Family Law

You have dedicated your life to focusing on raising a child and making money. Now there is a threat that you won’t get your fair share nor your child might not realize their what is in their “Best Interest.” You need aggressive representation to protect your interests.

There are three main aspects of divorce/family law. Those areas being:

The “custody” and care of a child
Child Support
Spousal support
Preservation of assets or limit Liabilities;

Custody

If custody is a concern, then the focus is all about the “Best Interest.” The “Best Interest” of a child will determine who has decision making abilities for a child for schooling, medical, and religious purposes.

The “Best Interest” can be shared between the parents for a child. But at times one parent can create a toxic environment for a couple which not only hinders the couple’s relationship but also any decisions concerning child rearing. The non-toxic parent needs to step up and do the right thing for the child. To protect the “Best Interest” of that child. To decide the schooling, medical, and religious guidance or influence that is in the child’s “Best Interest.” We will make the strongest argument for you to make sure your “Parental Rights” are protected.

Child Support

Child support is are pretty straight forward in Ohio. There is a series of calculations done that involves income of the parties and other expenses. The result is a dollar amount which reflects the amount owed for either child or spousal support.

Reasons to deviate from child support guidelines are as follows:

Any special needs of the child or children, including those stemming from a physical or psychological condition;

Other court-ordered payments the parent is required to make;

Extended parenting time or extraordinary costs associated with parenting time, including extraordinary travel expenses when exchanging the child or children for parenting time;

The child’s financial resources and his or her earning ability;

The parents’ relative financial resources, including the disparity in the parents’ income or the income of each parent’s household, other assets, and the needs of each parent;

The income of the parent receiving child support, if that parent’s annual income is equal to or less than one hundred per cent of the federal poverty level;

Benefits that either parent receives from remarriage or sharing living expenses with another person;

The amount of federal, state, and local taxes one or both parents has paid or estimated to be required to pay;

Significant in-kind contributions from a parent, including, but not limited to, direct payment for lessons, sports equipment, schooling, or clothing;

Extraordinary work-related expenses incurred by either parent;

Each parent’s standard of living and circumstances, as well as the standard of living the child would have enjoyed had the marriage continued or had the parents been married;

The educational opportunities the child would have had access to, had the circumstances requiring a child support order not arisen;

The responsibility of each parent for the support of others, including support of a child or children with disabilities who are not subject to the support order;

Post-secondary educational expenses paid for by a parent for the parent’s own child or children, whether or not the child or children are emancipated;

Costs incurred or likely to be incurred by the parents in compliance with court-ordered reunification efforts in child abuse, neglect, or dependency cases;

Extraordinary child care costs required for the child or children that exceed the maximum state-wide average cost estimate as described in section 2119.05(P)(1)(d) of the Ohio Revised Code, including extraordinary costs associated with caring for a child or children with specialized physical, psychological, or educational needs; or

Any other relevant factors (give the court the ability to consider items not know to the law makers when the law was passed).

Other relevant factors include the following:

The parent paying child support is already paying several thousand dollars per year in private school tuition and fees for the child(ren);

The parent paying support lives in another country and has significant expenses for travel and lodging in order to exercise parenting time;

The parent paying support has huge employment-related but unreimbursed expenses;

One parent has a child with special needs from a different relationship, and supporting that child consumes much of that parent’s resources;

The child being supported is a child actor whose own significant income means the guideline-recommended amount of support is not necessary;

Even with guideline child support, there is significant disparity between households (hot dogs for dinner in one house and steak in the other house);

The parent paying support is paying college education expenses for older children.

If the court decides to deviate from the child support guidelines in a case, it needs to specify in writing the reason for the deviation.

Spousal Support

Spousal Support is usually determined by the length of marriage coupled with considerations. There is a computation which is done by a court to determine the dollar amount of the support award. Factors they consider on defined the income of the parties, from all sources, including, but not limited to, income derived from property awarded as part of the property division in the divorce proceeding;

The relative earning abilities of the parties;

The ages and the physical, mental and emotional conditions of the parties;

The retirement benefits of the parties;

The duration of the marriage;

The extent to which it would be inappropriate for a party, because he/she will be custodian of a minor child or children of the marriage, to seek employment outside the home;

The standard of living of the parties established during the marriage;

The relative extent of education of the parties;

The relative assets and liabilities of the parties, including, but not limited to any court-ordered payments by the parties;

The contribution of each party to the education, training, or earning ability of the other party, including, but not limited to, any party’s contribution to the acquisition of a professional degree of the other party;

The time and expense necessary for the spouse who is seeking spousal support to acquire education, training, or job experience so that the spouse will be qualified to obtain appropriate employment provided the education, training, or job experience, and employment is, in fact, sought;

The tax consequences, for each party, of an award of spousal support;

The lost income production capacity of either party that resulted from that party’s marital responsibilities; and

Any other fact that the court expressly finds to be relevant and equitable.

If the court determines that permanent spousal support is warranted, the amount of support will depend on some of the same factors, as well as the relatives incomes and earning capacities of both spouses.

Asset Protection