OH Bar Family Law 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under Ohio law, the standard for allocating parental rights and responsibilities between parents is what?
- The best interest of the child (Correct answer)
- The primary caretaker presumption
- A rebuttable presumption favoring the mother
- Equal parenting time unless a parent is unfit
Correct answer: The best interest of the child
Ohio Rev. Code 3109.04 requires courts to allocate parental rights and responsibilities according to the best interest of the child, with no gender or automatic-equal-time presumption.
Question 2: In Ohio, a court may grant shared parenting only if which procedural step has occurred?
- At least one parent filed a proposed shared parenting plan (Correct answer)
- Both parents jointly consented on the record
- A guardian ad litem recommended shared parenting
- The child, if over 12, elected shared parenting
Correct answer: At least one parent filed a proposed shared parenting plan
Under Ohio Rev. Code 3109.04, a court cannot order shared parenting unless one or both parents filed a pleading or motion with a proposed shared parenting plan.
Question 3: To modify a prior decree allocating parental rights in Ohio, the movant must first show what?
- A change in circumstances of the child or residential parent since the decree (Correct answer)
- Only that modification serves the child's best interest
- That the residential parent violated the visitation order
- That two years have passed since the decree
Correct answer: A change in circumstances of the child or residential parent since the decree
Ohio Rev. Code 3109.04(E) requires a threshold change in circumstances of the child or residential parent before the court reaches best interest and the harm-benefit analysis.
Question 4: Ohio child support is generally calculated using which model?
- The income shares model based on both parents' incomes (Correct answer)
- A flat percentage of the obligor's income only
- The Melson formula
- Judicial discretion without guidelines
Correct answer: The income shares model based on both parents' incomes
Ohio uses an income shares model that combines both parents' incomes to determine the guideline support obligation, which is presumptively correct.
Question 5: A never-married father in Ohio has not established paternity or been designated residential parent. Until he does so, who is the child's sole residential parent and legal custodian by statute?
- The unmarried mother (Correct answer)
- Both parents jointly
- The county children services agency
- Whichever parent has physical possession of the child
Correct answer: The unmarried mother
Under Ohio Rev. Code 3109.042, an unmarried mother is the sole residential parent and legal custodian until a court designates otherwise.
Question 6: Under Ohio law, a nonparent (such as a grandparent) seeking custody against a parent must generally show what?
- That the parent is unsuitable, by abandonment, contract, or detriment to the child (Correct answer)
- Only that the nonparent placement serves the child's best interest
- That the nonparent has cohabited with the child for six months
- That the parent consents in writing
Correct answer: That the parent is unsuitable, by abandonment, contract, or detriment to the child
Under In re Perales, an Ohio court cannot award custody to a nonparent over a parent without a finding of parental unsuitability, not merely best interest.
Question 7: Under the UCCJEA as adopted in Ohio, initial child custody jurisdiction lies primarily in which state?
- The child's home state, where the child lived for six months before filing (Correct answer)
- The state where the divorce was filed
- The state with the most significant contacts, regardless of residence
- The state where either parent currently resides
Correct answer: The child's home state, where the child lived for six months before filing
The UCCJEA gives priority to the child's home state, meaning the state where the child lived with a parent for at least six consecutive months immediately before the proceeding.
OH Bar Family Law 3
Under Ohio law, the standard for allocating parental rights and responsibilities between parents is what?