When it comes to divorce, child custody issues are usually emotional and sometimes become contentious. Unfortunately, this can mean that parent...

While you may have thought about filing for a divorce in Ohio for a long time, the news may come as a shock to your spouse. Divorce, no matter how amicable, is never a pleasant topic. Knowing how to tell your spouse you want a divorce can be complicated and nerve-wracking.

Think about your feelings. Do you want to get divorced? Or do you want your spouse to go to marriage counseling? Spend more time with you? Say "I love you" more? 

You may think that after hiring a divorce lawyer, you can simply wait around for your court date, but people who actively participate in their divorce will find things easier in the long run. There are actions you can take to make things easier and have your case over as quickly as possible.

According to the Pew Research Center, in 2013, four out of ten new marriages included one partner who had been married before, and two out of every ten new marriages were between people who had both been previously married. In many of these marriages, children from previous relationships are involved.

Creating a blended family means everyone’s roles shift. It may take time for one family to get used to living with another one, even if they all got along before.

When choosing a career path, or even a job that we need to have to currently satisfy a need—we tend to focus on things like salary, benefits, opportunities for advancement, and commuting time. Your lifestyle is often affected by this choice.

The number of hours you work, the stresses particular to that kind of job, and what type of people you deal with daily. What we often forget to consider is how this career could affect our relationship with our spouse.

Finding out or even suspecting that your spouse or partner is having an affair is one of the most hurtful things that can happen to a relationship.

Instant feelings of anger, shock, resentment and other negative emotions can set in quickly causing you to do things that can harm your future. Knowing that your partner is involved with someone else is hard enough, but knowing what to do can be even harder.

Even the experts have trouble agreeing, but the divorce rate for first marriages is believed to be between 36% and 42%.

As a Family Law Attorney, I see families at all of the different stages of the divorce process. Ending an unsatisfactory relationship isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but there is denying that it affects every family member.

During the divorce, parents must act responsibly—make children feel involved in key decisions throughout the process and not expose children to adult disagreements. Uncertainty about the future and being exposed to the constant conflict are what’s most damaging for children, not the fact of divorce itself.

One Size Doesn't Fit All

Child custody cases can be the most difficult ones in Family Law court. The “best interests” standard comes before the courts in all sorts of ways. these include divorce, dissolution, legal separation, juvenile custody, post-decree modifications, and step-parent adoptions to name a few.

Emotions are sky-high, battle lines are drawn and there is no holding back.

Child custody decisions are some of the hardest ones parents will ever make. They are also among the most important.

Divorce usually means dividing up part of your life that you and your partner once shared. Issues like who gets what, how much time children will spend with each parent and other matters can be handled by lawyers or through the court system.

Unfortunately, neither the legal system nor an attorney can decide for one important asset the gets left out of the divorce process–your friends. Losing friends during a divorce can be as equally hurtful and confusing as losing any other important asset.

January is the time to make resolutions for the New Year. But as anyone with a health club membership can tell you, most people give up these resolutions by mid-February.

When it comes to your children, however, it’s important to resolutions that last. Newly divorced parents can and should learn from the mistakes of others.

The resolutions below will help you avoid these mistakes and create situations that will help instead of hurt your children. 

Getting your divorce case to completion will be time-consuming, but there are things you can do to make sure that it is over as quickly as possible.

FREE Copy!

You can get a free copy! Choose the guide for men for women.

Q: What is a Separation Agreement?

Any couple going through dissolution in Ohio is required to have a Separation Agreement. This is essentially a legally binding contract between two parties that mainly sets out all the assets and liabilities of the case.

Assets are things like vehicles, stocks, and bonds, real estate, retirement or profit-sharing plans, jewelry, household furnishings or pretty much anything else valued over $500. Liabilities are another part of the separation agreement and usually consist of credit card debt, mortgages, and student loans.

To file this agreement with the court, it's required that both parties agree on every issue outlined in the Separation Agreement. Assets must be divided and who is responsible for which debts need to be clarified. Any spousal support will also be included in this agreement.

Not all marriages fail for the same reason.

Factors are endless, and even studies published by major universities disagree on what causes divorce. Nevertheless, some things show up, again and again, that can lead to the legal termination of a marriage. What are these commonalities? Infidelity, finances, age, incompatibility, lack of communication, unhappiness, and abuse.

We’ll discuss these common causes for divorce below in no particular order.

Ohio Divorce Lawyer Explains How Divorce Cases Work VIDEO: 3 Labels That Define The Relationship Worried about how much it will cost to settle your ca...

A divorce that we think of as “traditional” involves both parties separately hiring their attorneys to represent their best interests. This often happens when both of the parties are unable to agree on issues like property division, child custody, or child and/or spousal support.

Depending on the issues to be decided, a traditional divorce can take the longest time of any type of divorce to be finalized. In especially contentious cases, hiring an attorney is a good idea since each lawyer can present his or her client’s interests to the court.

Starting your own business is the dream of many people, but one thing that is often forgotten is that a failed marriage can negatively affect the business you worked so hard to build.

Certain divorce issues are unique to business owners, but there are ways that you can protect yourself and your business during a divorce or dissolution.

We Love Our Pets . . . 

According to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), pet ownership in the U.S. has more than tripled from the 1970s. In 2012, 62 percent of American households had at least one pet. That same year, according to the American Pet Products Association, Americans spent more than $50 billion on their cherished cats, dogs, and other assorted animal companions.

During the last several years, the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers surveyed divorce lawyers from many different states and found there are more and more pet custody issues cropping up in divorce court.

A CNN Money article reported that as of 2009, over $100 billion was owed in unpaid child support payments. For lower-income mothers receiving child support, the child support payments accounted for almost one-half of their total income.

When payments are not made by the other parent, mothers have no choice but to seek public assistance for themselves and their children. The problem has continued to grow as more parents never marry, separate or divorce and the need for child support increases.

Unfortunately, most people base their knowledge of divorce on what they have seen in the movies or on television, what they have heard from friends or what they have read online.

The divorce scenarios in the movies and on television are fictional and dramatized for entertainment purposes. These stories are not based on the laws of any particular state, if based on any law at all.

It's the most important document in your divorce case: the Balance Sheet. What is the Balance Sheet and how will it help you? This article is designed to make sure you understand how critical the Balance Sheet is when it comes to winning your divorce case.

The balance sheet focuses on valuing, distributing, and dividing all marital assets and liabilities.