Sometimes people who want to end their marriage want to have it annulled. An annulment is a legal finding that the marriage never existed, and will only be granted by a court in certain circumstances. Any party, however, can seek a divorce when the marriage is no longer working.

The most recent statistics indicate that almost 50 percent of U.S. marriages end in divorce. Although this figure includes men and women who have been married before, the numbers are still staggering.

According to the U.S. Surgeon General, divorce is the second most stressful event in life. Only the death of a family member is a greater stressor. Stress is widely recognized as an epidemic condition today, but few are aware that stress is directly linked to more than 60 percent of appointments made to see physicians.

The process of going through a divorce is difficult for everyone involved. Proceedings can be lengthy, personal lives tend to be exposed, and degrees of anger, regret and emotional pain often come with the territory.

There are several legal ways to terminate a marriage, including divorce, uncontested, annulment, and dissolution.

Every single one of my clients, without fail, tells me that they only want what is fair, and that they’d like their divorce over as fast as possible. Lately, I have been receiving a lot of calls from people who are contemplating divorce who are telling me, We think we have everything figured out and we would like to use only one lawyer to write it all up.

There are two ways to end a marriage in Ohio Dissolution and Divorce. Dissolutions are granted by courts to those couples who have been able to reach all of their agreements in advance; divorces are available for couples who cannot agree in advance, and who require a court to force decisions upon themselves. Once divorcing parties realize that the court has this power, they are, more often than not, inclined to find a way to reach an agreement, but only after they have found themselves in a courtroom before a judge.

Divorce is a legal process filed in Court by which a marriage is terminated. Divorce occurs when the parties cannot agree to the terms of their separation and ask the Court to make decisions as to property division, support (child and spousal), and parental rights and responsibilities.

Ohio law provides that males eighteen (18) years old and females sixteen (16) years old may enter into marriage. Those under the age of eighteen must first obtain consent to marry. Only persons of opposite gender are permitted to obtain a marriage license in Ohio.

A dissolution of marriage is a non-adversarial, "no-fault," legal proceeding to terminate a marriage.

In Ohio, the only way a marriage can be terminated is through court actions of divorce, dissolution, annulment, the death of one of the parties or a presumption of death (a common law presumption of death requires an unexplained continuous absence from the home for a full seven years).