Tamms Law Office, LLC

Here’s what Ohio’s ma*****na law changes and doesn’t change.

The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law on LinkedIn: #ohiocannabis #cannabisreform #adultusecannabis #depc #ohiostatelaw After months of anticipation, recreational ma*****na sales are now in full swing across the state of Ohio. Nearly 100 dispensaries have received licenses to…

So true

This explains a lot

Posting about how COVID is a hoax (it isn’t) is not a good idea if you will be asking a judge not to incarcerate you.

Hamm Order Of Evisceration Always read your client's social media.

We’re moving!!! As of July 10, 2020 the new office location will be 670 Meridian Way; Suite 107. The office is still located in Westerville, Ohio and the phone number, fax number and email remain the same. I look forward to continuing to help with your family law needs!

Before one asks, no, Ohio does not offer trial by combat to resolve your matrimonial disputes. Feel free to contact my office to discuss your alternatives.

Man Seeks ‘Trial By Combat’ Against Ex-Wife Fantasy shows are giving people all the wrong ideas.

With college costs becoming astronomical, many parents are left thinking about how they can afford to pay for their child’s school. In Ohio, absent an agreement of the parties, there is generally no requirement for parents to pay for their child’s post secondary education. While parents can always “help out,” there should also be an honest discussion between parents and teens about what options are out there. This article paints a pretty reasonable picture as to what many families go though.

I Killed My Teenager’s Fancy College Dreams. You Should, Too. — Slate Saying no to the expensive dream schools may hurt now, but a debt-free life is worth it.

Using law enforcement to try and entrap a cheating spouse is a bad idea. Also if one is going to invite law enforcement into your home, best not have illegal narcotics present.

A fake burglary call and an extramarital affair: Woman arrested for making false report Around 9 a.m. Wednesday morning, Millbrook police received a call from a woman who reported a burglary in progress at her home. There was no burglar.

A welcome development. Kinship care is usually preferable to foster care.

Franklin County offers 'one-stop shop' for kinship families The Franklin County Department of Children's Services and the department of Jobs and Family Services is now partnering to offer a "one-stop shop" for relatives taking care of children in need of kinship care.

When the relationship ends, changing the passwords to digital content can be just as important as changing the locks. As a matter of course, one should do a password audit of all accounts. Bank accounts, credit cards, emails, phone records, utility accounts and other bills are all things that can be miserable with which to regain control. Finally, if you are considering speaking with an attorney, make sure your spouse or child’s other parent does not have access to your email. Email might be password protected, but we leave it open on our phones, tablets and often home computers. While there can be serious legal consequences for snooping, the other party is not going to “un-learn” what information they gain from you.

Change the Passwords on Everything After a Breakup—Even Your Smart Doorbell Alarmingly, changing your passwords might not always be enough.

It is so important to have quality experts who understand gender dysphoria and how to identify symptoms. This is outside of the realm of many a guardian ad litem or family law judges. Here's a hint, if the "expert" doesn't believe that gender dysphoria exists, they aren't an expert.

Why parents are losing custody of trans and gender non-conforming kids An Appeals Court decision highlights the challenges of mediating custody battles when parents differ on how to handle kids who may be transgender.

This would definitely be an improvement over mandatory bindover to adult court.

Ohio bill would let judges decide whether teens should be tried as adults Proposed legislation at the Ohio House of Representatives would give judges more discretion when deciding whether a teenager accused of violent crimes should face charges in adult court.

The “Indian Child ‘Welfare’ Act” places the race of certain children above their best interest as that standard is determined by state law. While the act was passed with good intentions to remedy the taking of Native American children from their families, the preservation of tribal identity should never trump the best interest of a child who may have no practical relationship to the tribe. While certainly something to be examined in the context of best interest, Congress would do well to repeal this law and stop allowing innocent children to be put though the misery of a multi-year custody fight. Given that the act only applies to “Indian children” (that is the defined term in the act), a strong argument could be made that it actually discriminates against the children subject to it by adding additional layers to finding them stable foster or adoptive homes.

5-year-old Native American boy to remain in Ohio for now The Braxtons have been caring for the child since he was 2, when Franklin County Children's Services removed him from his mother's custody.

Interesting article that shows both sides of the parental alienation debate. The remedy in this case is extreme, but the problem is quite real. If you are a custodial parent you have a duty to foster the relationship with the other parent, the question is at what point should the alienating parent lose their right to be custodial parent?

Taken from mom, teen flees dad and waits for 18th birthday Hannah Mills was forced to participate in a reunification program to re-bond with her father, who says Michigan needs to change its custody laws.

Now here’s a very roundabout way to say that Father’s are important in their children’s lives.

Babies who look like their fathers tend to be healthier, study finds A study found that infants living with single mothers who have similar facial features to their dads tend to be healthier after one year.

Interesting case in Hamilton County involving the rights of parents to prevent their child from undergoing hormone therapy to transition. The teens grandparents are supportive as is the government and the teen is residing with them. The parents contend this isn’t a religious issue but the teen repeats being subjected to “Christian therapy.” So is this a decision that parents should make or should it be up to the individual (with psychological counseling)?

Judge to rule on transgender teen who wants to pursue hormone therapy The 17-year-old wants to transition in gender, but prosecutors say his parents deny he is transgender and are refusing to allow hormone therapy.

A New Jersey case that shows the danger of recording people under the wrong circumstances. Obviously this husband thought he was justified, but in the majority of instances it’s illegal to record acts or conversations when you are not one of the participating parties. Sometimes it’s illegal to record even when you are a participant to the act or conversation if you don’t have every participant’s consent.

It should also go without saying that being the victim of an unfaithful spouse does not justify committing a crime (ie: breaking and entering).

Why this man who barged in on his cheating wife could go to jail for 15 years A New Jersey husband tracked his wife to her lover's home via the Find My iPhone app, and now he could face 15 years in prison.

Should parents be able to recover money damages if they give birth to a child through IVF that turns not to be the genetic child of one of the parents? Many experts think that such an award denigrates the child's very existence, yet the clinic here committed a very tangible wrong. In the case of ACB v. Thompson Medical, Singapore's highest court held that the parents in this case had a right to "genetic affinity" with their child and set damages at 30% of the child's upkeep until her majority.

The biological father in this case was Indian while the parents who underwent the IVF were German and Chinese respectively, so the child did have features quite different from her parents. However what if the mixup involved the same race and differences were not distinguishable.

Should parents be able to recover for this in the US? If so, should it be on the theory that the clinic was negligent or reckless thus granting the parents their investments back (maybe punitive damages), or should damages be based on this new "genetic affinity" theory?

In a world first, Singapore's highest Court rules that parents deserve kids with their genes Singapore’s Supreme Court recently ruled on a case suggesting parents have a strong interest in “genetic affinity” with their children, one that can merit compensation if subverted. Genetic affinity is an entirely new legal standard. It has no clear precedent in any jurisdiction. But the court made…

I can't say I'm a fan of the Ohio Supreme Court's decision in State v. Aalim, 2017-Ohio-2956. The Ohio Supreme Court had previously held that mandatory bindovers of juveniles to adult court were a violation of due process. This made perfect sense, the best person to determine whether a juvenile is amenable to rehabilitation in the juvenile justice system is a juvenile judge as opposed to some state legislator who is beholden to political pressures and to be "tough on crime," neither of which are goals of the juvenile justice system. Today the court issued an opinion reversing itself. As a result juvenile judges will have no discretion in these cases. In the case at hand the juvenile committed armed robbery at 16. Maybe he would have been amenable to rehabilitation in the juvenile system, maybe not, guess we'll never know. Like climate change, it's beyond debate that juveniles' brains are not as developed as adults, charging them as adults seems somewhat absurd under the circumstances, but the Ohio Supreme Court had at least recognized that our juvenile judges were in the best position to make that decision. Now they don't get to.

Each year Columbus CEO Magazine conducts a survey on the best family law practice in Columbus. I would appreciate any support. You can click on the link below. At this time, I'd be a "write in candidate."

http://columbusceo.secondstreetapp.com/l/Columbus-CEOs-Best-of-Business-2017/Ballot/LEGAL

Best Of Business 2017 - Contests and Promotions - Columbus CEO Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted. Columbus CEO ~ 62 E. Broad St., P.O. Box 1289, Columbus, OH 43216 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service

This is an interesting article on divorce law in Mississippi where they don't usually allow no fault divorces. In Ohio you can get a divorce without proving fault on grounds of incompatibility or if you live separate and apart from your spouse for a year. Read about how the lack of a good no-fault option can be devastating.

She tried to divorce him since 2005, had to move out of Mississippi to do it Mississippi is one of 2 states — the other is South Dakota — without true no-fault divorce.

Should Airbnb be the ones sued for this or the individual leaseholders? Or should residential leaseholders be allowed to sublet their properties as they see fit?

A big apartment management company is suing Airbnb Oh, how the tables can turn. After suing San Francisco, New York City and Anaheim, Airbnb has found itself on the other side of a lawsuit. Apartment..

A good article about the "shared parenting kid."

The Secret Superpower of a Shared-Custody Kid Growing up across two households with two distinct sets of customs has made me observant and adaptive: I’m bilingual, in a sense.

A pretty detailed rebuttal to those parents who might choose not to vaccinate their children or who argue against the CDC schedule. Sadly, this issue still arises as a disputed item between parents.

Vaccines 101: Too Much Too Soon? Just yesterday I was sitting with expectant parents whose first baby is due next week. They both support vaccinating their daughter on the recommended CDC schedule, but mom comes from a family that…

Interesting story regarding parental kidnapping. Greece is s signatory to The Hague Convention but it's still a difficult process.

Indiana mom awarded $1.17 million after son's kidnapping She might never collect it, but Alissa Zagaris says she sued her ex to point up his abuse.

An interesting choice. Obama is clearly calling the Republican bluff regarding the holding of any hearings or even meeting with the nominee. Of the choices that have been floated about he seems among the most moderate and due to his age won't be on the Court as long as someone in their 40's or early 50's. His background is pretty standard for SCOTUS (Harvard Law Review, biglaw, DC Circuit). Ironically, one of the things I don't like is that he's supposedly more conservative when it comes to pre-conviction criminal issues than Scalia who was known for taking a far more liberal line on criminal matters before a person was convicted. Garland is very pro-police which is ironic because he clerked for William Brennan. He's anti-second amendment. Although he wasn't on the panel that decided the Haller case, he did attempt to have the care re-argued before the full DC Circuit. The DC Circuit gets a lot of administrative law cases and Garland has a record of favoring environmental regulation and the EPA when challenged by industry but less so when EPA regulations are challenged by environmental groups. He doesn't have much of a paper trail on abortion or the death penalty. I wonder what he thinks of Justice Brennan's stance on the latter as the Justice was principled / notorious for voting to hear every death penalty case in the hopes of striking down capital punishment. If one is hoping for a clone of Scalia it's not going to happen on President Obama's watch. Garland may be as good as it gets from Obama. He's definitely qualified. I hope the Republicans give him a hearing and a vote. I doubt they'll get a more palatable nominee from either Clinton or Sanders after the election, and Trump will probably nominate some cousin who's "very qualified... probably the most qualified nominee in the history of the world." Just my thoughts.

SCOTUS Blog has a detailed analysis of his cases.

The Potential Nomination of Merrick Garland Background After graduating with honors from Harvard University and Harvard Law School, D.C. Circuit Judge Merrick Garland clerked for Judge Henry Friendly on the Second Circuit and then for Justice William Brennan. Garland has spent most of his career in public service, much like Justice Samu

The legislature is considering creating and funding positions for two more Judges in the Franklin County Domestic Relations and Juvenile Division. Sounds good to me.

Franklin County could get two more judges A proposal to add two judgeships to the Franklin County Domestic Relations/Juvenile Court bench has gained the support of the Ohio Supreme Court staff. The idea already had the backing of the county commissioners, prosecutor and public defender, according to letters they provided as part of a reques…

I'm glad to see Apple is resisting the government's crazy demand.

Customer Letter - Apple A Message to Our Customers

Having an order for child support and collecting what's owed can be two different things.

My Husband Went to the Store and Never Came Home, Deserting His Two Kids I saw my ex-husband in court last week. It was the first time I had seen him in longer than I could remember; the exact date lost in an 8-inch-thick legal file of court proceedings that is currently lying on my desk. In fact, I could count on one hand the number of times I have seen him since I star…

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