As Reported by Children and Family Services Committee        1            

123rd General Assembly                                             4            

   Regular Session                              H. B. No. 537      5            

      1999-2000                                                    6            


    REPRESENTATIVES CALVERT-WILLAMOWSKI-VAN VYVEN-HOLLISTER-       8            

                 CLANCY-BUEHRER-AUSTRIA-WINKLER                    9            


_________________________________________________________________   10           

                          A   B I L L                                           

             To amend section 3109.053 of the Revised Code to      12           

                allow a court in a domestic relations proceeding   13           

                to require that children attend parenting classes               

                or counseling with the children's parents.         14           




BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:        15           

      Section 1.  That section 3109.053 of the Revised Code be     17           

amended to read as follows:                                        18           

      Sec. 3109.053.  In any divorce, legal separation, or         27           

annulment proceeding and in any proceeding pertaining to the       28           

allocation of parental rights and responsibilities for the care    29           

of a child, the court may require, by rule or otherwise, that the  30           

parents attend classes on parenting or other related issues or     31           

obtain counseling before the court issues an order allocating the  32           

parental rights and responsibilities for the care of the minor     33           

children of the marriage.  IF A COURT IN ANY PROCEEDING REQUIRES   34           

PARENTS TO ATTEND CLASSES ON PARENTING OR OTHER RELATED ISSUES OR  35           

TO OBTAIN COUNSELING, THE COURT MAY REQUIRE THAT THE PARENTS'      36           

CHILDREN ATTEND THE CLASSES OR COUNSELING WITH THE PARENTS.  If    37           

the court orders the parents to attend classes or obtain           38           

counseling, the court shall impose the cost of the classes and     39           

counseling on, and may allocate the costs between, the parents,    40           

except that if the court determines that both parents are          41           

indigent, the court shall not impose the cost of the classes or                 

counseling on the parents.                                         42           

      Section 2.  That existing section 3109.053 of the Revised    44           

                                                          2      


                                                                 
Code is hereby repealed.                                           45