Is The House Really Worth It?

Having to decide what to do with the marital residence is a common issue faced by many couples. Prospective clients want to know whether it’s worth fighting to keep the house for themselves or if they should instead be running the other direction. The answer is a complicated one and depends on a variety of factors. Some of the factors are emotional while others are objective and strictly financial.

First things first, if you’re considering keeping the house you need to ask and answer some crucial questions. How big is the property? How about the yard? How much is the mortgage? Can you afford the mortgage payments alone? How about with alimony? How much does it cost to maintain the house? The yard? Are you able to do the work yourself? Will have you to employ others to do maintenance and, if so, can you afford it? These might be uncomfortable questions but they are absolutely essential if you’re going to take the plunge of keeping the house by yourself.

It’s also critical that both parties understand keeping the house in one party’s name might be a decision out of their control. For instance, even if you decide that you’re emotionally and financially ready for the task, a bank may decide not to refinance a mortgage in only one person’s name. After all, your significant other is likely listed on the loan and a bank may not be willing to take the risk of losing the one income.

Another issue to consider is whether there are enough other marital assets that can be used to buy out the other spouse’s interest in the house. And if the house is upside down you have to decide which party will bear the burden of that and if there are enough other assets to fairly allocate the debt burden. Even if there are enough other assets, it’s important to consider whether such a large real estate investment is prudent. Though real estate used to be a sure fire way of minting money, that’s no longer the case. It might be better in some cases to hold on to a retirement account and watch that grow then cling to a money-losing piece of property.

Though most people are emotionally attached to their homes, it may not always be the right move to try and hold onto the property. The instinct is understandable, but it’s crucial that anyone going through a divorce thinks through all the issues raised by keeping the house and make an informed decision.

If you find yourself facing the prospect of complicated divorce and have questions about your rights and options, contact an experienced Ohio family law attorney who can help guide you through the difficult process. Count on the expertise of Twinsburg family law attorney Carol L. Stephan.

Source: “Keeping The House After Divorce,” by Kathleen Connell, published at HuffingtonPost.com.  

See Our Related Blog Posts:

Some States’ Laws Consider Advanced Degrees Marital Assets

Ohio Launches Pilot Program Tying Child Support to Visitation Rights

Mom and Dad (and Mom): Florida Judge Approves Unconventional Family

A family court judge in Florida recently authorized the reissuance of a 22-month-old girl’s birth certificate. No big deal, right? After all, birth certificates get reissued all the time due to clerical errors or name changes. In this case, the reissuance was not because of any old typo. Instead, the toddler would be getting a third parent.

The case starts with a lesbian couple, Maria Italiano and Cher Filippazzo. The two had been considering having a child for a while when they met a new friend, a Miami hairdresser named Massimiliano Gerina. Gerina, a gay man, became fast friends with the duo. After a while the two approached Gerina and asked if he’d consider donating sperm to allow the two to have a child. At first he shrugged off the offer, but after some lengthy consideration he decided he was game.

The only condition to his participation was that Gerina wanted to play an important role in the child’s life. Not content to be an anonymous sperm donor, Gerina wanted to have visitation rights and get to know his child. The lesbian couple was on board and the three reached a verbal agreement laying out Gerina’s rights and responsibilities.

Things, unfortunately, got complicated the moment the child was born. Florida law (and the law of most other states) says that sperm donors have no parental rights to their biological offspring. As a bit of an aside, here in Ohio if the couple receiving the sperm knows the donor, the donor is only released from legal responsibility for the child if the procedure is performed with a physician’s involvement. Florida has no such law and Gerina would ordinarily have no rights or responsibilities for the child, something the lesbian couple eventually decided they agreed with. Going back on their verbal agreement, the couple now prevented Gerina from seeing the girl, denying him the role he felt he’d been promised.

Gerina, in turn, filed suit seeking to enforce their original verbal agreement. The Florida judge who presided over the case eventually sided with Gerina, at least on most issues. The lesbian couple will maintain sole parental rights to the child and Gerina will not be expected to pay child support. However, Gerina has been given visitation rights to the girl and has also been allowed to have his name listed on the child’s birth certificate.

Two moms and a dad certainly make for an unconventional family, but one that reflects the changing realities of modern life. If you find yourself facing the prospect of complicated divorce and have questions about your rights and options, contact an experienced Ohio family law attorney who can help guide you through the difficult process. Count on the expertise of Twinsburg family law attorney Carol L. Stephan.

Source: “Florida judge approves birth certificate listing three parents,” by Kevin Gray, published at Reuters.com.

See Our Related Blog Posts:

Ohio Man Ordered To Refrain From Reproducing

How to Establish Parental Rights for Unmarried Fathers in Ohio

Ohio Man Ordered To Refrain From Reproducing

An Ohio family court judge from Lorain County recently issued a controversial order requiring that a man who is seriously behind on child support payments not have any additional children.

Just last week Judge James Walther issued an order requiring a man from Elyria, OH to not procreate until he has taken steps to financially support his existing children. The case concerns a man who has not paid child support since 2009 for his four children from previous relationships. The man pled guilty, saying that while he doesn’t financially support the kids, he is a great father and is there for them in other ways.

Judge Walther was unsurprisingly not convinced, saying that the nearly $80,000 that the man owes is outrageous. Walther sentenced the deadbeat dad to five years of probation. During the length of that probation the man is not permitted to reproduce unless he can show that he has taken steps to support his existing children. If he does have another child, the man faces a possible year in prison.

Though some have applauded the move as an essential step to hold parents accountable for supporting their children, others have wondered about the constitutionality of Judge Walther’s decision. An Ohio case from 2004 was overturned after a judge issued a similar order. That case was tossed because the state Supreme Court said there was no mechanism in place for the man to regain his right to reproduce.

Surprising to many is that the decision is not without precedent. Just a few months ago a judge in Wisconsin ordered a man not to have another child given that he was unable to take care of the nine he already fathered. Another Wisconsin case involved a judge who ordered a man to not only refrain from reproducing, but to tell all women he meets romantically within three minutes that he’s a convicted felon with unpaid child support.

Some of these cases survived appellate review, which means it’s unclear what will happen in this case. The father has said he intends to appeal the decision to the Ohio Supreme Court. It’s likely that parents behind on child support payments will be anxiously awaiting news on the outcome of the case.

If you find yourself facing the prospect of divorce and have questions about your rights and options, contact an experienced Ohio family law attorney who can help guide you through the difficult process. Count on the expertise of Twinsburg family law attorney Carol L. Stephan.

Source: “Court to Ohio man: Stop fathering children,” by Evan Bevins, published at MariettaTimes.com.

See Our Related Blog Posts:

How to Establish Parental Rights for Unmarried Fathers in Ohio

How to get an annulment in Ohio

How to get an annulment in Ohio

As anyone who keeps up on their gossip magazines likely knows, Kris Humphries has repeatedly demanded that Kim Kardashian, his wife of only a few months, agree to an annulment rather than proceed with a divorce. Though Humphries insists the marriage should be wiped away as if it never took place, Ms. Kardashian says that she won’t go along with the idea given that her soon-to-be ex is basing the annulment on fraud, something she denies ever engaging in.

Though many people have likely heard of annulments (Britney Spears got one several years back with her first husband, Jason Alexander), they may not understand what they are or how you go about getting one in Ohio. First of all, there’s no doubt that in Ohio divorce is the most common way to dissolve a marriage. That being said, it’s not the only way.

An annulment ends a marriage by saying that it never should have happened in the first place. Rather than simply calling it quits, an annulment means that the marriage was invalid and is treated by the law as if it never happened. Another difference between divorce and an annulment is that divorce comes with certain legal rights, for instance, a right to a division of marital assets and possibly spousal support. No such luck with an annulment.

Though most people will not qualify for annulment, if you fall into one of six categories you might be able to pursue a different route to ending your marriage. The first situation where annulment is allowed is in the case of underage marriage. Bigamy, lack of mental and force are other justifications. Force, also known as duress, applies in cases of true shotgun marriages where one party was forced into saying “I do.” Failure to consummate the marriage is another basis for annulment, though if this or duress is the basis you will use to seek an annulment, you must file within two years of marriage or you miss your chance.

The final basis for an annulment, and the one that’s at issue in the Humphries/Kardashian debacle, is fraud. This means that if a marriage took place under fraudulent terms it can be annulled. An example of such fraud would be if a woman were pregnant with another man’s child, but told her future husband that the baby was his.

If you find yourself facing the prospect of divorce and have questions about your rights and options, contact an experienced Ohio family law attorney who can help guide you through the difficult process. Count on the expertise of Twinsburg family law attorney Carol L. Gasper.

Source: “Marriages Are Annulled in Special Cases,” published at OhioBar.org.

See Our Related Blog Posts:

Does Your Child Need Therapy Following Your Divorce?

How Divorced Ohio Parents Can Claim Dependent Children