LOCAL RULES OF PROCEDURE

MIAMI COUNTY JUVENILE COURT



The following rules have been promulgated by the Miami County Court of Common Pleas, Juvenile Division, pursuant to Article IV, Section 5(B) of the Ohio Constitution and Rule 9 of the Ohio Supreme Court Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Common Pleas. They are adopted to provide for the efficient and expeditious management of business before the Court.

The Rules are effective as of October 1, 2002.

As used in these rules, Civ. R. is a reference to the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure, and Juv. R. is a reference to the Ohio Rules of Juvenile Procedures. These rules shall be known as the Local Rules of the Court of Common Pleas, Juvenile Division and may be cited as “Miami County Juvenile Rules” or “Miami Juv. R.”



RULE 1 COMPLIANCE WITH OHIO RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE


These Rules are a supplement and complementary to the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure, the Rules of Superintendence of Courts of Common Pleas, Ohio Rules of Juvenile Procedure and other controlling statutes.

Unless otherwise provided herein, all pleadings, motions and other filings shall comply in form and content with the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure and Ohio Rules of Juvenile Procedure.


RULE 2 FILING BY FACSIMILE TRANSMISSION

The provisions of this local rule are adopted under Juvenile Rule 8.

Pleadings and other papers may be filed with the Juvenile Court by facsimile transmission to (937)-440-3531 subject to the following conditions:
APPLICABILITY
2.01 These rules apply to juvenile proceedings in the Miami County Juvenile Court.

2.02 The following documents will not be accepted for fax filing:
1) any pleading which requires an accompanying filing fee; 2) any pleading
that exceeds ten (10) pages, including attached exhibits; 3) parents'
signatures on consents to wed; 4) pleadings in parental by-pass proceeding.
ORIGINAL FILING

2.03 A document filed by fax shall be accepted as the effective original filing. The person making a fax filing need not file any source document with the Clerk of Court but must, however, maintain in his or her records and have available for production on request by the Court the source document filed by fax, with original signatures as otherwise required under the applicable rules, together with the source copy of the facsimile cover sheet used for the subject filing.

2.04 The source document filed by fax shall be maintained by the person making the filing until the case is formally closed by the Court and all opportunities for post judgment relief are exhausted.
DEFINITIONS

As used in these rules, unless the context requires otherwise:

2.05 A "facsimile transmission" means the transmission of a source document by a facsimile machine that encodes a document into optical or electrical signals, transmits and reconstructs the signals to print a duplicate of the source document at the receiving end.

2.06 A "facsimile machine" means a machine that can send and receive a facsimile transmission.

2.07 "Fax" is an abbreviation for "facsimile" and refers, as indicated by the context, to facsimile transmission or to a document so transmitted.
COVER PAGE

2.08 The person filing a document by fax shall also provide therewith a cover page
(See Appendix 8) containing the following information:

(I) the name of the court;
(II) the title of the case;
(III) the case number;
(IV) the assigned judge/magistrate;
(V) the title of the document being filed (e.g. Defendant Jones' Answer to
Amended Complaint; Plaintiff Smith's Response to Defendant's Motion To
Dismiss; Plaintiff Smith's Notice of Filing Exhibit "G" to Plaintiff Smith's
Response to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss);
(VI) the date of transmission;
(VII) the transmitting fax number;
(VIII) an indication of the number of pages included in the transmission,
including a cover page;
(IX) if a judge/magistrate or case number has not been assigned, state
that fact on the cover page;
(X) the name, address, telephone number, fax number, Supreme Court
registration number, if applicable, and e-mail address of the person filing
the fax document if available.

2.09 If a document is sent by fax to the Clerk's Office without the cover page
information listed above, the document will not be filed.

2.10 The Clerk's Office is not required to send any form of notice to the sending
party of a failed fax filing. Burden of confirming receipt of fax filing is on the
sending party.
SIGNATURE

2.11 A party who wishes to file a signed source document by fax shall fax a copy of
the signed source document.

2.12 A party who files a signed document by fax represents that the physically
signed source document is in his/her possession or control.

EXHIBITS

2.13 Each exhibit to a facsimile produced document that cannot be accurately transmitted via facsimile transmission for any reason must be replaced by an insert page describing the exhibit and why it is missing. Unless the Court otherwise orders, the missing exhibit shall be filed with the Court, as a separate document, not later than five (5) court days following the filing of the facsimile document. Failure to file the missing exhibits as required by this paragraph may result in the Court striking the document and/or exhibit.

2.14 Any exhibit filed in this manner shall be attached to a cover sheet containing the caption of the case which sets forth the name of the court, title of the case, the case number, name of the judge/magistrate and the title of the exhibit being filed (e.g. Plaintiff Smith's Notice of Filing Exhibit "G" to Plaintiff Smith's Response to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss), and shall be signed and served in conformance with the rules governing the signing and service of pleadings in this court.
TIME OF FILING

2.15 Subject to the provisions of these rules, all documents sent by fax and accepted by the Clerk shall be considered filed with the Juvenile Clerk's Office as of the date and time the Clerk time-stamps the document received, as opposed to the date and time of the fax transmission. The Juvenile Clerk's Office will be deemed open to receive facsimile transmission of documents on the same days and at the same time the Court is regularly open for business.

2.16 The Clerk's Office may, but need not, acknowledge receipt of a facsimile
transmission.

2.17 The risks of transmitting a document by fax to the Clerk's Office shall be borne
entirely by the sending party. Anyone using facsimile filing is urged to verify
receipt of such filing by the Clerk through whatever technological means are
available.
FEES AND COSTS

2.18 No document filed by facsimile requiring a filing fee shall be accepted by the
Clerk.

2.19 No additional fee shall be assessed for facsimile filings.

LENGTH OF DOCUMENT

2.20 Facsimile filings shall not exceed ten (10) pages in length including attached
exhibits. The filer shall not transmit service copies by facsimile.


RULE 3 SERVICE

3.01 A party requesting service by the Clerk of Court must provide the current address of all parties to be served regardless of the form of service requested. Any request for service of a complaint, counterclaim, motion, order or other paper requiring service pursuant to the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure shall be accompanied by a time stamped copy of the paper to be served.

Unless otherwise requested, all service shall be by certified mail. It remains the responsibility of party seeking the action or relief to secure service of process in accordance with the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure.

3.02 In all cases when service of process is to be accomplished by publication, it shall be the responsibility of the party to ensure that the publication is accomplished, including the selection of the Means of publication and the preparation of the Motion for Publication, Affidavit in Support, Entry authorizing Service by Publication and the Notice for Publication.

Upon completion of the publication of service, the party shall file with the Court an affidavit from the publisher showing the fact of publication, together with a copy of the notice of publication. The affidavit and its exhibits shall constitute the proof of service.

3.03 Service by publication may be accomplished through posting and perfection of service in this manner shall be as set forth in Juv. R. 16. The party seeking service by publication through posting shall file with the Court 1) a Motion requesting service by publication through posting; 2) an affidavit which avers that the residence of the person to be served is unknown and cannot be ascertained with due diligence, the efforts which evidence due diligence in finding a current address or why such efforts are impossible and a last known address, if available; 3) an Entry authorizing service by publication through posting; 4) the summary statement required by Juv. R. 16 to be posted.

The following locations are hereby designated as locations for posting of notices for service by publication through posting, pursuant to Juv. R. 16:

1. Miami County Safety Building, 201 W. Main Street, Troy, Ohio 45373

2. Department of Jobs and Family Services, 2040 N. Co. Rd. 25A, Troy,
Ohio 45373

3. Piqua City Building, 219 W. Water Street, Piqua, Ohio 45356



RULE 4 COURT COSTS and WITNESS FEES

4.01 The Clerk's Office shall not accept any action or proceeding for filing without the requisite filing fee set forth in the attached Schedule of Filing Fees. All filing fees are assessed for non-IV-D activities.

4.02 The payment of the filing fee upon the filing of the pleading may be waived, with Court approval, in cases of indigence, by filing an affidavit of indigence swearing that the party is without funds or assets to pay the fee and a certification by the attorney, if any, that no attorney fees have been paid. The filing of the affidavit of indigence does not relieve a party from liability for the filing fee.

4.03 Court costs in cases of delinquent, unruly and adult criminal charges shall be assessed as part of final disposition.

4.04 A party seeking issuance of a subpoena in a case for paternity, allocation of parental rights and responsibilities or any issue related to paternity, custody, support of or visitation with a minor child must file a praecipe for the subpoena accompanied by a check or money order for the estimated witness fees for each subpoena. The witness fees as set by Ohio Revised Code Section 2335.06 are: Six Dollars ($6.00) for a half day attendance, Twelve Dollars ($12.00) for a full day attendance and Ten Cents ($0.10) per mile for a round trip from the witness' residence or usual place of business to the Court. The check or money order shall be made out to the witness.

4.05 The party shall also pay an issuance fee of Two Dollars ($2.00) per subpoena. The issuance fee must be made by check, money order or cash and is due prior to the issuance of the subpoena. A check or money order shall be made payable to the Miami County Juvenile Court.

4.06 In cases where a party unable to pay the witness and issuance fees, an ex parte application for waiver of submission of witness and issuance fees shall be submitted to the Court. Upon a satisfactory showing that the presence of the witness is necessary and that the party is financially unable to pay the witness fees, the Court shall issue an order for service of the subpoena on the named witness as requested. The costs of the issuance and the witness fees shall be paid in the same manner that fees are paid in case of the witness subpoenaed on behalf of the State in a criminal prosecution.


4.07 No witness fees or issuance fees shall be required of the Miami County Child Support Enforcement Agency or the Miami County Children's Services Board for the subpoena of witnesses in any original action or subsequent Motion to seek modification, enforcement, extension or termination of existing orders.

4.08 A party involved with charges as a juvenile traffic offender, juvenile tobacco offender, unruly or delinquent child or adult criminal seeking issuance of a subpoena must file a praecipe for the subpoena. No witness or issuance fee is required at the time of the filing of the praecipe. Any costs associated with the subpoenas in these case types shall be assessed as court costs at the conclusion of the case.



RULE 5 RECORD OF THE PROCEEDINGS – PREPARATION OF TRANSCRIPT

5.01 All matters heard by the Judge or a Magistrate will be recorded by an audio recorder. The Court shall preserve all tapes for a period of twenty-seven months from the date of the hearing unless otherwise ordered by the Court on written request by a party.

5.02 Upon written request filed with the Clerk, a court reporter shall prepare a written estimate of the cost of a transcript and notify the requesting party of the same. Upon payment of a required deposit to cover the cost of transcription, an official transcript of the proceedings shall be prepared from the audio tape(s). The transcript, not the tape(s), constitutes the official record of the proceeding. The deposit must be made within fourteen days of the issuance of the written cost estimate. Failure to pay the deposit in a timely manner will be considered a withdrawal of the request for a transcript.

5.03 A request for preparation of a transcript does not extend or stay the time for the filing of objections to a Magistrate's Decision and Journal Entry in accordance with Juvenile Rule 40 (E)(3). Any supplementation of Objections after the filing of the transcript shall be only at the Court’s discretion for good cause shown.



RULE 6 VISITATION ORDERS, SUPPORT ORDERS 6.01 The Court adopts standard visitation guidelines which are set forth in the Appendix. The Court promotes, wherever possible, parenting by both of a child’s parents. Recognizing that the Court deals with paternity establishment and cases where there has been little or no parent-child bond, there are guidelines to begin and phase in visitation with a nonresidential parent who has had little or no contact with the child.

6.02 All child support orders shall contain standard language as set forth in the Appendix regarding the payment amount, where the payments are to be made and the statutorily mandated provisions regarding mandatory withholding and notice requirements.

6.03 The following documents shall accompany all judgment entries awarding child support:

A. Attached to the Judgment Entry:

1. A copy of the completed child support worksheet.

2. Standard Order of Health Care Needs for Dependent Children and Additional Order of Health Care Needs for Dependent Children.

3. Standard Order of Visitation, if applicable

B. Detached from the Judgment Entry:
certified copy of the Health Care Order to the employer and/or insurance company specified in the Health Care Order. 6.04 Miami County CSEA shall prepare all income withholding notices.

6.05 Child support shall not be abated except by specific court order.