HB 256

September 26, 2025

HB256 – Presumption of equality for never-married fathers. Sounds like a noble cause and something that should be passed without question. That would be until the language of the bill is examined closely, and what will happen if this becomes law.  

While some are already calling for you to support this bill, ask yourself, why you want to support a bill that does not solve the problem.

Real-world experience is what it takes to understand the consequences, not a law degree from a college.

Print and visual media? They don’t understand legal language and only go off the press releases.

Since this comes up for committee hearing testimony by the sponsors on September 24, 2025 (it is the first bill discussed[1]), I am going to break it down line by line.

Line 6 – According to Black’s law, presumptions are rebuttable by nature, and it does not need to be restated.

Line 14 – Still requires that a parent-child relationship be established. Presumption is rebutted if paternity is admitted, which is the same as the current law.

Line 20 – Curious how this is going to play when a father does not know he is a father and finds out after the child has grown.

Line 24 – This will be a cookie-cutter approach and, as written, does not allow any other arrangement than equal residential custody.

Line 27 – Does not describe what happens if the parents do not agree.

Line 30 – Contradicts what the purpose of the amendment is, in my opinion, as it still gives all legal rights to the mother.

Line 32 – Does not describe how the decision will be made by the court or what factors will be used. What is the level of scrutiny that is to be used?

Line 40 – This describes contempt proceedings, but there cannot be contempt without a written order from the court.

Line 45 – This section brings the first reference to Ohio’s shared parenting statute, which contains the factors for determining custody. The evidentiary standard of preponderance stays the same.

Line 50 – Frivolous line since this is covered by UCCJEA.

Line 54 – The changes in this area will be the most used to stop the presumption. I am going to predict an increase in claims of rape when unmarried parents walk into court.

LSC analyses of the bill – See Here

Representative LaRe testimony – See Here

Representative Williams' testimony – See Here

Ray R. Lautenschlager

Legislative Director

440-281-5478

Ohio Family Rights

legislation@ohiofamilyrights.com