Temporary Orders Affidavits and Temporary Orders in Ohio Family Law Cases: Do it Right the First Time!

This book is for persons who are, or may be, involved in an Ohio divorce, parentage action, custody case, shared parenting case, or visitation case.   It is important to note a couple of things before you buy this book.

  1. First, a court usually does not make temporary orders in cases involving grandparent custody or visitation.  This book does not deal in any way with the types of temporary orders issued in children’s services (abuse, neglect and dependency cases)
  2. Second, this book discusses temporary orders in the above types of cases only, and only when the case is filed for the FIRST TIME. Courts do not often issue temporary orders in post-decree proceedings.

This book, entitled Temporary Orders in Ohio Divorce and Custody Cases, is 77 pages.  It has 41 pages of instructions and explanation, and 36 pages of examples, links to forms, copies of the law, and more.





Table of Contents:

Introduction

Chapter One: WHY

1.1  WHY do I need temporary orders?

1.2  WHY is it so important to do it right the first time?

1.3  WHY do I need BOTH form affidavits and narrative affidavits?  Why can’t I just use the form?

1.4 WHY is it a bad, bad, bad idea to rely on the possibility that I can get temporary orders modified (changed) if I don’t like them?

Chapter Two: WHAT

2.1  WHAT are Temporary Orders?

2.2  WHAT is the difference between temporary orders and temporary restraining orders?

2.3  WHAT do I have to file to get temporary orders?

2.4  WHAT are temporary orders affidavits?

2.4.1  Form Affidavits

2.4.2  Narrative Affidavits

2.5  WHAT do I have to do to get favorable temporary orders? (READ YOUR LOCAL RULES!)

2.5.1  Read Your Local Rules or You Will Regret It!

2.5.2  Counties and/or Courts Where Temporary Orders are Decided Ex Parte, and then a Hearing May Be Requested

2.5.3  Counties and/or Courts Where Temporary Orders are Decided by Affidavits Only

2.5.4 Counties and/or Courts Where Temporary Orders are Only Decided by Having a Hearing

2.6  WHAT issues does a court decide when making temporary orders?

2.7  WHAT issues do I need to discuss in my temporary orders affidavits (form or narrative)?

2.7.1  General information which should be included with ALL Family Law temporary orders affidavits, if known

2.7.2  Information which should be included in temporary orders affidavits for parties who have children (married or unmarried)

2.7.3  Temporary Orders Affidavits for parties in a divorce case

2.8  WHAT documentation should I attach to my temporary orders affidavits?

2. 9 WHAT is the law regarding temporary orders in Ohio family law cases?

Chapter Three: WHEN

3.1  WHEN does the court make temporary orders?

3.2  WHEN should my motion or request for temporary orders be filed?

3.3  WHEN are my affidavits due?

3.4  WHEN should I decide if I will be preparing my own temporary orders or if I need to hire an attorney?

Chapter Four: HOW

4.1  HOW does the court make temporary orders?

4.2  HOW long should my narrative affidavits be?

4.3  HOW long does it take for the court to issue temporary orders?

4.4  HOW do I try to get my temporary orders modified (changed) if I don’t like them?

Chapter Five : WHO

5.1  WHO should receive a copy of your temporary orders motion or request?

5.2  WHO should receive a copy of your temporary orders affidavits?

Chapter Six: WHERE

6.1 WHERE do you file your motion and affidavits for temporary orders?

6.2  WHERE do you go to get your affidavits notarized?

6.3  WHERE can I find the local rules of court for my county?

6.4  WHERE can I find copies of the law regarding temporary orders?

6.5  WHERE can I find a local form for temporary orders motions or affidavits?

6.6  WHERE can I find a form for the framework of a narrative affidavit?

Chapter Seven:

The 10 most important things to remember about temporary orders affidavits

APPENDICES





EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK

1. 2  WHY is it so important to do it right the first time?

This one is important folks.  Sit up straight and pay attention.  You need to do it right the first time BECAUSE FAMILY LAW CASES ARE OFTEN WON OR LOST BASED ON THE PRECEDENT SET BY TEMPORARY ORDERS.

Sometimes people don’t understand what they have to lose if they get unfavorable temporary orders.  They think to themselves (in the case of temporary orders decided by affidavits) – “How bad can it be?  I’ll just get a form from the court the day it is due and fill it out.   Then I’ll wait and see what the temporary orders say when they come in the mail, and if I don’t like them, THEN I’ll go see a lawyer.

So the temporary orders come out, and they are a total train wreck.  You are allowed little or no time with your child, and the other party’s house has now become the child’s home base.  Child support is through the roof because your dear, sweet ex lied about income (yours and theirs!).  In fact, child support is more than you take home, and most of your paycheck is being garnished.  But wait, hold the phone – you are ordered to pay cash medical support too.  HOLY MOLY!  This stuff is SERIOUS.

So you read the internet a little, or a lot, and you file a motion to have your temporary orders modified with the court.  The court takes your motion and sets a hearing on your motion FOUR MONTHS down the road.  In the meantime, you become more than two months behind in your child support payments, and your license is suspended.  You lose your job (and possibly your car, home, you name it) because you can’t drive to your job, but child support keeps on piling while you are unemployed and waiting for your hearing.

In the meantime, you have little or no time with your child.  This is because the temporary orders made the other party, the party who DID IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME (and submitted great affidavits), the primary caretaker for the child.  So, even though YOU have always been the primary caretaker, or cared for the child at least 50% of the time, you now have only supervised visits.

By the time you are allowed to have a hearing, if you are allowed to have a hearing on your motion to modify temporary orders,[1] your life is in ruins.   When you complain to the Judge or Magistrate, they say to you “There is no new information in your case.  You had an opportunity to present all of this information the first time.”  The court will listen to your evidence, provided you can introduce it pursuant to the Ohio Rules of Evidence, and the court may even change some orders.

…And there you have it.  You’re stuck with that temporary order, and your child has become used to living in the other person’s house, and your child support is hundreds or thousands of dollars behind.  Your tax refund checks have been seized, and the child support enforcement agency is not going to give you any of it back, even if you get the court to modify temporary orders, for six to nine months from when they seized it.

IF you are fortunate enough to get a hearing and persuade the court to change any of the temporary orders, the court may not necessarily back-date the changes.  The changes might be effective the date of the new order only – and you are still stuck with all the wreckage caused by the first temporary orders.

Get the picture?  You cannot afford to do it wrong and then try to fix it.  Do it right the first time!

Additional Excerpt from the book:

A court may make temporary orders in many, many kids of cases, but this book is only about temporary orders in Ohio family law divorce, custody, visitation, shared parenting and parentage cases which involve two parents.  Although there are many similarities among family law from state to state, if your case is not in Ohio, you should not rely on this book to explain exactly what to expect in your state.

In this day and age, litigants like to be informed about what is happening  in their case.  Some people, by choice or necessity, must represent themselves.  Please remember that I do not know the facts of your case.  Because of that, this book is not legal advice, and you, or your attorney, or both of you must decide how best to handle temporary orders in your case.

There is a lot of information in this book, and time is NOT on your side.  Unfortunately, you usually do not have a lot of time to prepare temporary orders affidavits, or to prepare for a hearing regarding temporary orders.   Depending on where you live, you may have as little as 7 days to prepare your temporary orders affidavits.   If you are in over your head, and hiring an attorney is an option for you, you need to hire an attorney quickly.  If you wait too long, the best attorneys may be unwilling to take your case because they cannot do a good job in the few days you have left.

Hiring an attorney may not be an option for you.  This book discusses what you need to do in order to do your very best job on temporary orders.  The goal is to give you all the relevant information, not to turn you into a lawyer overnight.  Doing all this work in a very short time is difficult and time consuming, even for an attorney.  You may not have the time or resources to do everything perfectly.  You may not be able to afford to have your attorney and/or her staff do everything perfectly.  You, and/or your attorney are going to have to decide what is most important in your case, where to make the cut, and do the very best job you can with the time and resources you have.