Ohio Divorce

Residency Requirement

Under Ohio divorce law, anyone filing a complaint for divorce must be an Ohio resident for at least six months. You must also be a resident of the county for 90 days immediately before filing the complaint.

How to Begin Your Ohio Divorce Case

First, the petitioning spouse must file a "complaint" for divorce and summons at the courthouse in their county. Second, the petitioning spouse must serve the complaint on the responding spouse. Then, the responding spouse must file a written response, or “answer”, to the complaint. If the responding spouse fails to file an answer, then the court may give the petitioning spouse everything he/she requested. This is called a “default judgment.”

The final step in any Ohio divorce case is when the judge signs the “Decree of Dissolution of Marriage”. This signed decree formally ends the marriage and the divorce case.

Dividing the Property

During the Ohio divorce case, the court must divide the spouses’ property. It is important to note that Ohio is a community property state. This means that in any Ohio divorce, the court will order an equitable division of property acquired during the marriage. The judge will not divide any property acquired before the spouses got married. Therefore, it is important to document what property the spouses own and when they acquired it.

Spousal Support

The Ohio divorce court may decide that one spouse needs financial support from the other in order to meet his/her basic living needs. The court will grant a request for spousal support in order to provide the requesting spouse with basic living expenses to maintain the lifestyle he/she enjoyed during the marriage.

The Best Interests of the Children

A primary concern for the Ohio divorce court is the best interests of the children involved in divorce cases. The court is concerned with providing for their financial, educational, and emotional needs. Often, the court will make temporary orders to provide for the children while the court case is being resolved. These temporary order usually require that the children’s lives not be disrupted by their parents’ divorce.

Child Custody

Ohio divorce law considers several factors in deciding child custody. For example, the court will consider the following:

• The best interests of the children
• The wishes and concerns of the parents
• The child’s wishes and concerns
• The child’s relationship with their parents, siblings, and extended family
• The child’s adjustment and development at home, school, and in the community
• The mental and physical health of the parents, child, and siblings
• Whether either parent has failed to make child support payments
• Whether either parent has abused or neglected any child
• Whether the parent who lives with the child has denied the other parent’s right to visitation
• Whether either parent has moved or plans to move out of state

Child Support

Both parents, regardless of gender, are required to provide financial support for all of their minor children. The Ohio Child Support Guidelines help the court determine how much a parent must pay to support his/her children. At any time during or after the divorce case, a parent may request that a child support order be modified. Modification is granted in order to meet changes in the needs of the children. For example, if a child develops special medical needs the court may modify child support to require that a parent pay to meet those needs.

It is also possible for the court to modify a child support order when there are changes in a parent's ability to pay the original support order. For example, if a parent loses his/her job, the court may decrease the child support payment to reflect the loss in income. In the alternative, the court may increase child support payments if a parent gets a raise or wins the lottery.