Indiana Divorce Tips

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Some useful Indiana Divorce Tips

• Assume that a guardian ad litem or court appointed special advocate has been appointed. Then, as per Chapter IC 31-17-6-9, the count reserves the right to order both or any one parent to disburse a user fee for the services to the above mentioned two persons

• The court can order a guardian ad litem or court appointed special advocate not to stop supervision of a child so that it can be ascertained that the visitation or custodial terms of an order entered by the court are being executed as expected by the court

• The guardian ad litem or court appointed special advocate are expected to represent and safeguard the best interests of the child. These two people carry out their responsibilities until the court issues an order for their removal

• Consider that the dissolution of marriage has taken place in a state other than Indiana. In such circumstances, the maternal or paternal grandparents of the child are free to establish visitation rights if the following conditions are fulfilled
  • Under IC 31-17-3-14 or IC 31-17-3-3, the Indiana court has jurisdiction to award visitation rights to a grandparent in a modification decree
  • The custody decree entered in the dissolution of marriage fails to bind the grandparent under IC 31-17-3-12

• IC 31-17-5-9 has Section 1 and 10 that are related to visitation rights. As per these sections, the adoption of the child may be done by any of the following
  • A Nephew
  • A Niece
  • An Uncle
  • An Aunt
  • A Sibling
  • A Grandparent
  • A Stepparent

• After a Petition has been filed, a copy of the Petition and the Summons is served upon the non custodial and custodial guardian or parent of the child with whom visitation is sought. The mode of this service is identical to the service of summons in civil actions

• Visitation of a grandparent involves the following issues
  • If the court concludes that visitation by the grandparent is in the best interests of a child, then, the court might award visitation rights
  • The court takes into account if the grandparent has tried to establish meaningful contact with the child
  • The court has the right to interview the child in chambers with an intent of finding out the perception of the child in this matter

• If the non custodial parent misses visitation due to the reasons mentioned below, the parent can compensate for the lost visitation as per IC 10-16-7-22
  • Activity in the Indiana National Guard
  • A Reserve Component of the armed forces of the United States

• A parent, who is not awarded custody of a child, is eligible for reasonable visitation rights. However, after a hearing, if the court concludes that the visitation by such a parent would endanger the physical health of the child or considerably impact the emotional development of the child, then the visitation rights are not granted

• While taking a decision whether the parties should be referred to mediation under IC 31-17-2.4-1, the court would take into account the below mentioned points
  • Whether mediation is a correct decision to assist the parties to find a solution to the disputes
  • The capacity of the parties to pay the fees for mediation

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