you get the representation and answers you need. There are rarely simple and easy solutions to Family Law issues; however, with proper guidance, a great many of the legal, financial and emotional obstacles that face those going through the ending of a marriage and/or the determination of the custody of a child can be avoided and/or minimized. An attorney knowledgeable in Family Law issues can provide you or those close to you with information regarding:

• Laws governing Divorce and Dissolution
• Laws governing Legal Separation
• Working collaboratively to resolve issues
• Dividing assets and debts of a marriage
• Spousal Support
• Child Custody and Shared Parenting
• Child Support

Tina Barrett represents you with the future in mind for you and your children, rather than just looking to the conclusion of your case. You need to be absolutely certain your interests are represented by a capable and skilled attorney. To better serve her clients, Ms. Barrett has limited her practice to divorce, custody, and the other related matters serving Cincinnati, Ohio.

​Please call or email Tina Barrett to discuss your family law matter.

What are my options?
This is usually the first thing people ask me, it’s why they say they want to talk to me in the first place. They are having some trouble in their marriage and they want to know what options might be available. I’m going to presume you already know that “stay married” is an option unless your spouse is the one wanting to terminate the marriage so I’ll skip that one and assume that the goal is to leave your marriage. You have three legal options in Ohio and most states’ domestic laws are similar:
         1-Annulment;
         2-Divorce; and
         3-Dissolution
 
What is annulment?
 I’ve been doing this for more than 15 years and I’ve been involved in hundreds if not thousands of divorces and dissolutions but I’ve only seen two annulments so that’s probably not going to be an option for most people. The grounds for annulment rarely apply. An annulment voids the marriage and the contract because, for good reason it is deemed that a contract either never should have taken place or was never completed. Only in very extreme circumstances is that the case. http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3105.31
 
What is the difference between Divorce and Dissolution?
 If your marriage is terminated the marital contract is terminated and to do that, the three big contractual obligations in a marriage have to be considered (Property, Support and Children).  In a dissolution you come to agreements on everything, reduce it to writing and take it to the Court. In a divorce you start with the Court and either work through the issues to come up with agreements while the Court watches over, or let the Court make those decisions for you and hope for the best. The end result of divorce and dissolution are the same, they are simply procedurally different mechanisms to terminate a marriage. A dissolution is often called a “No Fault” divorce but all that really means is that the parties have agreed that they are incompatible and they have decided to do all the work necessary before asking for the Court to get involved. At one time it was necessary to prove that the other spouse had failed in some way in the marriage and now you as their spouse are entitled to terminate the marriage and potentially have them suffer some sort of punishment in the determination of the division or assets, allocation of custody of children and/or award of spousal support. Those “grounds” or failures still exist in the law but Courts rarely punish a spouse for the kind of bad behavior the other spouse believes is punishable. If your spouse is cheating on you the remedy is divorce but it’s not necessarily a way to undue the harm. If your spouse is lazy and won’t contribute to the marital coffers the way you think he/she should, the remedy is divorce but that may not mean he/she won’t share equally in all the work you have done during the marriage
 
What if my spouse says she/he does not want a divorce?
 Though many jurisdictions have moved on to a solely no-fault divorce system, there are some that still require an allegation of fault on the part of one spouse before a marriage can be dissolved. A fault-based divorce is one in which one party blames the other for the failure of the marriage by citing a legal wrong. Grounds for a fault-based divorce vary by state but typically include adultery, physical or mental cruelty, desertion, alcohol or drug abuse, insanity, impotence, fraud, or infecting the other spouse with a venereal disease. Trials on the grounds for divorce are not common even when one party does not want the divorce. Courts are no longer inclined to make people stay married and proving the grounds necessary for divorce is not the obstacle it once was. If you want to terminate your marriage you can, with or without your spouse’s consent. It’s easier and quicker if everyone agrees it’s time to call it quits, but not impossible otherwise.
 
What is Marital Property?
When you are married you hold assets and liabilities together, we call that your “Property” no matter whose name is on the asset or liability. The presumption when you are married is that everything you own and everything you owe together and individually is marital and belonging to both spouses. If you stay married that continues to happen, if you terminate your marriage those assets and liabilities need to be divided somehow.  That presumption that it is all marital is a ‘rebuttable’ presumption though, meaning that either spouse can argue something is separate and not to be shared and that’s where things can get complicated. If you had assets before you got married, inherited assets or were given gifts to you alone during your marriage, those assets might belong only to you and not your spouse.  There are also situations in which some debts are not deemed marital as well. The key to determining what is marital and what is separate starts with the spouses and their opinions on the matter and if that doesn’t yield agreement, it ends with the documentation of the nature of each asset and liability and what the Court decides.
 
Can I get spousal support?
 When you are married to someone, part of the marital contract is a duty of support. You each owe a duty of support to one another. That duty can continue after the termination of the marriage if you both agree it should or if the Court makes that decision for you. Such an agreement or order is what we call “Spousal Support” or “Alimony.”  There are lots of considerations that go into deciding if that duty of support will continue beyond the marriage and if so who will owe it, how much they will owe and for how long. There is a long list of factors that need to be considered and one of them is “any factor the Court expressly finds to be relevant and equitable” so suffice it to say a lot can be considered and argued when it comes to spousal support. http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/3105  There are no hard and fast rules about spousal support but painting with a very broad brush it can be said that the primary wage earner in a long-term marriage is probably going to pay some support. I could talk all day long about what “primary wage earner,” “long-term marriage,” and “some support” mean. This is where you need to have a discussion with an attorney familiar with the domestic relations laws of your state and the proclivities of the Domestic Relations Court in your county of residence.
        
Can I get custody of my kids?
 You probably already have custody of your kids. If you gave birth to them or adopted them you have custody and if you were married to the person who gave birth to your children at the time of their birth you have custody of them. That is the status quo and one thing Courts like is status quo so the usual answer to that is ‘Yes.’ But what you really want to know perhaps is how will your custody stack up against the other parent? Hopefully, for the sake of your kids and your bank account the answer to that is that you will keep doing whatever it is you are doing now. That is, you and your spouse will continue to deal with the rights and responsibilities of parenting your children together each according to his/her best abilities. Maybe that means continuing to share custody with a Shared Parenting Plan, or maybe it means one of you will have sole custody and the other will have parenting time and other rights short of full custody. The biggest issue to resolve in any relationship involving children is how to do what is best for the kids. You are either going to have to hash that out with the other parent, the one you decided to either procreate or adopt with, or let “the Court,” people you do not know, do it for you. The Court often gets involved but in my experience they rarely need to if people could just set aside their animosity and unrealistic expectations of one another. Then again, if everyone did that I might have to find a new job so I merely offer it as advice. People often ignore my advice, I’ve learned to live with it. If you and the other parent cannot agree on what is best, you will have to go to a trial. Before you go to a trial on issues pertaining to your children I hope that you have sought the advice of an experienced domestic relations attorney, been to as much counseling as you can afford, reached out to the other parent as amicably as you know how, attended as many mediation sessions as are allowed and searched your soul so much that you can draw the interior by memory. I can take you through a custody trial, I’ve done it before and I will do it again. Sometimes it’s necessary and the only thing that can be done even keeping that lofty goal of “best interests of the children” in your heart and mind. I have yet to enjoy one and there is no “winning.” But I can do it and I will but hopefully you’ve figured out by now that is not going to be my aim. In my opinion you should not hire an attorney who approaches things any differently than that.
 
What impact should a child's age have on custody and visitation scheduling?
 Child psychology and development experts generally agree that children of different ages have different needs regarding child custody and visitation scheduling. Experts generally recommend a visitation schedule based on a child's age and his or her need for structure and stability, which may be adjusted as needed to account for differences in parenting skills. When parents enter into a shared parenting arrangement, a different schedule may be used. If a child is of a sufficient age and maturity level, he or she may also have an opinion about custody and visitation arrangements.
        
When is my child old enough to decide where he/she wants to live?
 I include this question only because I am asked it by every client in any sort of disagreement with the other parent. I always say “18” and notwithstanding what is in the previous answer I stand by it. Two-year-olds have opinions on where they want to go and when, as do 16-year-olds, but the whole point of parenting is to protect them from the effects of bad decision making. If you let your kids decide what is best, you are letting your kids raise themselves. I’m not saying to ignore their wishes and thoughts, I’m saying that parents should always decide and if the parents cannot decide they don’t leave it to the kids to join forces with one side or the other. That will have negative consequences in and of itself even if they choose wisely. Listen to your kids as soon as they can talk; but let them be kids and don’t grant them or burden them with things that even parents have trouble deciding.
 
What about child support?         
Both parents have a duty of support to their minor children and that will not terminate with the parent’s relationship or marriage. How that duty is divided depends upon a lot of things including but not limited to the ability of each parent to provide support and the past practices of the parents.  But there are hard and fast rules on support set forth in the Ohio Revised Code. The Legislature has devised a schedule of support based upon the incomes of the parents and the number of children involved. Like everything else it’s more complicated than that. But support will be calculated by formula and the results of that may or may not be modified based upon what the parents agree is best for the children or the Court decides what is best for the children.
 
Can I terminate visitation if I am not being paid the support I am owed?
 No, visitation (parenting time) and child support are two distinct considerations in the eyes of the Court. In nearly all jurisdictions, the right to visitation is never conditional on payment of child support. Instead, child support arrearages should be addressed through the state's child enforcement office or through a contempt of court proceeding. Visitation is not a benefit of being a parent so much as it is the right of the child to have a relationship with both parents. One party’s failure to meet financial obligations might affect custody determinations, but parenting time is for the child.