Gender-neutral terms within Ohio Supreme Court rules and forms will become effective March 15 after adoption by Ohio Supreme Court justices. The changes were necessary in light of the June 26, 2015 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges, Case No. 14-556.

The Ohio Supreme Court issued an order on June 26 to provide some guidance to Ohio’s courts governing references to familial relationship terms found in the Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio and related forms and the Uniform Domestic Relations Forms found in the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure.

The terms husband, wife, father, mother, parent, spouse and others were to “be construed as gender neutral where appropriate” and to remain in effect until the rules and forms were “amended to reflect the changes contained in this Order.”

Ohio Supreme Court rules and forms that address marriage and the related topics of divorce, child support, guardianships, adoption, domestic relations, and domestic violence have been amended to remove gender-specific terms.

To access the amendments.

PDF files may be viewed, printed, and searched using the free Acrobat^® Reader
Acrobat Reader is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.