Legal Question in Family Law in Ohio

I live in Summit County, Ohio, and have shared parenting of my 5-year-old son with my ex-wife. Her visitation time is every Wednesday night and every other weekend.

When he returned last night from her visitation, he brought three new small toys with him. This morning as he was playing with them, he said that while he and his mother were at the store (Wal-mart, I think) to purchase the toys, she "accidentally" placed one of the three toys in her purse, and "didn't remember it was there" until after they left. She, of course, did not return or pay for the merchandise afterwards.

This is the first incident (that I know of) involving theft in his presence, but is only the latest in a long list of... lets call it her "questionable" parenting. Should I contact police, or is this something that I should instead bring to a lawyer to seek a resolution?


Asked on 6/24/13, 11:26 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Eric Willison Eric Eastman Willison

In Ohio, it depends upon what your goals are. If your goal is to get the parenting arrangement changed from shared parenting to custodial parenting with you as the custodial parent and her as the visitation parent, then it will be some ammunition towards that end. But you need to think about what happens if you fire that bullet and miss. That could cause a breakdown in the relationship you have with the other parent that enables you to work together well enough so that shared parenting is an option.

I would discuss the matter with your divorce attorney before you do anything with the information.

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Answered on 7/07/13, 12:59 pm


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