Filing for Custody in Lorain County
Learn about filing for custody or parenting time as an unmarried parent.
Legal custody gives you rights and responsibility to care for a child. Legal custody requires you to:
- Provide emotional support
- Choose where the child lives and is enrolled in school
- Care for the child’s basic needs (like food, shelter, education, and healthcare)
- Make decisions for the child (like education and medical choices)
- Protect and discipline the child
When a child is born in Ohio, the mother has legal sole custody automatically. If the mother and father are married when the child is born, the mother and father are both equally legal custodians.
Parenting Time
Parents who don’t have custody of their children need a court to grant them “parenting time” in order to have a legal right to visitation. If the parents get divorced, parenting time will be ordered as part of the custody orders in the final order of divorce.
If the parents are not married, the other parent must have a legal relationship established with the child (paternity) in order to get parenting time.
After paternity is established, the other parent can file for "Allocation of Parental Rights" to seek either parenting time or custody of the child.
Paternity for unmarried parents
Paternity means legal fatherhood. Biological and adoptive fathers may be eligible for paternity.
If a couple is married when their baby is born or is married any time in the 300 days before the birth, the man’s paternity is assumed automatically (unless paternity is established for another biological father). A birth certificate has a father’s name only if the parents were married at the time of the child's birth.
If the parents are not married, there are three ways to establish paternity:
- Acknowledgement of Paternity Affidavit. If both parties agree that they are the child’s biological parents, they can voluntarily sign an Acknowledgement of Paternity Affidavit.
- Genetic testing through CSEA. The mother, any alleged father or the child’s guardian may ask the child support enforcement agency (CSEA) to do genetic testing. If the test shows at least a 99% probability of fatherhood, the CSEA issues an Administrative Order of Paternity and schedules a support hearing.
- A court order of paternity. During a divorce, a Juvenile Court or Domestic Relations Court may issue a court order of paternity. Paternity may also be established during a court case filed between unmarried parents in Juvenile Court.
Paternity can be established any time before the child turns 23 years old.
A paternity order has no effect on an unmarried mother’s custody of the child. The other parent must ask the Court to order visitation (parenting time) or change custody.
Filing for Allocation of Parental Rights
If you are a parent of a child that has no existing custody order, for example, you're the father of a child born outside of a marriage, you can file for Allocation of Parental Rights with the Juvenile Court to establish a parenting time or custody order.
On this site, you can use the Allocation of Parental Rights and Responsibilities Form Assistant to fill out the forms you need to file with the Court. The form assistant will ask you some questions, which you can answer on any phone or computer. It can take a few hours to complete all the necessary information. You will be able to save your progress and return to complete your forms if you need to.
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The cost to file for allocation of parental rights in Lorain County Juvenile Court is $250.
If you have a low income and can’t afford the filing fee, you can choose to add a Poverty Affidavit to create an additional form to file with your packet of documents. This form asks that you be allowed to file without paying a fee upfront. You may still be responsible for paying the fee at the end of the case.