Carol Ann Fey - Columbus, OH

Overview

Carol began her legal career in 1985 as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Ohio; she then served as a judicial clerk for Justice Clifford F. Brown, Supreme Court of Ohio. She then moved into the private practice of law and established a primary focus in family law. Carol's practice includes divorce, dissolution, collaborative divorce, and custody matters for both LGBTQ and traditional clients, along with non-traditional family law matters such as formation and dissolution of LGBTQ and other unmarried relationships, parenting and custody matters unique to LGBTQ relationships, and family legal planning document preparation (wills, health care powers of attorney, and related planning).

Now that LGBTQ marriages are recognized throughout the country, Carol happily facilitates same-sex couple adoptions, stepparent adoptions, and parentage actions to confirm parentage of children born to married same gender couples (for whom a biologically based "presumption" of spouse's parentage may not be recognized). Carol pioneered the establishment of shared custody for LGBTQ and other unmarried parents beginning in 1997, which laid the groundwork for the Ohio Supreme Court's affirmation of that practice. In honor of that work, Carol was awarded the Stoney Award by Stonewall Union. Carol also represented the first non-biological mother to obtain shared custody over the objection of the biological-mother, despite the lack of any formal written agreement.

Carol was the first Chair of the Columbus Bar Association's LGBT Committee, is a member of Temple Beth Shalom where she also plays piano, and formerly served as an elected member and President of the Bexley School Board. She is a frequent speaker on LGBTQ legal issues.