Every state has its own laws and requirements for dissolving a marriage. This article will provide you with a basic understanding of how divorce works in Missouri.
In today’s internet driven world, there is indeed a lot of online information meant to help you through the divorce process. However, filing your divorce paperwork and completing the process can be more complicated than you think, especially if you have property to divide or you're facing a custody dispute.
You may find that hiring an experienced attorney can help you avoid common mistakes and pitfalls that may delay your divorce or result in long-term negative consequences. A family law attorney can help explain your responsibilities and protect your financial and custodial rights.
In Missouri, couples can pursue an annulment, which is where the court declares your marriage as invalid and treats it as though it never happened. Annulments are rare and only available under limited circumstances, such as where there was fraud, mental impairment, or coercion to enter into the marriage or if the spouses are too closely related.
If your religion prohibits divorce, or if you depend on your spouse for financial or medical needs, you may request a legal separation in Missouri, which is referred to as "separate maintenance." When you file a request for separate maintenance, the court can resolve property division, custody, and support issues, but does not terminate your marital status, which means you are still legally married.
Some states allow spouses to pursue a fault divorce, which is where you allege that your spouse’s marital misconduct caused your breakup. In Missouri, the only way to obtain a divorce is by using a no-fault process, meaning neither spouse is to blame for the failed marriage.
Spouses hoping to request a divorce in Missouri must be a state resident for at least 90 days before filing and must testify that the marriage has suffered an irretrievable breakdown and there’s nothing either spouse can do to repair it. If your spouse denies the status of your relationship, the court may need to further evaluate your case before finalizing your divorce.
For example, if your spouse refuses to acknowledge that your relationship has suffered an irretrievable breakdown, the court may require you to demonstrate that your spouse committed adultery, abandoned you, behaved in a way that makes it impossible to live together, or that you’ve lived separate and apart for at least a year. These evaluations are uncommon, but if your spouse is looking to delay your divorce, a judge may adjourn (delay) your case for up to six months.
The court can’t take any action on your case until 30 days after you file, which is the perfect time to negotiate a settlement agreement with your spouse.
Despite what prime time television wants you to believe, most divorces settle long before they get to a trial. If you’re hoping to avoid the drama, you can try mediation, which is where a neutral, specially trained mediator helps you and your spouse negotiate a fair settlement outside of court.
In most cases, mediation is voluntary and non-binding, meaning if you don’t agree with the proposed settlement agreement, you don’t have to sign it. But, the process can save time and money if you’re willing to do the work and communicate with your spouse about divorce-related issues like property division, custody, and support.
While the court can’t take any action on your case during the waiting period, you can request temporary orders to get you by while you wait. In situations where a couple has minor children, it may be necessary for a judge to decide where the child should reside and calculate child support. In cases where one spouse was the primary earner, temporary orders could be beneficial to ensure the wage earner continues to pay bills and expenses until the divorce is final.
Temporary orders expire when the judge signs the settlement or judgment of divorce, unless both parties agree to incorporate the temporary terms into the final agreement.
Missouri follows a method of property and debt division called equitable distribution, which means divorce courts try to divide marital property in a way that seems fair under the circumstances, considering a number of factors—this does not necessarily result in an equal or 50/50 split.
Any property acquired by the spouses (marital property) during the marriage is fair game for division, unless it qualifies as separate property. For example, if a spouse owned a home before the wedding, or received an inheritance during the marriage, the court will characterize these assets as separate and award them to the individual spouse.
Custody and child support are often two of the most emotional and contested issues during a divorce. Before you ask a court to decide these issues for you, it’s important to understand the basics of custody. If the couple can’t agree on custody for their children, the court may require the parents to attend mediation or parenting classes, and if those fail, the judge will decide custody and support matters based on what’s best for the children.
There are two types of custody—legal and physical. Legal custody describes who may make significant decisions for the children, such as medical and educational decisions. Physical custody refers to where the child will reside and which parent will be primarily responsible for the child’s day-to-day care. Missouri favors joint legal and physical custody, which is where both parents are equally involved in decisions for the child and have roughly the same amount of time with the child.
For support matters, the court uses a formula to determine an appropriate amount of child support for the noncustodial parent to pay each month.
Even with a straightforward, uncontested divorce, a spouse may still require help from trained professionals. Courts often write divorce rules and procedures in legal language, which makes them difficult to interpret. To ensure that you’re not missing any vital information in your paperwork, or to have your proposed settlement agreement reviewed for errors, contact an experienced family law attorney in your area.
