As Passed by the House                        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-TERWILLEGER-TIBERI-MOTTLEY-      9            

   PERRY-AMSTUTZ-J. BEATTY-O'BRIEN-ROBINSON-D. MILLER-TRAKAS-      10           

          ROMAN-STEVENS-WIDENER-VESPER-HARRIS-JACOBSON             11           


_________________________________________________________________   12           

                          A   B I L L                                           

             To amend section 3109.053 of the Revised Code to      14           

                allow a court in a domestic relations proceeding   15           

                to require that children attend parenting classes               

                or counseling with the children's parents.         16           




BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:        17           

      Section 1.  That section 3109.053 of the Revised Code be     19           

amended to read as follows:                                        20           

      Sec. 3109.053.  In any divorce, legal separation, or         29           

annulment proceeding and in any proceeding pertaining to the       30           

allocation of parental rights and responsibilities for the care    31           

of a child, the court may require, by rule or otherwise, that the  32           

parents attend classes on parenting or other related issues or     33           

obtain counseling before the court issues an order allocating the  34           

parental rights and responsibilities for the care of the minor     35           

children of the marriage.  IF A COURT IN ANY PROCEEDING REQUIRES   36           

PARENTS TO ATTEND CLASSES ON PARENTING OR OTHER RELATED ISSUES OR  37           

TO OBTAIN COUNSELING, THE COURT MAY REQUIRE THAT THE PARENTS'      38           

CHILDREN ATTEND THE CLASSES OR COUNSELING WITH THE PARENTS.  If    39           

the court orders the parents to attend classes or obtain           40           

counseling, the court shall impose the cost of the classes and     41           

counseling on, and may allocate the costs between, the parents,    42           

except that if the court determines that both parents are          43           

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

                                                          2      


                                                                 
counseling on the parents.                                         44           

      Section 2.  That existing section 3109.053 of the Revised    46           

Code is hereby repealed.                                           47