Child Support

In actions involving divorces, legal separation or child support, Indiana divorce laws mandate that courts may order either parent or both parents to pay any reasonable amount for support of a child, without regard to marital misconduct. The court may consider all relevant factors, including: 1. the financial resources of the custodial parent and 2. the standard of living the child would have enjoyed if:

• the marriage had not been dissolved; or
• the separation had not been ordered

• the physical or mental condition of the child and the child's educational needs; and
• the financial resources and needs of the non custodial parent. Recipients to child support must have or establish a bank account into which child support payments may be made

A child support order may also include basic health and hospitalization insurance, where appropriate, as well as provisions for the child's educational expenses.

Offsite resources (links) include:

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• Indiana Mediator Registry
• Indiana Low Income Legal Aid
• Indiana Child Support Calculator
• Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence
• Indiana State Bar Association
• Indiana Child Support Bureau Links
• Indiana Family Laws
• State Fact Sheets for Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children

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Child Custody

Indiana courts determine child custody and enter a custody order based on state guidelines in accordance with the best interests of the child. In determining the best interests of the child, there is no presumption favoring either parent.

The court will consider all relevant factors, including the following: 1. The age and sex of the child, 2. The wishes of the child's parent or parents, 3. The wishes of the child, with more consideration given to the child's wishes if the child is at least fourteen (14) years of age and 4. The interaction and interrelationship of the

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child with a. the child's parent or parent, b. the child's sibling; and c. any other person who may significantly affect the child's best interests.

The court may interview the child in chambers to ascertain the child's wishes as to his or her custodial arrangements and preferences for who will have child custody.

Visitation/Co-Parenting

The parties can agree to visitation for the non-custodial parent (parenting time) and a defined schedule, and if they are unable to, the court will arrange a standard schedule that may include the following: alternate weekend visitation (3-day weekends included), mid-week visitation, sharing of the children during periods of school recess

-winter, spring and summer,New Year's Eve, Easter, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Thanksgiving, and Christmas with one parent or the other in alternate years, Father's Day with Father, Mother's Day with Mother, alternate years on the children's birthdays, and open communication by phone and computer. We suggest you have as much in writing as possible. Include who drops off and picks up, the times involved, what to do if one is consistently late, etc. For a more

in-depth review of Indiana's visitation procedures, you can read them here

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Alimony/ Maintenance/ Spousal Support

A court will consider the following concerning maintenance (also known as alimony or spousal support) and will likely grant alimony if: 1. If the court finds a spouse to be physically or mentally incapacitated to the extent that the ability of the incapacitated spouse to support himself or herself is materially affected, the court may find that maintenance for the spouse is necessary. 1. a spouse lacks sufficient property, including marital property apportioned to the spouse, to provide for the spouse's needs; and 2. the spouse is the custodian of a child whose physical or mental incapacity requires the custodian to forgo employment; the court may find that maintenance is necessary for the

spouse in an amount and for a period of time that the court considers appropriate. Further considerations can be: 1. the educational level of each spouse at the time of marriage and at the time the action is commenced; 2. whether an interruption in the education, training, or employment of a spouse who is seeking maintenanceoccurred during the marriage as a result of homemaking or child care responsibilities, or both; 3. the earning capacity of each spouse, including educational background, training, employment skills, work experience, and length of presence in or absence from the job market; and 4. the time and expense necessary to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the spouse who is seeking maintenance to find appropriate employment; a court may find that rehabilitative maintenance for the spouse seeking

maintenance is necessary in an amount and for a period of time that the court considers
appropriate, but not to exceed three (3) years from the date of the final decree.

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Grounds For Divorce

Grounds for divorce in Indiana are: 1. Irretrievable breakdown of the marriage, 2. The conviction of either of the parties, subsequent to the marriage, of a felon, 3. Impotence, existing at the time of the marriage, 4. Incurable insanity of either party for a period of at least 2 years. Adultery is not available as a ground.

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Marriage Annulment
Marital Annulment

A judgment of annulment to a marriage effectively treats it as never having occurred. One must petition the court in much the same way as divorce, except that an annulment requires a greater burden of proof than does a divorce. Grounds for annulment in Indiana include: If you

have been threatened, coerced or compelled (under duress) into a marriage, Fraud or misrepresentation, incest (consanguinity) by marrying a person too closely related, unable to consummate the marriage, if your spouse has some mental illness, permanent or temporary, or if your spouse was already married (bigamy).

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Marriage Counseling/
Mediation

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Joint counseling. The court may not require joint counseling of the parties: 1. without the consent of both parties; or 2. if there is evidence that the other party has demonstrated a pattern of domestic or family violence against a family or household member.

Legal Separation/ Marital Separation

Filing for and getting a Legal Separation does not end the marriage. The legal separation looks just like a divorce, however. In each case for legal separation (sometimes referred to as a marital separation), the custody of the children, the amount of

child support and alimony, the division of property and the responsibility for the payment of debts must be resolved in the separation agreement, filed before the court and approved. A legal separation can last up to one year. After one year you should be ready to decide if you want to get a divorce or get back together with your spouse. If either spouse files for a divorce

during the legal separation period, then the divorce case will take over and the legal separation will end. All orders of a legal separation end when the legal separation ends.

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Waiting Period

Sixty (60) days must have elapsed after a petition is filed in an action for dissolution of marriage in order for the court to enter a summary dissolution decree. The parties may jointly sign a waiver for a final hearing and have the 60 day period waived.

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Grandparents Rights

A child's grandparent may seek visitation rights if the child's parent is deceased; the marriage of the child's parents has been dissolved in Indiana; or the child was born out of wedlock. A court may not grant visitation rights to a paternal grandparent of a child who is born out of wedlock if the child's father has not established paternity in relation to the child.

State Fact Sheets for Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children

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Divorce Settlement

In the divorce or separation process the parties will have an opportunity to reach a divorce settlement of their marital assets and debts. Should they be unable to reach a divorce settlement, the court will divide the property of the parties, separating the pre-marital assets from the marital

assets, and do so in an equitable fashion, although that may result in an uneven division. 1. owned by either spouse before the marriage, 2. acquired by either spouse in his or her own right. Did you come into this marriage owning a house? Concerned about the equity in that house that you brought into the marriage? Worried a pre-marital asset may end

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up in the divorce settlement? Here's how it works: What you brought into the marriage is usually all yours. However, any appreciation of the house or the property value is normally treated as a "marital asset", meaning that you will likely forfeit a third to a half of that appreciation to your spouse in the divorce.

Residency Requirements

No divorce will be granted unless one of the parties has established residency in Indiana or that one party lived in Indiana for at least 6 months and is a member of the Armed

Services and is stationed outside of Indiana. In summary a party must be: 1. a resident of the county; or 2. stationed at a United States military installation within the county; where the petition is filed for three months immediately preceding the filing of the petition.

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