Missouri

In getting a divorce, you will most likely have to pay for attorney’s fees and court filing fees. Depending on the facts of your case, the court may order you to pay maintenance (or alimony), child support, or other money to your spouse to divide your property, possibly including your spouse’s attorney’s fees. It is certainly in your best interest to hire an experienced divorce attorney to make sure that your rights are asserted and your assets are protected in the long-term. One of the issues that can affect the cost of a divorce is whether you and your spouse are agreeable to issues concerning the custody of your children, child support, maintenance, and the division of the property.

An annulment is a decision by the court that the marriage was not legal from the beginning. Annulments are granted only in limited and unusual situations. Annulments may be granted for marriages that are between persons who are related to each other, between persons who lack the mental capacity to enter into a contract, between persons of the same sex, or where one spouse was still legally married to another person. Not finding the answer you are looking for? Browse our entire Missouri Divorce FAQ.

No. A parent may not refuse to allow or cut back the other parent’s visitation with the children simply because the other parent has not paid his/her child support. Payment of child support and visitation are legally independent matters. Both parents have the right to have a meaningful relationship with their children. It should also be pointed out that if one parent refuses to allow the other parent visitation, that parent may not use that as a reason to withhold or stop paying child support.

In order for the court to modify the terms of a custody order, there must be a continuing and substantial change in the circumstances of the child or the child’s custodian and the modification is necessary to serve the best interests of the child. It is important to understand that there must be new facts that have come up since the prior order, or there must be facts that were not known by the court at the time of the prior order. Not finding the answer you are looking for? Browse our entire Missouri Child Custody FAQ.