Moore v. Moore

Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided August 6, 2026·No. 25AP-329·Published

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO

TENTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

April Bott Moore, :

Plaintiff-Appellant, : No. 25AP-329 (C.P.C. No. 16DR-209)

v. :

(REGULAR CALENDAR)

Robert Dean Moore, :

Defendant-Appellee. :

D E C I S I O N

Rendered on August 6, 2026

On brief: April Bott Moore, pro se. Argued: April Bott Moore.

On brief: Eugene R. Butler; Baker Hostetler LLP, and James A. Loeb, for appellee. Argued: Eugene R. Butler.

APPEAL from the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Division of Domestic Relations DINGUS, J.

{¶ 1} Plaintiff-appellant, April Bott Moore (“April”), appeals a judgment from the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Division of Domestic Relations, which granted a motion from defendant-appellee, Robert Dean Moore (“Robert”), to reappoint the parties’ parenting coordinator for another year. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. I. Facts and Procedural History

{¶ 2} April and Robert were married in 2013 and had a child in 2014. They both filed for divorce in January 2016. They agreed to the terms of a shared parenting plan regarding their minor child, which the trial court adopted and incorporated into a decree of shared parenting in December 2016. The shared parenting plan provided: “The parties

No. 25AP-329 2

shall engage a qualified parent coordinator to assist them in post-de[c]ree dispute resolution.” (Oct. 18, 2016 Shared Parenting Plan at 12.)

{¶ 3} In February 2017, the trial court entered its first order appointing a parenting coordinator for a two-year term ending in March 2019. After the two-year term ended, Robert requested the appointment of a new parenting coordinator, and April objected to the parenting-coordination process altogether. The court appointed a new parenting coordinator for a one-year term ending in July 2020. At the end of the term, Robert moved to reappoint the parenting coordinator, April objected to the process, and the court reappointed the parenting coordinator for another one-year term ending in August 2021. The following year, the court reappointed the parenting coordinator again, this time pursuant to April’s motion, for a one-year term ending in August 2022.

{¶ 4} In March 2022, after many disagreements over terms of the shared parenting plan and decisions of the parenting coordinator, Robert filed a motion to remove the appointed parenting coordinator, and April moved to reappoint the parenting coordinator. After a few months of litigation, the trial court declined to remove the parenting coordinator, but it did allow her term to lapse and appointed a new parenting coordinator for a two-year period ending in July 2024. The parties continued to have extensive disagreements over shared parenting issues and parenting coordinator decisions. In July 2024, Robert filed a motion to reappoint the parenting coordinator. April initially agreed to extend the parenting coordinator’s appointment for one year, but in January 2025 she filed a memorandum opposing reappointment.

{¶ 5} During the process of the foregoing parenting-coordination proceedings, the parties went through a divorce trial from 2016 to 2017, a morass of post-trial issues from 2017 to 2021, a divorce decree in May 2021, a partial reversal of the decree in June 2022, a collection of non-final orders from 2023 to 2024 that inspired multiple unsuccessful appeals, and a final amended divorce decree on February 6, 2025. See Moore v. Moore, 10th Dist. case Nos. 18AP-866, 21AP-276, 23AP-399, 23AP-516, 23AP-734, and 25AP-171. April appealed the final amended divorce decree on the same day it was entered. The parties do not indicate that the parties’ inclusion of a parenting-coordination provision in the shared parenting agreement was a matter in controversy in either of the final orders or the appellate proceedings.

No. 25AP-329 3

{¶ 6} After the trial court entered the divorce decree in February 2025, it continued to attend to other matters, including parenting coordination. The parties had previously addressed parenting-coordination matters during a hearing in January 2025, and toward the end of February 2025, the parties submitted affidavits in lieu of another hearing on Robert’s July 2024 reappointment motion.

{¶ 7} April argued that the current parenting coordinator should not be reappointed because she has not met with the minor child or with the teachers and tutors at the child’s school, and because she responds when Robert raises issues but not when April raises issues. April further argued that the parenting coordinator had engaged in substantive ex parte communications with a magistrate at some point prior to May 2023, in violation of Franklin Cty., Dom.Rel.Div., Loc.R. 42(F)(5).1 Robert contended that the current parenting coordinator has adequately performed her duties and has not engaged in one-sided or prejudicial decision-making, citing the parenting coordinator’s ultimate agreement with April’s wishes during one of the parents’ perennial battles over summer vacation time. Robert disputed the truth of April’s accusation of ex parte communications.

{¶ 8} April’s accusation about an ex parte communication arose from a 2023 hearing, during which the magistrate asked April multiple times whether her last name was Moore or Bott Moore. April testified that she and the parenting coordinator had a conversation at some later point, during which the parenting coordinator told April that “I wasn’t helping myself with the Court or her because I couldn’t use my real last name, and I was gaming for last names.” (Jan. 23, 2025 Tr. at 54.) April concluded that the parenting coordinator and the magistrate had a private conversation about her. The magistrate did not recall having a conversation with the parenting coordinator about April. The parenting coordinator testified that she did not speak privately with the magistrate, but she did speak to April about confusion over her last name.

{¶ 9} The trial court reached a decision on April 8, 2025, determining that it would reappoint the same individual to serve as the parties’ parenting coordinator. The court noted the need for a parenting coordinator pursuant to the parties’ shared parenting plan

1 Franklin Cty., Dom.Rel.Div., Loc.R. 42(F)(5) provides that the “parenting coordinator shall not have ex

parte communications with the Court regarding substantive matters or issues on the merits of the case.” Also see prior Franklin Cty., Dom.Rel.Div., Loc.R. 42(E)(5). The local rule was amended and partially renumbered effective November 24, 2025.

No. 25AP-329 4

and determined that the current parenting coordinator was an appropriate choice given her historical knowledge of the parties and the case. It found that April had not substantiated her claim that the parenting coordinator and the magistrate had engaged in a substantive ex parte conversation. The court further found that April’s claim of one-sided assistance was too vague and subjective to sway the court to reach a different decision. As for the parenting coordinator’s failure to interview the child or educators, the court held that the parenting coordinator’s role was to help the parents resolve problems rather than to advocate for the child, and April had failed to explain why discussions with educators would be necessary to resolve problems between the parties at this juncture. The court concluded that April’s concerns did not outstrip the value of the parenting coordinator’s historical knowledge and understanding about the parties. Accordingly, the court reappointed the parenting coordinator and held that the terms from her original 2022 appointment would apply.

{¶ 10} April filed a timely notice of appeal, and the matter is now before this court.

II. Assignments of Error

{¶ 11} April assigns the following two assignments of error for our review:

[I.] The Trial Court Erred As a Matter of Law By Subsequently Granting a Motion that was Denied by Issuance of the Trial Court’s “Final, Appealable Entry.”

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