How Does Joint Custody Work in Ohio?

When you and your child’s other parent live in separate households, how do you come together to raise your kid? Joint custody in Ohio might be the answer for you. However, receiving a joint custody order depends partially on each parent’s willingness and capacity to cooperate with the other. Often, the likelihood of receiving a favorable order depends on the quality of your legal representation.

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What Is Joint Custody in Ohio?

When you take a child custody case to court, the judge has two decisions to make. The judge has to decide who will have legal custody and who will have residential custody. In custody cases, the court also includes orders regarding parenting time.

Residential Custody

The term “residential custody” is pretty cut-and-dry. Residential custody refers to where a child will live. 

Legal Custody

Legal custody includes a parent’s right to have physical care and control of their child and the parent’s rights and responsibilities to do the following: 

• Provide their child with food and shelter,
• Have their child in their physical custody,
• Make decisions about the child’s religious upbringing,
• Obtain medical care for their child,
• Protect their child,
• Make decisions about their child’s education, 
• Train and discipline their child, and 
• Make decisions about other important matters in the child’s life.

In general, a parent with legal custody must personally carry out the above-listed duties and personally exercise the above-listed rights.

Parenting Time

Parenting time is any amount of time the court orders for a child to spend with either of their parents. A parent who doesn’t receive residential custody can still have parenting time—or what some might call visitation—so they can maintain a strong relationship with their child. The court decides parenting time rights according to what’s in a child’s best interest and the following factors:

• How close the parents live to each other,
• The amount of time the child could spend with their siblings,
• The prior interaction and interrelationship between the child and the parent requesting parenting time,
• Each parent’s schedule and availability for parenting time,
• Each parent’s willingness to help with the other’s court-ordered parenting time and to reschedule missed parenting time, and  
• Whether either parent has continuously or willfully denied the other parent time with the child.

Ohio law seeks to allow and encourage parenting time for both parents unless parenting time is not in the child’s best interest.

How to Get Joint Custody in Ohio

Typically, getting shared custody in Ohio starts with filing a court case. Once your custody case is open, you might have the option to settle all parenting time matters in a parenting plan, or you might have to go to trial to assert your rights.

How to File for Joint Custody in Ohio

When you open a case for child custody in Ohio, the law calls it a case for the allocation of parental rights and responsibilities for the care of a child. And when you seek joint custody, the law calls it seeking shared parenting in Ohio. 

If you are ending a marriage, you can file your joint custody case with your divorce petition. If you and the child’s other parent were never married or never together, you can start your case by filing a complaint for allocation of parental rights and responsibilities or parenting time. 

Check jurisdiction 

Unless you want to potentially prolong the process, you must make sure that Ohio has jurisdiction over your custody case before you file. Ohio has jurisdiction over a custody case if one of the following applies:

• Ohio is the home state of the child when you start your case;
• Under certain circumstances, no other state is a home state for the child;
• Ohio was the home state of the child within six months before starting your case; or
• Under certain circumstances, another state is the home state for the child, and a court in that state declined to exercise jurisdiction because it believed Ohio was a more appropriate forum. 

As you can see, jurisdiction isn’t always easy to determine, and attorney assistance may be crucial to starting your case properly. 

Attend Mediation

After filing your case in Ohio and notifying the other parent, the court may order that you and the other parent attend mediation to address any of your differences before attending a custody hearing. Typically, the court orders such mediation and attempted negotiated agreements unless there is a history of abuse or certain criminal activity in your case. 

Parenting Plan

If you and the child’s other parent agree and want joint custody, you get there by filing a comprehensive shared parenting plan with the court. Ohio courts gravitate toward joint custody and can grant it when they receive a shared parenting plan from one or both parents that is in a child’s best interest. Without a shared parenting plan that is in the best interest of a child, Ohio courts give primary custody to one parent. 

The court can grant shared parenting if the parents submit an appropriate plan together or if at least one parent submits an appropriate plan. Before making its decision, the court can also give parents opportunities to change any portions of their plan that are not in a child’s best interest. In general, a shared parenting plan should cover in detail the elements of legal and residential custody that we discussed above.

Common Joint Custody Schedules

Families across Ohio have distinct and unique needs, and joint custody arrangements can change from family to family to accommodate those differing needs. The following are among the common custody schedules in Ohio.

Alternating Weeks

A schedule where the child alternates by spending one full week with one parent and the following full week with the other may be the easiest for many families. This plan is simple and straightforward and may be appropriate for many older children with strong connections with both parents.

Splitting Weeks and Weekends

You may choose to have one parent handle most of the parenting during the week while having the other parent exercise their parenting time during most of the weekends in the year. If your child is a bit more comfortable with one parent over the other, or if one parent has less time available for child care, this could be a beneficial option. 

A Three-Two-Two Plan 

Some parents may prefer a schedule where the child spends three consecutive weekdays with one parent and two consecutive weekdays with the other while alternating weekends. This schedule might be helpful for parents with children in their toddler years.

The schedules above are only a handful of almost endless options. The best way to determine what schedule should work for you is to review your family’s specific needs and speak to a knowledgeable attorney.

How Does Joint Custody Affect Child Support in Ohio?

If you have joint custody with your spouse, one parent still needs to make monthly support payments to the other. However, a joint custody order can significantly reduce the amount of a support obligation. Ohio law requires a 10% reduction in a parent’s support payment obligation if the court awards them more than 90 overnights with the child per year.

We Can Answer Your Questions and Champion Your Rights

Family matters are complex and ever-changing. Having good counsel in your custody case can help you and your children receive the best outcome in family court. At Vantage Group Legal Services, we provide top-level, experienced attorneys to families around Ohio for an affordable subscription fee. Our services are quick, cost-effective, and comprehensive. For the support your family needs, you can call us or contact us online today to schedule a case review.