Jurisdiction – Divorce Wars Between Courts
Jurisdiction is a common question in many cases. In Dayton, Ohio, the question arises in divorce or dissolution cases when married parties spend their entire married life as residents of one state; and when the marriage is in decline, one of the parties moves to another state and then seeks to have his/her divorce or dissolution in the state in which the party moved.
This is not often problematic because the question of whether or not the new state has jurisdiction (the right, power, or authority to administer justice by hearing and determining controversies) is never raised. Often times, the spouse who stayed in the state where the marital relationship existed does not object to jurisdiction. The spouse in the marital state, generally the defendant, will file his or her Answer, and the case will proceed as any divorce or dissolution case. However, there are certain times where this is just not the case. Sometimes the defendant will object to the new state’s jurisdiction. They will argue that the court does not have the right to make rulings … Read More... “Jurisdiction: A Case Study on Minimum Contacts”
In Ohio, restraining orders are not available in dissolution proceedings but only in divorce, legal separation and annulment actions. Restraining orders have become somewhat “boilerplate” in as much as they are commonplace and routinely granted on an “ex parte” basis at the time the divorce action is filed. A “restraining order” is also executed by a Judge and issued by a Court restraining a party involved in a divorce proceeding from certain actions or activities during the divorce process. The general principle for restraining orders is to maintain the status quo of affairs at the time a divorce action is filed and to avoid “retaliatory” actions by a spouse.
Over the years Gregory Ramey, Ph.D., who is a local child psychologist and vice president for outpatient services at the Children’s Medical Center of Dayton, has allowed us to republish many of his “Family Wise” articles from the Dayton Daily News. He included an interesting question and answer in his column published in the Dayton Daily News on Sunday, August 28, 2011, that caught my attention. Here is the question and Dr. Ramey’s answer:
Think about this statement: “The rise of cohabitating households with children (where parents aren’t married, just living together) is the largest unrecognized threat to the quality and stability of children’s lives in today’s families.” That’s pretty strong stuff, but it’s exactly what a new research study concludes. While divorce has been the leading cause of the breakdown of the family and marriage for the last 40 years, the study shows that divorce is no longer the leading cause. The study shows that cohabitation is now the greatest threat to the welfare of children in the United States!
The topic of this Family Blog Article focuses upon what happens to the engagement ring in the event of a “broken engagement”. Most of the cases which are cited below provide the following information to the reader: An engagement ring is a conditional gift given in contemplation of marriage; and, therefore, an engagement ring is not an absolute gift.
Once upon a time in Ohio the answer was “yes”. But not any longer. There is much misinformation on the internet about this subject. So, I thought that a review of the child custody laws over the years might be both helpful and interesting. There has been movement away over the years from allowing a child to choose in a divorce which parent to live with. These past “age of election” laws were seen as placing too much pressure on children.
Tucked deep into the recently passed state budget is a new provision that will reduce driver’s license suspensions of alleged “deadbeat” parents. Currently, a parent owing more than a month in child support faces the possibility of the loss of his or her driver’s license and professional licenses. Under current law, neither the courts nor the Child Support Enforcement Agency can grant limited driving privileges for occupational purposes on a child support license suspension.