Legal Question in Family Law in Ohio
I am a mother of three children who wants a divorce from her husband. He is mentally, verbally, and spiritually abusive. I am afraid that when I file for divorce that I will lose my son to him if he fights for it, because back in 2008, after years of putting up with his abuse, I finally called the cops on him. Not knowing anything about legal process or court proceedings, I asked my dad what to do. He told me God always wants us to tell the truth, so when I asked if I was physically violent to him I said yes. I was holding my 3 month old baby while he was trying to beat me. So, yes I was defending us. I would have never thought I would have been charged and convicted of domestic violence. Let me tell you how betrayed I felt when I called the cops thinking I am finally going to be free of his abuse and I got charged. Anyway I did not know if this would cause me to lose my son because I have this on my record, I do not know if they see it and say oh she is violent or if they actually look into it and see the details. I cannot afford a lawyer. I just want to raise my children to know and love the Lord away from this monster. Please help.
1 Answer from Attorneys
In Ohio, you can file for divorce based upon either grounds (such as extreme physical or mental cruelty) or upon mutual incompatibility (if he agrees that he wants the divorce too) or for living separate and apart for one year (if he or you moves out).
The fact that you have a domestic violence conviction on your record won't help, but courts concentrate more on violence directed at children when making custody determinations, rather than violence directed at a person who is no longer going to be in your life.
If you cannot afford a lawyer, some lawyers will still assist you because Ohio law provides for attorneys fees to be paid from a spouse who can afford to do it and to the attorney for the spouse who needs the legal fees paid to move her case forward. Thus if your husband has a good paying job or a lot of assets, an attorney can make a motion to the court once the divorce is filed for your husband to have to pay his/her attorneys fees.
Otherwise, you may be able to get some assistance from your local Legal Aid Society, or if you live near a law school, many of those have legal clinics which assist women in your situation (Capital University Law School has just such a program).
Lastly, if none of these work, you could call your local city or county bar association and ask for a referral to a lawyer who does pro-bono work.
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