The Ohio Supreme Court is adopting the use of gender-neutral references in family court cases in place of words such as husband and wife following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling legalizing gay marriage across the country.
The updates to the Ohio high court rules and forms take effect Tuesday.
The Ohio order also includes father, mother, parent and spouse in its description of terms expressing familial relationships.
This covers the areas of divorce, child support, guardianships, adoption, domestic relations and domestic violence.
The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last summer declared Ohio's 2004 gay marriage ban unconstitutional, along with similar bans in 13 other states.
