Negotiating a divorce settlement usually involves dealing with delicate issues such as property division and spousal support, but even spouses in Ohio and around the country who become heated during these discussions are often able to look beyond their differences when the issues of child custody and visitation arrangements come up. Parents generally want their children to be happy and thrive, and this outcome becomes more likely when divorcing parents are able to tolerate minor failings and frustrations and accept that their former spouses are acting with the best of intentions.
Many Ohio divorced couples with young children are able to co-parent after working out a schedule that works for everyone involved. If one such parent decides to move to another town the parenting arrangements can get a lot more complicated. The schedule usually must be changed to accommodate one parent's move, and these changes could cause the other to get resentful.
Child custody matters during an Ohio divorce can become complicated if the estranged spouses cannot agree on a parenting plan and the case goes to court. When both parents are petitioning for physical custody, there are a variety of factors that are considered by family law courts.
As some Ohio parents may know, custody obligations are determined by a state court that has jurisdictional control over child support, custody and visitation. However, in some cases, one or both parents may move from the geographical area where the custody requirements originated. When this occurs, a federal law ensures that the state-imposed custody agreement will be enforced no matter where the parents or children move within the United States.
When two Ohio parents decide to split up, they often have to determine where their child will spend the majority of their time and how much time the child will spend with the other parent. While it is usually recommended that the child spends an equal amount of time with both parents, this is not always possible due to some common problems that arise.
Former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle has been in the news lately, having been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of child pornography and travelling to have sex with minors. Now that the criminal proceedings against Fogle appear to be resolved, he is facing a divorce filing from his wife, according to a news report.
In years past, the stigma attached to having a child out of wedlock was so strong that pregnant women often had to quickly marry the men who impregnated them, just to avoid this result. In other cases, unmarried women were forced to give up their children to adoption.
Same-sex marriage is now the law of the land in the U.S., after this summer's Supreme Court ruling. This ruling has important implications for the several states that previously limited marriage to heterosexual couples. For instance, it likely means that all states must grant divorces to married couples that file for one, no matter the spouses' genders.
Let's say that you and your spouse have been married for a long time, and you have one child together. One day, you and your spouse sense a change in the relationship -- and as the days, weeks, and months roll on, the two of you come to the conclusion that it is time to divorce.
Raising a child is a profound responsibility. Parents have to make decisions about where their children will live, where they will go to school and what religion they will grow up in, if any. Besides everyday love, support and discipline, these decisions are perhaps the most important things parents will make when their children are young.