Ohio law index
ORC § 2919.23: Interference with custody
What counts as interference with custody in Ohio under ORC 2919.23, and why the exchange times in a parenting order matter.
Plain-language summary, not the statute text. Laws change. Read the official text and confirm current law before relying on anything here.
Read the official text of ORC § 2919.23
Our coverage citing ORC § 2919.23
Two Sets of Books
Ohio family law often answers the same question two different ways, depending on which answer serves the institution. Support arrears count against a parent in custody, but lost parenting time is no defense to support. A sixteen-year-old can be tried as an adult but cannot choose where to sleep. The proceedings are private, except when a parent owes money. This essay walks through eight of these contradictions, one provision at a time.
Who Decides Who Counts
Before any court weighs interests, it decides whose interests are on the ledger at all. Ohio's family law makes that membership decision in ways that tax parents without representation and govern children without consent, sometimes long past childhood.