Child Custody in Ohio: Parental Rights, Shared Parenting and Parenting Time

Ohio law doesn't use the word "custody" in its main statute. A court allocates parental rights and responsibilities, either to one parent as the residential parent and legal custodian, or to both under a shared parenting plan. The time a child spends with each parent is parenting time. Everything is decided by the child's best interest, under R.C. 3109.04.

The two ways to allocate

1. One residential parent. The court allocates rights and responsibilities "primarily to one of the parents," designates that parent "the residential parent and the legal custodian," and gives the other parent parenting time and a share of the other responsibilities, including support (R.C. 3109.04(A)(1)).
2. Shared parenting. If at least one parent asks for shared parenting and files a plan, and the court finds the plan in the children's best interest, it may order the parents to share "all or some of the aspects of the physical and legal care of the children" under that plan (R.C. 3109.04(A)(2)).

Shared parenting is what most people mean by joint custody. It doesn't mean equal time; the plan sets the schedule. Ohio has no presumption of 50/50 parenting time and no presumption for or against shared parenting. When the court approves a plan, it must, "Whenever possible," make sure both parents have "frequent and continuing contact with the child," unless that wouldn't be in the child's best interest (R.C. 3109.04(D)(1)(c)).

The best-interest factors

R.C. 3109.04(F)(1) tells the court to consider "all relevant factors," including:

• (a) the parents' wishes;
• (b) the child's wishes and concerns, if the court interviewed the child in chambers;
• (c) the child's relationships with parents, siblings and others who significantly affect the child's best interest;
• (d) the child's adjustment to home, school and community;
• (e) the mental and physical health of everyone involved;
• (f) which parent is more likely to honor and facilitate court-approved parenting time;
• (g) whether either parent has failed to pay court-ordered child support, including arrears;
• (h) convictions and findings involving child abuse or neglect, domestic violence, sexually oriented offenses against a family or household member, or physical harm to one, by a parent or a member of a parent's household, and any reason to believe a parent has caused a child to be abused or neglected;
• (i) whether a parent has continuously and willfully denied the other parent's court-ordered parenting time;
• (j) whether either parent has established, or plans to establish, a residence outside Ohio.

For shared parenting, the court also weighs (F)(2): the parents' ability to cooperate and make decisions jointly; each parent's ability to encourage the child's love, affection and contact with the other; any history of, or potential for, child abuse, spouse abuse, other domestic violence or parental kidnapping; how close the parents live to each other; and the guardian ad litem's recommendation, if there is one.

And the court "shall not give preference to a parent because of that parent's financial status or condition" (F)(3).

Parenting plans

• Shared parenting requires a plan. In a dissolution, it's filed with the petition; in other cases, "at least thirty days prior to the hearing" on parental rights (R.C. 3109.04(G)).
• The plan must cover everything relevant to the children's care, including "physical living arrangements, child support obligations, provision for the children's medical and dental care, school placement," and where the children will be on holidays and other special days.
• The Supreme Court of Ohio's uniform forms include a Shared Parenting Plan (Form 20) and a Parenting Plan (Form 21), the latter for cases with one residential parent. Both were amended June 24, 2024.

Does the child get to choose?

No. Ohio sets no age at which a child decides. The judge may interview a child in chambers about the child's wishes, and must do so if either parent asks, but first decides whether the child has enough reasoning ability to express them (R.C. 3109.04(B)(1)–(2)). Only the child, the child's attorney, the judge, needed court staff and, at the judge's discretion, the parents' lawyers may be present.

Parents can't go around this with a letter or video. "No person shall obtain or attempt to obtain from a child a written or recorded statement or affidavit setting forth the child's wishes and concerns," and the court won't consider one (R.C. 3109.04(B)(3)).

Domestic violence and abuse

Each parent must file an affidavit stating whether the parent or anyone in the household has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to the offenses the statute lists (R.C. 3109.04(M)). If a parent has a domestic violence conviction or a listed offense against a family or household member, or has been found to have abused a child, the court may still name that parent the residential parent or order shared parenting, but only if it finds that serves the child's best interest and "it makes specific written findings of fact to support its determination" (R.C. 3109.04(C)).

Investigations, evaluations and guardians ad litem

Before trial, the court may order an investigation of each parent's "character, family relations, past conduct, earning ability, and financial worth," and medical, psychological and psychiatric examinations (R.C. 3109.04(C)). The report must be available on written request "not less than five days before trial" under the statute; Civil Rule 75(D) says "not less than seven days before trial" for investigations it covers. When a child is interviewed, the court may appoint a guardian ad litem, and must if a parent moves for one (R.C. 3109.04(B)(2)(a)).

Guardians ad litem follow the Supreme Court's Rules of Superintendence, renumbered on July 1, 2026: the guardian ad litem rules are now Sup.R. 8.00 to 8.07 (formerly 48 to 48.07) and the custody evaluator rules Sup.R. 8.10 to 8.18 (formerly 91.01 to 91.09). A guardian ad litem's final report is due "Not fewer than seven days before the final hearing date, unless the due date is modified by the court," a lawyer who receives it must give it to the client, and no party may copy, share or distribute it without the court's permission (Sup.R. 8.06(C)). A custody evaluator must file a report at least 30 days before the final hearing (Sup.R. 8.16(A)). Many websites still cite the old numbers.

Mediation and parenting classes

• Mediation. If parents disagree about parental rights or a parenting time schedule, the court may order them to mediate under its local rules. It must first consider whether either parent has a domestic violence conviction, an offense causing physical harm to a household member, or a child-abuse finding. If one does, the court "may order mediation only if the court determines that it is in the best interests of the parties to order mediation and makes specific written findings of fact to support its determination" (R.C. 3109.052(A)).
• Parenting classes. The court may require parents to attend classes on parenting or related issues, or counseling, before it allocates parental rights, and may have the children attend too. The parents pay, but if the court finds both parents indigent, "the court shall not impose the cost of the classes or counseling on the parents" (R.C. 3109.053). Whether a class is required, and which one, depends on your county.

Parenting time

The parent who isn't the residential parent ordinarily gets parenting time. In setting a schedule, the court weighs sixteen factors in R.C. 3109.051(D), among them the distance between homes, each family's schedules, the child's age, the time available with siblings, each parent's willingness to reschedule missed time and to facilitate the other's, and any history of abuse. Ohio's policy statement in R.C. 3109.401 says courts shouldn't impose a standard schedule "unless a standard schedule meets the needs of the child better than any proposed alternative parenting plan."

Moving with a child

A residential parent who plans to move "shall file a notice of intent to relocate with the court that issued the order or decree," and the court ordinarily sends a copy to the other parent, who can ask for a hearing on revising the schedule (R.C. 3109.051(G)(1)). The statute doesn't set a number of days' notice; your county's local rules or your parenting plan may. A planned move out of Ohio is also a best-interest factor.

Military parents

A parent ordered to active military service must notify the other parent within three days, either parent may ask for an expedited hearing (held within 30 days), and "past, present, or possible future active military service" isn't itself a change in circumstances that justifies changing custody (R.C. 3109.04(I)).

Changing custody later

The court won't modify a prior allocation unless, based on facts that arose since the decree or were unknown then, the child's or a parent's circumstances have changed and the change "is necessary to serve the best interest of the child." It keeps the existing residential parent unless the parent agrees, the child has been integrated into the other parent's family with consent, or the harm of a change of environment is outweighed by its advantages (R.C. 3109.04(E)(1)(a)). Parents under a shared parenting decree can jointly modify the plan at any time, subject to court approval.

Where these sections live

• R.C. 3109.04 — Allocation of parental rights; shared parenting
• R.C. 3109.051 — Parenting time; relocation
• R.C. 3109.052 — Mediation
• R.C. 3109.053 — Parenting classes
• R.C. 3109.401 — Shared parenting policy
• Civ.R. 75 — Divorce, annulment and legal separation