Every divorce or dissolution action needs to answer three questions. These are:
1. How to divide the property equitably?
2. How to allocate parental rights?
3. How to support the children and spouses?
Equitable Division of Property. Ohio law provides that all property and debt acquired during
the marriage is subject to equitable division. This means that, generally speaking, each party should receive one half
of the property and one half of the debt unless some other allocation would be more fair. To effect an equitable division
the court may adjust the assets and liabilities of the parties freely.
Certain property, generally that property brought to the marriage by one spouse or the other, inheritance
or personal-injury proceeds for pain and suffering, is considered separate property of one spouse and is not subject to division.
The court may, however, award separate property to achieve the equitable division of marital property.
Allocation of Parental Rights and Responsibilities. The allocation of custody comes in two
varieties: Shared Parenting and Residential Parenting. Modern practice tends to favor shared parenting unless
there is some compelling reason to award custody to one parent alone. It is important to note that the choice of parenting
plan style, does not control the ultimate possession schedule. That is there are two questions: 1)shared parenting or
residential parenting and 2) what is the schedule. In shared parenting the parties make major decisions jointly
whereas in residential parenting decision making is reserved to the residential parent alone. The possession schedule
can be anything from every other week to the traditional every other weekend in either shared parenting or residential parenting
plans.
Support of the Children and Spouses. Once the possession schedule and parenting plan style
have been determined, the court must move on to determine the support for children and spouses. Generally speaking parents
with children will pay child support to the spouse who has the majority of the time with the children in an amount calculated
through complex formula outlined by statute. As the possession schedule comes nearer to an even division of time and
as the party's income comes nearer to equal amounts the child support may be modified to a number less than the guidelines
support. Awards outside of the child support guidelines are difficult to obtain.
Often for middle wage earners, child support will be the only support obligation and there will be relatively
little additional income available to support the former spouse. Whilst child-support is a very formularic
calculation, spousal support is purely a matter of negotiation and argument. The court must apply a complicated and
a long list of factors found in the Ohio revised code in determining what amount of spousal support, if any, is a reasonable
under the circumstances.
