NEW PHILADELPHIA Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court has new procedures that are meant to improve the experience the general public has when dealing with the institution.
The changes affect three areas:
n How children split their time between separated parents who cannot agree on a visitation schedule;
n The availability of mediation services before filings for divorce or dissolution; and
n Rules of practice for the court.
The court’s Standard Parenting Time Order has been revamped to allocate the time between two divorcing parents more equally, according to Elizabeth Stephenson, court administrator.
It also includes different schedules for different age groups.
For instance, the order for teens from 14 to 18 says parents shall follow the established schedule, but make reasonable accommodation for the teenager’s participation in academic, athletic, extracurricular and social activities or employment.
The court designed the order based on a tool provided by the Supreme Court of Ohio called Planning for Parenting Time — Ohio’s Guide for Parents Living Apart.
“The judges and I are eager to utilize this new schedule as it better addresses parenting time by putting both parents on a more equal footing instead of having one parent as primary care-giver,” said Magistrate Karen Zajkowski.
“This schedule will only be used when the parents can’t agree on a schedule. That is always best for a family.”
The new standard parenting time order is available on the court’s website under Legal Information and Links under the Domestic Relations section.
The court is now offering pre-divorce help from the Mediation Program.
Married people can ask to have a free mediation conference before filing a divorce or dissolution so that they can work on a resolution of the property division and child-related issues with the help of the court’s mediator, attorney Andrea Fischer-Immke.
“Before this change, only parties who have already filed a case could use our program. Now parties who need help in resolving issues before a dissolution (a settled divorce under Ohio law) can use the program,” Fischer-Immke said.
Certain circumstances are not appropriate for mediation, such as when there has been violence between the parties.
A form will soon be available on the mediation section of the website so that parties or attorneys can request this pre-litigation mediation.
“We are excited about this new service, and we will be one of the first courts in Ohio to offer this level of assistance,” Stephenson said. “It might reduce the number of contested divorce filings in our court.”
The court’s General Trial Division has new Local Rules of Practice.
They have been reorganized to be more easily understood and found, according to Stephenson.
“The court has an ever-increasing number of litigants who are not represented by counsel so making the local rules more easily navigated will help those users and any attorneys who are unfamiliar with them,” she said.
For more information, contact Stephenson at 330-365-3299 or stephenson@co.tuscarawas.oh.us.
The court website can be found at: http://www.co.tuscarawas.oh.us/Courts