Hamilton County Divorce Rules

Did you know that divorce rules are different county to county? This posting summarizes the rules specific to individuals divorcing in Hamilton County Indiana:

Financial Declarations & Child Support Worksheets

• Parties shall complete the Indiana Child Support Obligation Worksheet and Hamilton County Financial Declaration Form in all contested matters involving child support or disposition of assets.

• Parties must date and file these forms prior to any hearing or trial. Financial Declarations shall be exchanged by the parties and filed with the Court not less than three working days before any preliminary hearing and not less than ten working days before the final hearing. Child Support Worksheets shall be exchanged and filed with the Court on the hearing date. Child Support Worksheets must be attached to all proposed orders and decrees addressing child support.

• If there are any assets or obligations not disposed of by written agreement between the parties, the litigants must prove the value of the assets and the amount of obligations at the hearing.

• Financial Declarations shall be considered as received in evidence subject to cross-examination. Direct examination, on matters in the Financial Declaration, should be confined to unusual factors which require explanation, or to corrections.

Parenting Time/ Visitation

• Prior to April 1, 2001, Hamilton County Circuit and Superior Courts had adopted Visitation Guidelines.

• Now, Hamilton County follows the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines. For more about how these guidelines are applied go here.

Mediation & Divorcing with Children

• The Circuit and Superior Courts of Hamilton County have a local rule that strongly encourages parties to mediate there cases before trial. The rule states that the Courts “find that it would be in the best interest of the minor child or children of the parties to encourage mediation and cooperation between divorcing parents prior to and after dissolution of their marriage.”

• Additionally, the Courts require a parenting workshop because it will “aid parents in post-separation parenting; aid development of healthy child/parent relationships in a post separation setting; be in the best interest of the minor child/children and; encourage agreements between the parties concerning child related matters”. Thus, both parents in any divorce, in which there is a minor child/children under eighteen (18) years of age, must attend a workshop entitled “Children Cope with Divorce” (COPE). The four-hour course shall be completed by both parties within Sixty (60) days of the filing of the Petition for Dissolution and prior to the Final Hearing. Failure to complete the workshop can result in a party being ordered to appear and show cause why he/she should not be held in Contempt of Court and punished. If the parties cannot attend the COPE workshop, with the prior approval of the Court, they may use an alternative workshop.

Automatic Temporary Restraining Orders

• In an divorce case filed in Hamilton County, the parties shall not, without hearing or security: Transfer, encumber, conceal, sell or otherwise dispose of any joint property of the parties or asset of the marriage except in the usual course of business or for the necessities of life, without the written consent of the parties or the permission of the Court; and/or

• Remove any child of the parties then residing in the State of Indiana from the State with the intent to deprive the Court of jurisdiction over such child without the prior written consent of all parties or the permission of the Court.

To discuss this please contact me. To see all of my postings on this topic search here. 

NEW Indiana Child Support Guidelines 2015

The Indiana Supreme Court issued an order amending the Indiana Child Support Guidelines on November 5, 2015.  Below I have summarized many of the changes.  A copy of the Order can be found here. 

• clarifying that the Guidelines apply to “educational support”;
• the Guidelines apply not only to dissolution and paternity actions, but also juvenile proceedings, as well as third-party custodian and guardianship matters;
• deleting language setting minimum support at $12.00 weekly;
• that “if there were specific living expenses being paid by a parent which are now being regularly and continually paid by that parent’s current spouse or a third party, the assumed expenses may be considered imputed income to the parent receiving the benefit”;
• an adjustment to support for subsequent legally adopted children;
• as to health care coverage, if the coverage is provided without cost to the parent(s) then zero should be entered as the amount; and, if health insurance coverage is provided through an employer, only the child(ren)'s portion should be added, and only if the parent actually incurs a cost for it;
• clarified how to credit social security benefits to a custodial parent;
• updating the Guidelines to follow the “new” emancipation age law;
• defines which education expenses are controlled expenses and which are extracurricular expenses;
• incorporates the Affordable Care Act –“The rebuttable presumption that all children have insurance available at a reasonable cost recognizes the purpose of the Affordable Care Act. Courts should consider any exemption under the Affordable Care Act as sufficient to rebut the presumption that insurance is available at a reasonable cost” ;
• a new provision regarding “Self-Monitoringand Compliance” with the requirement to provide coverage, based on the tax penalties in the Affordable Care Act;
• a removal of the HIPW worksheet and provisions;
• the following language related to the FAFSA form and whether the Court should enter a post-secondary expense order; and
• a consideration of how the right to claim a child as a dependent on a parent’s taxes may affect health insurance subsidies or tax penalties under the Affordable Care Act; shall be prorated by the number of persons covered to determine a per person cost.

To discuss this further please contact me.  

What School District Does My Child Attend If We Are Divorced? Indiana Custody and Divorce Law

Parents sometimes dispute primary physical custody because they think that doing so will determine which school their child will go to, but I'm here to tell you that school placement is a red herring in a physical custody dispute. Why?

First, educational decisions are made by the child's legal custodian(s), not physical custodian(s). If parents share legal custody they must agree on the child's school placement. If a parent has sole legal custody, they alone get to decide which school the child will attend. For more about this distinction go here.

Secondly, if parents live in different districts Indiana law allows divorced or separated parents to choose between those districts, by filing an election. The law at issue states

the parent granted physical custody by a court may, not later than fourteen (14) days before the first student day of the school year, elect for the student to have legal settlement in the school corporation whose attendance area contains the residence of the student's mother or the school corporation whose attendance area contains the residence of the student's father. See I.C. 20-26-11. The same laws says where parents share 50/50 physical custody they must agree with the school district placement of the child.

While the primary physical custodian, or the joint physical custodians must make the election, school placement is a legal custody decision. All legal custodians (both parents if they share legal custody) must agree on the school placement.

So what school district will a child attend if the parents live in separate districts? The school district the legal custodian or legal custodians select.

If you would like to discuss this topic further, please contact me.