Guest column: children and divorce

By Anna Parise and Jillian B. Von Gunten

For Ohio families navigating divorce or separation, the legal process can add pain and uncertainty during a time that is already difficult. But for children caught in the middle, the stakes can be even higher. They need and deserve stable, meaningful relationships with loving parents and a court process that is focused on their well-being.

That is why the Ohio State Bar Association supports Ohio Senate Bill 174, which brings needed improvements to how children are supported during divorce and separation proceedings, and in situations when their parents haven’t been married.

SB 174 modernizes Ohio family law in a thoughtful, balanced way. It reflects what experts have learned over decades: children can do best when both parents remain actively involved in their lives whenever it is safe and appropriate.

The bill updates Ohio’s laws governing parenting plans and the allocation of parental responsibilities.

• It encourages cooperation between parents while preserving a court’s ability to protect children in cases involving abuse, neglect, domestic violence or other serious concerns.
• Parental authority is preserved and parents can submit their own agreed parenting plan, separate plans for judicial comparison, or rely on the judge if they cannot agree.
• Parents have a new pathway to increase their parenting time. Current law makes it hard for parents that children do not live with to revise parenting plans and increase their parenting time. This bill improves that by creating a new easier process for revising parenting plans so children can more easily benefit from having more time with both parents.
• Judges do not displace parents—they step in only when parents are in conflict or when a child’s safety demands it.
• Most importantly, it recenters everyone’s focus where it belongs — on the best interests of the child.

Family law is among the most difficult areas of our justice system. Judges are asked to participate in deeply personal decisions affecting children and families during times that are often filled with conflict and tough emotions. Ohio’s statutes in this area have evolved over many years, but often in piecemeal fashion. SB 174 provides a clearer, more coherent framework for courts, attorneys and families to follow. That clarity matters.

When the law is confusing or inconsistent, the risk of conflict only goes up. Litigation can drag on and costs go up. Emotional wounds can deepen. Children experience more stress. A more understandable and structured process benefits everyone involved.

The Ohio State Bar Association supports this legislation because it reflects a careful effort to improve how Ohio’s family courts function in the real world. It recognizes that, in all but extreme or particularly unfortunate circumstances, children benefit from continuing and meaningful relationships with both parents after separation. It also recognizes that every family situation is different and that the court should have the ability and flexibility to make case-by-case decisions to safeguard children based on safety and specific and unique facts.

Importantly, SB 174 is the product of bipartisan collaboration and extensive stakeholder input over many years. That matters, too. Meaningful reforms to family law should never be rushed or ideologically driven. They should be practical, balanced, be informed by significant input, and centered on children. This legislation reflects that approach.

No legislation can eliminate the pain of family separation or reduce impacts that children experience. Nor can courts repair fractured relationships. With sound, well-reasoned laws and policies, however, we can encourage healthier outcomes and reduce unnecessary conflict to advance the interests of the innocent participants in the process—children.

Ohio’s legal system works best when it evolves thoughtfully to meet the needs of the people it serves. SB 174 represents that kind of progress. It seeks to improve Ohio’s family court process in ways that are clearer, fairer and more focused on helping children maintain strong, stable relationships with the people who love them.

That is a goal all Ohioans should support.

Note: Anna Parise is a partner at the Painesville firm of Dworken & Bernstein Co. Jillian B. Von Gunten is an attorney with the Zanesville firm of Allen & Baughman. Both practice in family law and are members of the Ohio State Bar Association.