Allocation of Parental Rights and Responsibilities in Ohio

Two ways to allocate

Under R.C. 3109.04(A), the court allocates parental rights and responsibilities in one of two ways:

• Primarily to one parent. The court designates that parent the residential parent and legal custodian and divides the other rights and responsibilities between the parents, including support and the other parent’s right to continuing contact (R.C. 3109.04(A)(1)). This is the result if no one asks for shared parenting, no one files a plan, or no plan filed is in the children’s best interest.
• Shared parenting. If at least one parent asks for shared parenting and files a plan, and a plan is in the children’s best interest and approved by the court, the court may issue a shared parenting order (R.C. 3109.04(A)(2)). See the shared parenting guide.

When allocating, the court may not give a parent preference because of that parent’s financial status or condition (R.C. 3109.04(F)(3)).

The best interest factors

Whether on an original decree or a modification, the court must consider all relevant factors, including, but not limited to, these listed in R.C. 3109.04(F)(1):

• (a) The wishes of the child’s parents regarding the child’s care.
• (b) If the court interviewed the child in chambers, the child’s wishes and concerns as expressed to the court.
• (c) The child’s interaction and interrelationship with parents, siblings, and any other person who may significantly affect the child’s best interest.
• (d) The child’s adjustment to home, school, and community.
• (e) The mental and physical health of all persons involved.
• (f) The parent more likely to honor and facilitate court-approved parenting time rights or visitation and companionship rights.
• (g) Whether either parent has failed to make all child support payments, including arrearages, required under a child support order under which that parent is an obligor.
• (h) Criminal convictions and abuse or neglect findings involving either parent or a member of either parent’s household, as the statute details, and whether there is reason to believe either parent has acted in a manner resulting in a child being abused or neglected.
• (i) Whether the residential parent or a parent under a shared parenting decree has continuously and willfully denied the other parent’s court-ordered parenting time.
• (j) Whether either parent has established, or plans to establish, a residence outside Ohio.

R.C. 3109.04(C) adds rules for some convictions and abuse findings. If a parent has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to domestic violence under R.C. 2919.25 or certain other offenses involving a victim who was a member of the family or household in the case, or has been determined to be the perpetrator of the abusive act behind an adjudication that a child is an abused child, the court may name that parent residential parent or grant shared parenting only if it determines that is in the child’s best interest and makes specific written findings of fact. Each parent must file an affidavit about these offenses for themselves and their household members (R.C. 3109.04(M)).

What the child wants

The court may interview a child in chambers about the child’s wishes and concerns, and must do so if either party asks (R.C. 3109.04(B)(1)). It first decides whether the child has sufficient reasoning ability, and then whether special circumstances make it not in the child’s best interest to determine the child’s wishes (R.C. 3109.04(B)(2)(b)). Only the child, the child’s attorney, the judge, necessary court personnel, and, in the judge’s discretion, each parent’s attorney may be present (R.C. 3109.04(B)(2)(c)).

How parenting time is set

In a divorce, dissolution, legal separation, or annulment where the court has not issued a shared parenting decree, it must make a just and reasonable order giving the parent who is not the residential parent parenting time, unless it finds that parenting time would not be in the child’s best interest and journals findings of fact and conclusions of law (R.C. 3109.051(A)). Whenever possible, the order must ensure both parents an opportunity for frequent and continuing contact, unless that would not be in the child’s best interest, and the final decree must include a specific schedule.

In setting parenting time, the court must consider the factors in R.C. 3109.051(D), including:

• The child’s prior interaction and relationships with parents, siblings, and relatives.
• The distance between the parents’ homes.
• The child’s and parents’ available time, including work, school, holiday, and vacation schedules.
• The child’s age, adjustment to home, school, and community, and health and safety.
• The time available for the child to spend with siblings.
• Each parent’s willingness to reschedule missed parenting time and to facilitate the other parent’s parenting time.
• Whether the residential parent or a parent under a shared parenting decree has continuously and willfully denied the other parent’s court-ordered parenting time.
• Any other factor in the best interest of the child.

Each court of common pleas was required to adopt standard parenting time guidelines by local rule, and a court may deviate from them based on the R.C. 3109.051(D) factors (R.C. 3109.051(F)(2)). Your county’s guidelines are a useful starting point for a proposed schedule.

Records, school, and child care access

A parent who is not the residential parent is entitled to access records related to the child, such as school and medical records, on the same terms as the residential parent, unless the court finds that is not in the child’s best interest and sets other terms (R.C. 3109.051(H)(1)). Similar rules cover student activities (R.C. 3109.051(J)) and child care centers (R.C. 3109.051(I)).

Primary sources

Rules and forms change. Check the current version at the source before you file.

• R.C. 3109.04, allocating parental rights and responsibilities
• R.C. 3109.051, parenting time and companionship