## Facts

- Kathleen Ann Hogan and Clifford Floyd Hogan married in 1984 and had two children.
- Kathleen filed for divorce in 1999 in the Butler County Court of Common Pleas, Domestic Relations Division.
- Kathleen sought a no-fault divorce based on the parties’ having lived separate and apart without cohabitation for more than one year.
- At the final hearing, Kathleen testified the separation exceeded one uninterrupted year and described verbal and physical abuse, including an incident causing a broken collarbone.
- Clifford admitted the parties had lived apart for at least one year but opposed a civil divorce on religious grounds as a devout Catholic.
- Clifford asserted that granting a divorce would violate his free-exercise rights under the First Amendment (as applied to the states) and Article I, Section 7 of the Ohio Constitution.
- The trial court entered a divorce decree in February 2000; Clifford appealed, challenging the court’s jurisdiction and the decree’s constitutionality.

## Issues

1. Whether a domestic relations court lacks jurisdiction to grant a statutory no-fault divorce when one spouse objects on religious grounds.
2. Whether granting a civil divorce over a spouse’s religious objection violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
3. Whether granting the divorce violates Article I, Section 7 of the Ohio Constitution protecting religious worship according to conscience.

## Decision

- The court of appeals affirmed the divorce decree.
- The trial court had authority to grant a divorce upon proof of an enumerated statutory ground, regardless of a spouse’s religious objection.
- The no-fault ground—living separate and apart without cohabitation for one year—was supported by Kathleen’s testimony and Clifford’s admission.
- The decree dissolved only the parties’ civil marital status and did not compel Clifford to change religious beliefs, recognize divorce within his faith, or engage in conduct contrary to religious doctrine.
- Ohio’s divorce statute was treated as a neutral, generally applicable law; its incidental effect on Clifford’s religious beliefs did not amount to an unconstitutional burden under federal or state free-exercise protections.

## Legal Principles

- Civil marriage and religious marriage may coexist, but a civil divorce adjudicates only the parties’ legal status under state law.
- A party’s religious objection to divorce does not deprive a court of jurisdiction to grant a divorce when statutory grounds are established.
- Neutral, generally applicable domestic-relations laws may be applied even if they incidentally burden a person’s religious beliefs, absent state coercion of religious practice.
- Ohio’s constitutional protection of worship according to conscience does not create an exemption from otherwise valid, generally applicable civil laws.

## Conclusion

The appellate court upheld a no-fault divorce granted over a spouse’s religious objection, holding that application of Ohio’s neutral divorce statute dissolves only civil marital status and does not violate free-exercise rights under either the United States or Ohio Constitutions.


Hogan v. Hogan, 140 Ohio App. 3d 301, 747 N.E.2d 299 (Ohio Ct. App. 2000)