Columbus Family Law Blog

It is not uncommon for family law judges to take one's military service into consideration when making child custody decisions. If a parent is deployed, or has a chance of being deployed, it is sometimes enough to sway a judge's opinion of what is in the best interest of a child. Ohio's third district U.S. Representative Mike Turner has again introduced legislation that would protect the child custody rights of military members.

The Servicemember Family Protection Act would amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act creating a national family law protecting child custody arrangements of deployed parents. If a child custody motion is filed while the military parent is deployed, the new law would not allow any modification to a previous custody judgment until that parent gets home. The bill would also prohibit family court judges from taking into account the past absence of a parent because of deployment or possible future deployment when deciding custody and placement disputes.

When couples divorce in Ohio, deciding on a parenting plan is often one of the most contentious parts of their divorce decree. While one parent may have traditionally provided most of the care, like taking the children to and from school, doctors appointments and dance class, it doesn't always mean they will get the lion's share of custody or visitation. Judges usually start at an equal portion of parenting time, then take extenuating circumstances into consideration. Custody is determined on a case-by-case basis for the best interest of the child.

Many couples become angry and bitter toward the other parent during custody disputes because they use the children as pawn to point out the other parent's faults. If one parent has traditionally been too busy to spend much time with the children because of their career, that doesn't mean their priorities won't change during divorce proceedings or to fulfill the parenting plan. Not only does parenting time mean visitation, but courts also take into consideration the education, health and welfare of the children.

Equally shared parenting may not always be possible if a parent travels a lot or has medical issues. But the courts know that children love both of their parents and do best when they get to spend time with both of them.

The number of children being born to unmarried couples, single mothers and same sex couples continues to grow at a rapid rate according to a new National Survey of Family Growth conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. The percentage of children born to unmarried parents who live together jumped 83 percent since 2002. The percentage of births to cohabitating women jumped from 9 percent in 1985 to 27 percent. The study was conducted with face-to-face interviews with 23,000 men and women between the ages of 15 to 44 between 2006 and 2010.

A sociologist at Bowling Green State University in Ohio believes the remarkable increase may be due to the recession and called marriage an "achievement" that many people today don't think they are economically ready for. Living together and having children out of wedlock seems to be more widely accepted with less of a stigma attached to it. The study also showed that more educated, middle-class women are cohabitating with the father of their children, but delaying marriage. In 2002, the percentage of first births for unmarried women was 38 percent. In 2010, the percentage of children born to unmarried couples was 46 percent.

Dividing assets during a divorce not only includes real property, homes, cars, bank accounts and the book collection; it also includes your retirement accounts. The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that retirement benefits including private and public plans such as 401(k) accounts, IRAs, Social Security, pension plans and deferred compensation plans accumulated during the marriage are considered marital assets and must be divided fairly.

The current value of plans based on publicly traded stocks and bonds must be determined and divided equitably in a divorce settlement. Financial experts often disagree on how to make those calculations. Even death benefits before retirement and cost of living adjustments must be considered. However, any pre-marriage contributions and their appreciation are not included in the value.

The fair division of these assets can be executed in several ways. Each spouse can take half of each account, they can assume one or more plans equaling an equitable split, or you can award your spouse full ownership of another marital asset of equal value, such as your house.