In re O.G.H.

2023 Ohio 1555
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 10, 2023
DocketC-220229
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2023 Ohio 1555 (In re O.G.H.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re O.G.H., 2023 Ohio 1555 (Ohio Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

[Cite as In re O.G.H., 2023-Ohio-1555.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT OF OHIO HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO

IN RE: O.G.H. : APPEAL NO. C-220229 TRIAL NO. F20-733X :

: O P I N I O N.

Appeal From: Hamilton County Juvenile Court

Judgment Appealed From Is: Affirmed in Part, Reversed in Part, and Cause Remanded

Date of Judgment Entry on Appeal: May 10, 2023

Moskowitz & Moskowitz, LLC, and James H. Moskowitz, for Appellant Mother,

Stagnaro Hannigan Koop, Co., LPA, and Michaela M. Stagnaro, for Appellee Father. OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

BERGERON, Presiding Judge.

{¶1} After one date, plaintiff-appellant Mother unexpectedly became

pregnant in October 2019 and informed defendant-appellee Father that the child,

O.G.H., was his. As Mother and Father attempted to make parenting decisions

together over the back of this unintended relationship, arguments, disagreements, and

conflict surfaced and marred the situation. Father eventually initiated a petition for

custody, and the trial court ultimately ordered shared parenting. Mother promptly

appealed, challenging the trial court’s order of shared parenting and the adoption of

Father’s shared parenting plan. Although we agree with the trial court’s decision to

order shared parenting, we find that the trial court impermissibly modified Father’s

shared parenting plan in contravention of R.C. 3109.04(D)(1)(a)(iii). Therefore, we

remand the cause for further proceedings, but otherwise affirm the trial court’s

judgment.

I.

{¶2} It did not take long for Father and Mother to stumble as their

unintended relationship unfolded—both parties acknowledge that they were hardly

acquainted with each other upon Mother’s surprise pregnancy. The two live

approximately a half hour apart, with Father living in Northern Kentucky and working

for the Cincinnati Police Department, while Mother lives in Montgomery and works

from home as an electrical engineer.

{¶3} After Mother determined that she would proceed with her pregnancy,

Father offered vows of support, but these struck Mother as hollow in light of his other

conduct: he asked Mother for a paternity test, questioned what the two of them needed

to even discuss moving forward, and failed to attend any prenatal appointment dates,

2 OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

despite promising otherwise. The two attended a parenting class that Father

scheduled and paid for, but he ducked out of the class to take a phone call, further

confounding Mother.

{¶4} After the child’s birth, each party desired for the other to move closer to

facilitate parenting time transitions, but neither actually did anything about it.

Additionally, Mother and Father certainly harbor hurt feelings and distrust of the

other: for example, Mother was upset to discover that Father misled her about his

COVID status near the time of the child’s birth, leading to Father meeting O.G.H. for

the first time 18 days after her birth. Father also represented in an affidavit that

“Mother has only allowed me to see [O.G.H.] four times,” which he later admitted as

being false.

{¶5} For his part, Father chronicles grievances such as Mother elected not to

give the child Father’s last name despite his desire; she did not list him as an

emergency contact at O.G.H.’s daycare; and she selected the child’s daycare and

healthcare provider without his input. Ultimately, the parties dispute whether Mother

excluded Father from decision-making, or whether Father’s lack of participation

forced Mother to make decisions for O.G.H. unilaterally.

{¶6} Because the couple was unmarried at the time of O.G.H.’s birth, Mother

began as the sole residential parent and legal custodian of the child. R.C. 3109.042(A).

Father initiated this legal proceeding by filing a complaint for custody and/or shared

parenting with the Hamilton County Juvenile Court in July 2020. Soon after, Father

filed his proposed shared parenting plan with the court—Mother, desiring sole legal

custody of O.G.H., did not file a shared parenting plan.

3 OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

{¶7} After a trial before a magistrate, the magistrate ordered that O.G.H.

remain in the legal custody of Mother, denying Father’s petition for custody. Upon

review of Father’s objections, however, the trial court set aside the magistrate’s

decision, and ordered shared parenting. The trial court concluded that the two had

“been successful at building a working co-parenting relationship with each other, that

they have been able to create Parenting Time arrangements that work for them and to

later make modifications to existing arrangement as needed, and that they have been

able to address, cooperate, and compromise on areas where they have different

preferences, all while putting the needs of the child as their primary concern.”

{¶8} As part of the trial court’s order, it adopted Father’s shared parenting

plan with four modifications concerning the communication method the parties would

use, the selection of O.G.H.’s doctor, O.G.H.’s extracurricular activities, and O.G.H.’s

religious upbringing. On the same day that the trial court released its order, Mother

filed a notice of appeal with this court. Father later filed a motion with the trial court

to approve and adopt an amended shared parenting plan, with the aforementioned

changes that the trial court fashioned. But the court could not rule on the motion given

the pendency of this appeal.

{¶9} Mother pursues four assignments of error before this court: that the

trial court erred in adopting Father’s proposed shared parenting plan when it modified

the plan, the court abused its discretion in making orders regarding the division of

expenses in the absence of evidence of income, the court erred in taking additional

evidence at the objection hearing without providing prior notice, and the court abused

its discretion in ordering shared parenting.

4 OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

II.

{¶10} We address Mother’s assignments of error out of order for analytical

ease, beginning with her challenge to the trial court’s shared parenting determination,

a matter we review for an abuse of discretion. See Meisner v. Walker, 10th Dist.

Franklin No. 15AP-671, 2016-Ohio-215, ¶ 12 (“We review a trial court’s decision to

adopt a shared-parenting plan for abuse of discretion.”).

{¶11} “An abuse of discretion connotes more than a mere error of judgment;

rather, ‘it implies that the court's attitude is arbitrary, unreasonable, or

unconscionable.’ ” Hayes v. Durrani, 1st Dist. Hamilton No. C-190617, 2021-Ohio-

725, ¶ 8, quoting Boolchand v. Boolchand, 1st Dist. Hamilton No. C-200111, 2020-

Ohio-6951, ¶ 9. An abuse of discretion occurs when “a court exercis[es] its judgment,

in an unwarranted way, in regard to a matter over which it has discretionary

authority.” Johnson v. Abdullah, 166 Ohio St.3d 427, 2021-Ohio-3304, 187 N.E.3d

463, ¶ 35.

{¶12} Notwithstanding this standard of review, Mother frames her

assignment of error as a manifest weight and sufficiency challenge—she largely argues

that the evidence and record before the court contradicts the trial court’s conclusion

that the parents successfully built a workable co-parenting relationship with each

other. While Mother devotes many pages in her brief to detailing facts that allegedly

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2023 Ohio 1555, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-ogh-ohioctapp-2023.