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I pay my ordered child support, but haven't seen my kids in almost 9 years. Their mother prevented contact. I know I should have filed for visitation long ago. My kids want nothing to do with me. What should I do?
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answered on Jul 3, 2024
You are in a very tough position. A biological parent's consent is not needed for a step-parent adoption if they have had less than de minimus contact with the minor children for more than one year without reasonable excuse. A court will have a hard time concluding that your failure to file... View More 
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answered on Jun 6, 2024
Any asset acquired prior to marriage, unless comingled with marital assets, is non-marital. It should not need additional protection. Exceptions to this can include certain property used by both parties, like a house, that was appreciated in value following the marriage. In general, though,... View More
We have a court order-I am the Custodial parent and the Father has visitation only. I had to move out of State because I live with my parents and they moved. I did file paperwork with the courts because I have other concerns about my child going to his Father. When I filed I had not moved yet and... View More
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answered on Jun 6, 2024
It is likely that before you moved you needed to file a notice of intent to relocate. File that ASAP. You are supposed to do this prior to moving. If you do not, then the court can literally make you bring the child back to the state.
I really want to do it for extra money but I don’t know the legal age I have to be
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answered on Jun 6, 2024
There is no prohibition on you doing this yourself at any age. The prohibition is on a company hiring or contracting you to do this work while you are below working age. If it's just you going around the neighborhood, then you're fine.
My daughter's father has been no contact for 2 years and he never established paternal rights in court, but is on birth certificate. When I was going to file officially for custody, 6 different lawyers during consultations informed me that because we were never married and he never... View More
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answered on Jun 6, 2024
If the biological father has EITHER gone more than one year without de minimus (negligible amount) of contact with the minor child without reasonable cause OR has failed to provide support for the minor child, even without a child support order, then the biological father's consent is not... View More
Dad was diagnosed a few weeks ago and can no longer drive, manage his finances or cook for himself, per the evaluation. The forward prognosis is difficulty dressing, bathing and feeding within a year. I am a licensed CPA and need to confirm what I can and should not do. I have durable POA and it... View More
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answered on Jun 3, 2024
Do you need to as a matter of law? No. Will every nursing home, health care provider, and bank give you a hard time about the POAs and make you jump through a million hoops that you wouldn't have to do if you had guardianship? Absolutely yes.
I am not sure where and who gets what papers to file an appeal. Does the trial court get my evidence information when I file?
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answered on May 14, 2024
There are many rules about how to file an appeal and how to transfer the docket and the trial information to the appellate clerk. Please do not try to do this yourself. It is very easy to mess up, and then your appeal would be dismissed. Get local counsel to assist you in the appeal, even if... View More
I have been separated for 18 months. My spouse and I have absolutely nothing together. She refuses a dissolution even though she is asking for nothing and neither am I. She says I'm going to have to spend the money on an attorney out of spite just to get her to appear. What other options do I... View More
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answered on May 14, 2024
If you truly don't have assets to split, you might consider filing the divorce yourself without an attorney. Many courts have their own forms to assist in low-asset divorces. The most you would pay in that case would be the filing fee.
My wife over the past 10 years has filed 4 dv cpo's. She does it to kick me out of the house, and has recently admitted in court to purjuring them...on the record under oath. Hcjfs(cps) has convinced her there is to be no contact with kids and i or her and i. Is this parental alienation and... View More
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answered on May 6, 2024
You need to get, if you haven't already, an enforceable custody/parenting time order. If you have one of those, then you can enforce it unless it is superseded by another order regardless of what CPS says. If you DON'T have an order, then she can do whatever she wants.
Can a lawyer sign a sworn affidavit for a client?
I got emergency custody paperwork from the court and they sent two sets of papers. Well I got to looking at my ex’s signature on the paperwork and there is two signatures one is 100% not hers. It looks like her lawyer tried to copy her... View More
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answered on May 2, 2024
Answer to your immediate question: No.
Answer to your unasked question; do not make this a thing. She is going to say that is her signature and there is not going to be anything you can do about it because notarization is there to protect the signor. Respond to the emergency custody... View More
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answered on May 2, 2024
Visitation and parenting time is a pretty low bar to clear. Unless you have serious background issues (drug addiction, violent crime, child endangerment) you have a good chance of getting temporary parenting time and a parenting plan in place even without counsel. Portage juvenile court has some... View More
I have had 2 OH lawyers say that an OH lawyer has to create my Trust since I reside in OH, but I own several rental properties and a second home in TN. The TN lawyer said he absolutely can create my trust.
Does one state trump the other or is it a free for all?
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answered on Apr 23, 2024
Both Ohio and Tennessee are part of the Uniform Trust Code. That means that a trust in either state will be enforceable in the other, so it doesn't really matter who drafts. There may be other planning reasons to stick with an Ohio lawyer, but it's not this one.
She logged into my messenger account and read my personal messages and now is trying to use them against me to take away my shared parenting.
The messages are not to and from my son she used my sons old phone to obtain my personal password for my private messenger account and she logged... View More
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answered on Apr 8, 2024
No, it doesn't give her permission.
On the other hand, though she may have "hacked" your account, there is nothing private about private facebook messages. All of those are routinely subpoenaed in custody proceedings and are discoverable information, particularly if they... View More
Me and my husband are going to be going through a divorce. After obtaining legal martial status, we had bought a house, had a child, bought vehicles and appliances for the home. Husband refused to move out so I left, he states he is entitled to everything and I only get my clothes and custody of... View More
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answered on Apr 8, 2024
IN GENERAL: Anything purchased or acquired after a couple is married is considered marital property. That means that if the parties divorce, all of that property must be equitably divided between the parties. This includes houses, cars, personal property, retirement accounts, bank accounts, etc.... View More
My sister and I now own the condo. I still live here but now my sister refuses to pay her half of the taxes. I pay my half, HOH fees and all improvements and updates. If I don't pay her half can I be responsible
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answered on Apr 5, 2024
Yes. You are jointly responsible for all fees.
On the other hand, you live there, she doesn't. You are getting all of the benefit of the condo.
If you really don't like the arrangement, you can try to buy each other out or do a sale by partition if you can't agree.
My husband said he hired an attorney in the beginning of February, he told me his attorney would write up the papers then email to him so he could look over them before signing. My husband then told me his attorney was going to mail me the papers so I could then look at them and if I did not agree... View More
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answered on Apr 3, 2024
It sounds like your husband has hired an attorney on a limited representation basis. That is, the attorney is just drafting documents, but your husband is handling the rest. If that's the case then this does sound above-board.
You do not need to wait any time at all if you want to... View More
I'm going to be adopting my step kids and their biological father agrees to give consent as he's not in their life and doesn't want to pay the child support and all so it's win-win for us all. It seems we still have to have a home study conducted in Ohio despite them living with... View More
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answered on Apr 2, 2024
It can be used against you the same way that consuming alcohol can be used against you. If you use to excess or it effects your ability to parent, that will be a strike against you. If it does neither of those things, it is a very low likelihood that it will derail the adoption.
If my ex wanted to use my medical card in Ohio against me, could he despite not having parental rights and my husband having adopted my children?
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answered on Apr 2, 2024
He is not the non-custodial parent if your spouse adopted the kids. He is not a parent at all. It would be basically impossible for him to obtain parental rights by attempting to utilize your use of medical marijuana in a custody dispute.
I have three kids (one biological, 2 step), my step kids are 12 and 6, and there biological father has hardly been in there lives. My wife has full custody, and he's court ordered to pay child support. He's paid child support one time in 9 months (December 2023 was the last time and... View More
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answered on Apr 1, 2024
Sorry, Todd! I disagree. You are usually right!
If the contact in May 2023 was just a brief contact then it is likely to be determined to be "de minimus". That means that the contact was so inconsequential that the court won't consider it for determining whether there was... View More
Now we said the aligation r over with weed is legal we failed for nothing else what's next step
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answered on Mar 28, 2024
I wouldn't celebrate just yet. Marijuana is legal by state law. Alcohol is legal by state law. People still have investigations opened due to alcohol abuse. Many courts also still view marijuana use as a predictor of bad parenting. Unless you have a medical card I'd reduce my marijuana... View More
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