Getting divorced for the Second time...from the same person

Getting divorced for the second time...from the same person

Several months ago, I was contacted by a potential client to handle his second divorce from the same person.  This particular client had children that were born (technically, of the first marriage) and this couple had already litigated custody, property, and support issues during the first divorce.

Now I have been contacted to handle a couple's second dissolution, but never a second divorce where issues were actually litigated.  I began doing a little research and I quickly realized that there is practically no information on this topic.  So I decided to provide the information myself.

Someone in this situation is going to have several questions, here are the (Ohio) answers to the questions I had:
1) Are the children, which were born during the first marriage, considered children of the second marriage?  Generally, yes.  Another example of this in a similar situation is where a couple is unmarried, has a child, then gets married, then gets divorced.  Even though the child was born before the marriage, the child is still considered "issue of the marriage."

2) Will issues of child support and custody be re-litigated?  Generally, yes.  At the conclusion of the first divorce, the court issued an order implementing custody and support.  When the parties remarried, that support (and custody) entry ceased to be effective either because the court terminated the original order (the obligor does not have to continue to pay child support if the parties remarry) or because the court issued a new order after the remarriage.  In the second divorce, the court will issue a new child support order that will be based on the current status of the parties' employment.  The court will also issue a new custody order that is likely to be the same as the order issued in the first divorce but may be different.

3) Will the parties relitigate the division of property?  Generally, no.  Any division of property that took place in the original divorce will still stand.  For example, if the court granted the martial residence to one of the parties, that party still gets to keep the home and that decision will not be revisited by the court.  The court will, however, divide any newly acquired property, if the parties have any.

Hopefully, this answers many of the questions you have about this topic.  If you have others, please feel free to comment.