You went on road trips and long walks together. You snuggled on the couch at the end of a long day. They were your source of comfort during the pandemic. While all of those might describe a spouse, for pet lovers, those sentences also describe their furry companions. If you have a pet, you might […]
Discussions of infant adoption often center around the baby, the birth mother, and the adoptive parents. Adoption terminates a birth mother’s legal rights to her child, the father’s legal rights, and establishes parental rights in the person or couple adopting the baby. What place does a birth father have in this scenario, and what rights […]
Divorce or dissolution is never easy, even if you want to end your marriage. It can be downright overwhelming if you don’t want a divorce, or if your spouse has blindsided you by asking for a divorce (or serving you with divorce papers). The divorce process creates a lot of upheaval. You are now facing […]
There’s no question about it, in a divorce, dissolution, or when parents decide to live separately, one of the most difficult issues is where the children will live. When your children have been living with you full time, it’s hard to adjust to the idea that they might soon be spending most of their time […]
It may happen in the heat of an argument, or after months of growing apart and talking about separation and divorce: your spouse asks you to leave the home you share (or tells you to). Whether the request comes as a shock, or is something you’d been dreading, you are probably wondering whether you have […]
Ohio law says that child custody matters, also known as the allocation of parental rights and responsibilities, are to be decided based on “the best interest of the child.” But who decides what is in a child’s best interest? Ultimately, that decision is up to the judge in the case if the parents cannot reach […]
Nearly half of married couples eventually terminate their marriages by divorce or dissolution, but most of us live our lives as if we are going to be in the other half. That leads to making decisions with the expectation that our marriages will last “until death do us part.” When that parting comes sooner, by […]
It’s hard enough to divide up your property when you are ending a marriage, but there are clear rules and laws about what property is subject to division and how it is to be split. But the property rights of cohabitants who are not married are somewhat murkier. This was illustrated recently by the 2022 […]
What do you do when you want to legally end your marriage? If your instinctive answer was “file for divorce,” you’re right — mostly. You may have heard the term “dissolution of marriage” and assumed it was simply another way of saying “divorce.” But in Ohio, divorce and dissolution have two distinct meanings. If you’re […]
Congratulations: your divorce or dissolution is final. After months of negotiating back and forth over details large and small, you can finally put the legal documents aside and look toward the future. Well, you can as soon as you are done updating your estate plan and changing beneficiaries on trusts, retirement plans, insurance, investments and […]
Melissa Graham-Hurd & Associates, LLC
4030 Massillon Road
Green, Ohio 44685
(330) 996-4099
(330) 643-0732
