The legal team at Blake P. Somers, LLC understands that family law issues can be difficult on a number of levels. These cases involve some of the most important aspects of our clients’ lives, and we recognize the need for comprehensive solutions, not just fast answers. Our team has the skills, knowledge, and experience to help you in whatever way best suits your particular needs. We create innovative solutions to the extensive negotiations required in family law cases, and offer collaborative dissolution options as well as experienced courtroom advocacy. Contact us at your convenience to schedule a free consultation to discuss your case.
We also have considerable experience in divorces and custody matters that stretch beyond Ohio, and involve international law and/or issues that step outside of the borders of the United States. In order to serve our clients’ needs in these areas, our experience includes working with such international treaties as “The Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters ” and the “The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.” For more information on these services, please contact our office for a free consultation.
Per Ohio law, you must be a resident of the State of Ohio for at least six (6) months immediately before you file your Complaint for Divorce or Petition for Dissolution, although there are some limited exceptions to that requirement. If the Divorce has already been filed, the responding party (the Defendant) is usually able to participate in the case by responding to the Complaint.
A “legal separation” is a very limited and specific statutory proceeding in Ohio. In a short summary, a legal separation resolves all the things that a divorce would resolve (such as property, support, and parenting issues). However, it would leave the actual marriage intact. It is an uncommon proceeding, generally reserved for cases where there are religious obligations that will not permit the parties to “divorce.”
Each divorce process operates on its own specific timeline, depending on any number of factors. However, the Ohio Rules of Superintendence generally require that any divorce involving children be resolved within 18 months of filing, and that any divorce without children be resolved within 12 months of filing. As with many other issues, there are exceptions to these general rules, and a case may take much less or much more time than those general guidelines.
Collaborative Law is an interest-based negotiation which provides a lower-conflict avenue for terminating a marriage. It is conducted almost entirely out of court, other than the “final hearing” at the very end. Participants in the Collaborative process are assisted by their own counsel, and will generally meet as a “team” for a resolution of the issues. That team may include third-party “neutral” participants who can assist with parenting and/or financial issues. Each Collaborative process is specifically tailored to the participants in that particular case, thus, although similarities will exist in the background of all processes, each individual Collaborative process is a product of its own creation.
Consultation Cancellation Policy: If an individual with a consultation is going to be more than 15 minutes late to their initial consultation and does not notify our office of the late arrival, the consultation may be rescheduled. If a consultation client is going to be more than 30 minutes late, the meeting may be cancelled and may be rescheduled as a secondary consultation.
Not exactly. The law of Ohio actually says that any property of the parties shall be divided “equitably,” or fairly. But, the starting point for an “equitable” division is an “equal” division. If an “equal” division would be “inequitable” (unfair) then that Court may divide the property in any “equitable” manner. A good example would be two spouses who have two assets: (a) a gold bar worth $5,000; and (b) a bank account with $5,000 in it. An “equitable” resolution might envision one person keeping one of the assets; neither spouse would have the “same” items at the end of the division, but they would have the same “value” of those assets after the division.
There are numerous statutory reasons why a divorce can be sought, ranging from “extreme cruelty” to “adultery” to “habitual drunkenness.” In reality, nearly all divorces are granted based on Ohio’s “no fault” provision, which Ohio law calls “incompatibility.”