Juvenile Law is a special area of law that can mix family law and criminal law. It is typically broken down into three separate areas: delinquency, abuse/neglect/dependency cases and private custody/support/visitation cases. Delinquency is essentially criminal or traffic law involving minors. The abuse, neglect and dependency cases are those cases where Children’s Services has become involved and are attempting to impose conditions on you to keep your kids or where they have removed your children. The private cases can be establishing or modifying custody, establishing or modifying child support, and establishing or modifying visitation. Additionally, paternity actions are generally filed in juvenile court as well.
The practice of juvenile law is different, however, than adult criminal or domestic relations court. Proceedings are different, the rules are different, and the people involved are different. Anytime your children’s well-being is at stake you should make sure that you have competent representation with experience. Our attorneys at Deal & Hooks have significant experience throughout Southwest Ohio. Both Mr. Hooks and Mr. Deal act as a court appointed Guardian ad Litem and appear regularly in front of judges and magistrates to give their recommendations of how cases should be resolved. We have successfully tried contentious custody battles, and been involved in high profile cases involving allegations of abuse, neglect and dependency.