Should Child Support Payments And Visitation Rights Remain Independent Of Each Other In Ohio?
Recent New York Ruling Says Child Support And Visitation Are Linked And Dependent Upon One Another
As a general rule, the payment of child support and visitation are two completely, separate issues in the eyes of the Court. Visitation rights are granted where it is in the “best interest of the child” to have such in place. They are not dependent upon the amount or payment of child support. Likewise, child support is determined according to the Child Support Guidelines and has very little to do with visitation. As a result, paying child support does not entitle a parent to visitation. And, if a parent has court-ordered visitation, it cannot be withheld because they have failed to pay their child support. However, in a recent case out of New York, the Appeals Court there held that support payments should have been suspended where the child was not required to abide by the ordered visitation schedule.
In its opinion, (click here to read) the Appellate Division, Second Department, found that Robert Coull had not seen his 13-year-old son in approximately 5 years due, in large … Read More... “Child Support and Visitation: Should One Be Dependent Upon The Other?”
On September 5th, we posted a blog article about the necessity to be clear and precise in your divorce or dissolution documents if you chose to include a college expense provision. Truthfully, since my two sons have already graduated from college, I have not paid close attention to these escalating costs.
No doubt, in the last few weeks or so, you’ve encountered the name Kim Davis in conversation around the water cooler or dinner table. It is also of little doubt that you’ve confronted staunch opinions regarding the Kentucky clerk of court who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
With the importance of higher education becoming more apparent every day, it is not uncommon for divorcing couples to decide to provide for their children’s college expenses. In Ohio, like many other states, domestic relations courts cannot ordera parent to pay these costs because the duty of support generally ends once a child reaches the age of 18 (or in some situations at 19) . Nevertheless, the parties can negotiate a division of the college expenses and incorporate it into a separation agreement.
Earlier this summer, the Supreme Court held that an individual’s right to marry a person of his or her choice to be a fundamental right under the United States Constitution. This ruling, highly publicized and long-anticipated, sparked expansive debate regarding Same-Sex Marriages across the country as citizens struggled to adapt their personal and professional lives in accordance with the Court’s intent to equally expand the rights of marriage to same-sex couples. Not long after, small businesses engaged in the “wedding industry” – perhaps, most notably a bakery in Colorado – announced that due to personal beliefs, they would not extend their services to same-sex couples that wished to marry. Debate and litigation continues to develop as courts begin to unearth whether the personal beliefs of business owners to essentially engage in discrimination violate the Supreme Court’s holding.
In a recent article published in The Journal of Marriage and Family, a study of the child support provided by approximately 400 low-income, non-residential fathers suggests that “in-kind” support, that is, support in the form of something other than money, is not typically considered even though it constitutes about one quarter of the total support given. Click 
In a previous article written on July 25, 2015, titled, “