How to Complete and File the Ohio Separation Agreement (Form 19)

The Ohio separation agreement, Uniform Domestic Relations Form 19, is the document spouses complete to divide their property, assign their debts, and set the terms of any spousal support when ending a marriage. You fill in thirteen numbered sections, both spouses sign in front of a notary, and the signed agreement is filed with the clerk of courts along with a financial disclosure affidavit and, if there are minor children, a parenting plan. Once a judge approves it at the final hearing, the agreement is incorporated into the court’s judgment entry and becomes an enforceable court order.

When Form 19 Is Used

The form plays a different role depending on the type of case. In a dissolution of marriage, it is the centerpiece: Ohio Revised Code 3105.63 requires both spouses to sign the petition and attach a completed separation agreement covering property division, spousal support, and (if minor children are involved) custody, support, and parenting time.¹ You cannot file for dissolution without one.

In a divorce, spouses start on opposite sides and may negotiate a settlement during the case. If they reach terms, Form 19 serves as the template for that agreed settlement. In a legal separation, the court issues orders about property, support, and children but the marriage itself stays intact; a Form 19 agreement can present the parties’ agreed terms to the judge there as well.

What to Gather Before You Start

Form 19 asks you to list every significant asset and debt by name, value, and recipient. Ohio Revised Code 3105.171(E)(3) requires each spouse to disclose all property and debt, marital and separate alike.² The penalty for hiding assets is severe: the court can award the other spouse three times the value of anything you fail to disclose.³

Pull these records before you start:

Deeds, mortgage statements, recent appraisals, and property tax bills for every parcel either spouse owns or has an interest in.
Current titles for cars, trucks, boats, motorcycles, RVs, trailers, and similar titled items.
Recent statements for checking, savings, CDs, brokerage, stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.
Most recent statements for every pension, 401(k), IRA, deferred compensation plan, and public employee retirement account.
Tax returns, profit-and-loss statements, and any prior valuations for a business or partnership interest.
Current statements for mortgages, auto loans, student loans, personal loans, and credit cards.
Recent pay stubs and the prior year’s federal tax return with all W-2s and 1099s.
Policy details for health, dental, life, and disability coverage on both spouses and any children.

You also need basic identifying information for both spouses (full legal names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers), the date and place of marriage, and, for any minor children, their names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers.

Each spouse must also file a financial disclosure affidavit no later than the date the separation agreement is filed.³ Prepare it alongside Form 19 so the numbers match. If figures in the affidavit don’t line up with what’s in the separation agreement, the court will notice.

Marital Property vs. Separate Property

Which assets are marital and which are separate shapes nearly every schedule you’ll complete. Under Ohio Revised Code 3105.171, marital property generally includes everything acquired by either spouse during the marriage, including retirement benefits earned during that period.⁴ Separate property includes inheritances received by one spouse, property owned before the marriage, gifts made to only one spouse, and personal injury compensation other than lost marital earnings. Passive growth on separate property, such as interest earned on a premarital savings account that neither spouse added to, stays separate.

The mixed cases cause the most trouble. If one spouse owned a house before the wedding but both paid the mortgage during the marriage, the home may be partly marital property. Sort these questions out before you start filling fields.

Walking Through the Thirteen Sections

Download the current version of Form 19 from the Supreme Court of Ohio’s website or pick up a copy at the clerk of courts office in your county.⁵ The form itself notes that it is not a substitute for legal advice. Many counties also require additional local forms, so check with the clerk before filing.³

Section First: Separation

Enter both spouses’ names, the case number (if one is already assigned), and the county of filing. This section records that both parties have agreed to live separately and to settle the terms ending the marriage.

Section Second: Property (Schedules A–I)

This is the longest section. Each schedule asks you to indicate whether the category applies, then list each item, its approximate current value, and which spouse receives it.

Schedule A covers real estate (land, buildings, condominiums, time shares, mobile homes converted to real estate, and mineral rights).
Schedule B covers titled vehicles (cars, trucks, boats, motorcycles, trailers, RVs, golf carts, and similar items).
Schedule C covers household goods and personal property, including furniture, appliances, electronics, tools, pets, firearms, jewelry, and collections.
Schedule D covers bank accounts, CDs, and similar deposit accounts.
Schedule E covers stocks, bonds, securities, and mutual funds.
Schedule F covers business interests.
Schedule G covers retirement plans (pensions, 401(k)s, IRAs, deferred compensation, and other retirement accounts).
Schedule H covers life insurance policies.
Schedule I covers any other property that doesn’t fit elsewhere.

Describe each item clearly enough that a stranger could identify it. “2019 Honda Accord, VIN ending 4832” beats “the car.” If a category doesn’t apply, select the option that says so rather than leaving fields blank. For property not already in the receiving spouse’s name, Schedules A and B set a 30-day transfer deadline running from the final judgment entry.

Section Third: Debts

List every creditor, the current balance, and which spouse is responsible. Include the hold-harmless language the form provides, so that if one spouse is pursued for a debt assigned to the other, the responsible spouse must cover the cost. Account for every joint and individual debt; undisclosed liabilities that surface later can reopen the case.

Section Fourth: Spousal Support

Select one of the options the section offers. If neither spouse will pay support, choose that provision. If support is ordered, specify the amount, payment frequency, method of payment, and termination date. Ohio Revised Code 3105.18 lists the factors courts weigh, including each spouse’s income from all sources, the duration of the marriage, and the standard of living established during the marriage.⁶

Pay close attention to the jurisdiction-retention checkboxes. You must indicate whether the court keeps jurisdiction to modify the amount and duration of support. If you check the box saying the court will not retain jurisdiction, the order is essentially locked in and neither spouse can come back later asking for a change. The form notes that regardless of what you select, the court always keeps jurisdiction to hear a motion for relief from judgment under Civil Rule 60(B).³

Section Fifth: Name

If either spouse wants to restore a former name, enter it here.

Section Sixth: Children

If there are minor children or children with disabilities, you must attach either a Shared Parenting Plan (Form 20) or a Parenting Plan (Form 21).³ Ohio Revised Code 3105.63 requires the separation agreement to address custody, child support, and parenting time whenever minor children are involved.¹ The detailed parenting provisions live in the attached plan, not in Form 19 itself.

Sections Seventh Through Thirteenth

The remaining sections contain mostly pre-printed language: miscellaneous terms, a promise not to use the other spouse’s credit, incorporation of the agreement into the court’s judgment entry, a commitment to perform all acts necessary to carry out the agreement (such as signing deeds), a severability clause, an Ohio choice-of-law provision, and a mutual release of claims. Read them carefully, but they need little customization beyond the signatures.

Signing, Filing, and Fees

Both spouses must sign. The form includes a notarization block, and signing before a notary confirms that each spouse entered the agreement voluntarily and understands its terms. Notary services are available at most banks, shipping stores, and some clerk of courts offices.

Take the signed, notarized Form 19, both financial disclosure affidavits, any required parenting plan, and any additional local forms to the clerk of courts in the county where you are filing. Most counties require the original plus two or three copies; Hamilton County, for example, requires the original plus three for standard service.⁷ Call your local clerk for the exact number.

Filing fees vary by county and by whether children are involved. Expect somewhere in the range of about $200 to $425. Butler County charges $211 for a dissolution without children and $352 with children; Summit County charges $370 without children and $400 with children.⁸ If you cannot afford the fee, file a Civil Fee Waiver Affidavit under Ohio Revised Code 2323.311 asking the court to waive prepayment of costs.⁹ If the court denies the waiver, you have 30 days to pay the fee before the filing is dismissed.

Once the clerk accepts your paperwork, the case gets a number and the agreement enters the court record. Keep your date-stamped copies.

The Dissolution Hearing

For a dissolution, Ohio Revised Code 3105.64 sets a specific window: the hearing cannot occur sooner than 30 days after filing and must take place within 90 days.¹⁰ Both spouses must appear. Each acknowledges under oath that they entered the agreement voluntarily, that they are satisfied with its terms, and that they want the marriage dissolved. The judge or magistrate reviews the agreement to confirm the property division appears fair and that required disclosures were made. If children are involved, the court looks closely at custody and support.

If the court approves, the agreement is incorporated into the final judgment entry, turning a private contract into an enforceable court order. If the judge has concerns about specific terms, the court may ask questions, request more information, or send the parties back to revise a provision before issuing the decree.

After Approval: Transfers, QDROs, and Changing the Agreement

Transferring Property

Property not already in the receiving spouse’s name must be transferred within 30 days after the final judgment entry; this covers real estate, titled vehicles, financial accounts, stocks, business interests, and retirement plans.³ Real estate needs a signed deed. For vehicles, complete the title transfer at your county title office. For financial accounts, contact the institution with a certified copy of the decree.

Retirement Accounts

Listing a retirement account in Schedule G and stating who gets what percentage does not actually divide the account. Federal law under ERISA prohibits a plan administrator from splitting a pension or 401(k) based solely on a separation agreement; the administrator needs a Qualified Domestic Relations Order.¹¹ A QDRO is a separate court order directing the plan administrator to pay a specific share of benefits to the non-participant spouse.

Form 19 requires the QDRO (or a DOPO, used for Ohio public employee retirement systems) to be submitted to the court within 90 days after the final hearing.³ The form has a blank where you specify who is responsible for preparing it. A separate QDRO is needed for each retirement account being divided.¹² Many plan administrators will review a draft QDRO before you submit it to the court, which helps avoid rejection for technical errors.

What You Can and Cannot Change Later

Different parts of the agreement follow different modification rules once it becomes a court order. Property division can only be changed if both spouses agree in writing and the court incorporates the change into a new order, so the property terms are nearly permanent in practice.¹³

Spousal support is more flexible, but only if you checked the Section Fourth boxes allowing the court to retain jurisdiction over amount or duration. If you did, either spouse can later request a modification by showing a substantial change in financial circumstances. Child-related matters, including custody, parenting time, and child support, remain modifiable at any time regardless of what the agreement says, because the court always retains jurisdiction over children’s welfare.¹³

Health Insurance and Social Security After the Decree

Two outside deadlines are worth knowing before you finalize anything. If one spouse is covered under the other’s employer-sponsored health plan, a divorce or legal separation is a qualifying event for COBRA continuation coverage, and you have 60 days from the date of the divorce or legal separation to notify the plan administrator.¹⁴ Miss that window and you lose the right to continued coverage. COBRA is expensive (you pay the full premium plus a small administrative fee) but keeps you insured for up to 36 months.

If your marriage lasted at least ten years, you may be eligible to collect Social Security benefits based on your ex-spouse’s earnings record without reducing their benefit.¹⁵ Spouses approaching the ten-year mark sometimes have a financial reason to delay finalizing until that threshold is reached. The benefit is a federal entitlement and exists regardless of what the separation agreement says; your ex-spouse cannot sign it away.

1
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 3105.63 – Separation Agreement Provisions
2
Supreme Court of Ohio. Domestic Relations Resource Guide – Section I: Substantive Law – Section: Determine the Marital Estate: Marital Property vs. Separate Property
3
Supreme Court of Ohio. Uniform Domestic Relations Form 19 Separation Agreement
4
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 3105.171 – Equitable Division of Marital and Separate Property – Distributive Award
5
Supreme Court of Ohio. Domestic Relations and Juvenile Standardized Forms
6
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 3105.18 – Awarding Spousal Support – Modification of Spousal Support
7
Hamilton County. Forms and Procedures
8
Summit County Clerk of Courts. Domestic Relations Division
9
Supreme Court of Ohio. Form 20 – Civil Fee Waiver Affidavit and Order
10
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 3105.64
11
U.S. Department of Labor. QDROs Chapter 1 – Qualified Domestic Relations Orders: An Overview
12
Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court. Dividing Retirement Benefits
13
Ohio Legislative Service Commission. Ohio Revised Code 3105.65
14
U.S. Department of Labor. FAQs on COBRA Continuation Health Coverage for Workers
15
Social Security Administration. What Are the Marriage Requirements to Receive Social Security Spouse’s Benefits