Divorce

As a lawyer practicing in the area of family law, I am intimately familiar with the various ways that child custody can be established because it’s part of what I do for a living. People may want or need to establish child custody for a variety of different reasons. Establishing child custody must be done

Is there an advantage to filing first for a divorce? This question comes up occasionally in divorce cases. The answer to the question, like most answers to legal questions,  depends on the circumstances of the divorcing couples. Venue (meaning the county where the divorce is heard) is initially established when the petition for dissolution of marriage

The following hypothetical situation happens more frequently than most non-lawyers imagine, but yet husbands and wives continue to either choose not to hire their own divorce lawyer or somehow think that it’s a good idea to share a divorce attorney: Husband and Wife have been married a couple years and have one child born of

In an opinion from the Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District, filed on October 4, 2012, the Court determined during a divorce proceeding that two items of real property and a business were marital property. The court found that the real estate was acquired during the marriage and the business was started during the marriage. The Husband

The Supreme Court of Missouri entered its Order on December 7, 2011 changing, in part,  how child support is calculated. The change pertains to the amount of credit a court may award a parent in connection with exercising overnight child custody or visitation.  The Order provides that a parent may receive up to a maximum

Missouri General Assembly HB111 became effective August 28, 2011, authorizing a court to award a parent a 50% adjustment to a presumed child support calculation in situations where the parents share joint physical child custody or have the child equal or substantially equal periods of time. However, the Missouri Supreme Court is required to make the

Even in this tough economy, divorce courts in Missouri continue to have the authority to order the sale of the marital home in a proceeding for dissolution of marriage.  In a recent opinion, the Court of Appeals, Western District of Missouri, held that a trial court has the authority to order the sale of the

The physical and emotional betrayal inflicted by a cheating spouse is one of the main causes of divorce. The spouse suffering the extra-marital affair often desires punishment. Courts will punish the cheating spouse in certain circumstances by financially compensating the non-cheating spouse. The non-cheating spouse may also have an improved opportunity to obtain child custody.