What Is a Change of Judge in a Divorce Case?
It is a written application that removes the judge assigned to your case, and Missouri gives each side one without requiring any reason at all.
A change of judge in divorce cases is not an accusation, and it is not a motion you have to justify. It is a right, exercised on paper, within a deadline.
The deadline is the part that decides most of these questions, so it is worth understanding before you decide whether you want one.
What Does Rule 51.05 Actually Say?
That the change shall be ordered on a timely written application, and that you need not give a reason or swear to anything.
Rule 51.05 opens with this. “A change of judge shall be ordered in any civil action upon the timely filing of a written application therefor by a party.”
Then it removes the two things people assume they need. “The application need not allege or prove any cause for such change of judge and need not be verified.”
Note the word shall in the first sentence. On a timely application the rule is not asking the court to weigh anything. Subsection (e) says the same thing from the other side, that “The judge promptly shall sustain a timely application for change of judge upon its presentation.”
Timely is where the whole thing lives.
What Are the 2 Deadlines for a Change of Judge in Divorce?
Sixty days from service, or thirty days from designation of the trial judge, whichever gives you longer.
The rule states it this way. “The application must be filed within 60 days from service of process or 30 days from the designation of the trial judge, whichever time is longer.”
For a change of judge in divorce that usually means sixty days after your spouse is served with the papers. But the second clock matters whenever a judge is assigned later, because it can extend your window rather than shorten it.
There is a third rule tucked in behind those two, and it is the one that catches people. “If the designation of the trial judge occurs less than thirty days before trial, the application must be filed prior to any appearance before the trial judge.”
Read that once more. In that situation the deadline is not a number of days. It is an event. Appear in front of the new judge first and the window has closed.
Intervenors run on their own clock, within thirty days of intervention or designation, whichever is later, and in no event beyond 180 days from the designation of the trial judge.
Does a Modification Case Get a Fresh Change of Judge?
Sometimes, and the answer turns on whether the same judge is handling it.
This is the least known sentence in the rule and it is written for family law. “For purposes of this Rule 51, proceedings to revoke probation or judicial parole and motions to modify child custody, child support, or spousal maintenance filed pursuant to chapter 452, RSMo, are not an independent action unless the judge designated to rule on the motion is not the same judge that ruled on the previous independent civil action.”
Translated. A motion to modify custody or support in front of the same judge who handled your divorce is treated as a continuation, so it does not come with a new application. Put a different judge on that motion and it is a fresh independent action, with a fresh application available.
Modification itself runs under Section 452.410 RSMo, which also carries its own change of judge provision for custody modification proceedings. Anyone filing a modification should know which of those two doors they are standing in front of before the clock starts.
How Many Changes Do I Actually Get?
One per side, and the rule counts by class rather than by person.
Subsection (d) puts it bluntly. “Each of the foregoing classes is limited to one change of judge, and any such change granted any one or more members of a class exhausts the right of all members of the class to a change of judge.”
Rule 51.06 closes the other route. “If a party requests and obtains either a change of venue or a change of judge, that party shall not be granted any additional change thereafter except for cause or under Rule 51.07.”
So the application is a single use item. Spending it is a decision, not a step.
Is a Change of Judge the Same as a Change of Venue?
No. One moves the judge, the other moves the county, and Rule 51.06 requires them to be joined if you want both.
The rule says a party wanting both “must join and present both in a single application provided the trial judge has been designated.” Where both are sought and neither has been requested before, the judge “promptly shall sustain the application for change of judge and transfer the case,” and the newly assigned judge then decides the venue question.
Rule 51.05(f) adds a continuity point. If the case later moves to another county in the same circuit on someone else’s application, the judge you got stays with it.
Which court you are in to begin with is a separate question, and our page on the difference between municipal court and circuit court covers that, as does our St. Louis County family court page.
What Happens After the Application Is Filed?
The judge sustains it and the case gets reassigned, either by agreement or by the presiding judge.
Under subsection (e) the disqualified judge either transfers the case to a judge the parties agree on, or notifies the presiding judge to assign a replacement or to request a transfer. Subsection (c) requires that “A copy of the application and notice of the time when it will be presented to the court shall be served on all parties.”
What you do not get is any say in who comes next beyond an agreement the other side has to join.
Should I Take a Change of Judge in My Divorce?
That is a real decision with a real cost, and the honest framing has nothing to do with which judge you would rather have.
We will not tell you that one judge is better or worse for your case. We do not publish assessments of individual judges, we will not describe how a particular judge tends to rule, and anyone who offers you that is selling you a forecast nobody can make.
What we can lay out is the trade, and it genuinely cuts both ways.
- What you give up. A known assignment, and the one application your side has for the whole case
- What you get. A reassignment you do not control and cannot predict
- What the other side still has. Their own application, unspent, which they may use on whoever you draw
- What does not change. The statutes, the rules and the evidence, which are the same in every division
That last item is the one worth sitting with. A divorce is decided on Section 452.330 RSMo for property, Section 452.335 RSMo for maintenance and Section 452.375 RSMo for children, on the record the parties build. Effort spent on discovery and on the evidence moves those factors. A different courtroom does not.
What Does a Change of Judge Not Do?
Three things, and the first one is the most common misunderstanding.
It does not change the county your case is in. That is a change of venue, it is a separate request, and Rule 51.06 requires the two to be joined.
A change of judge in divorce does not change the law that applies either. Missouri statutes and Supreme Court rules do not vary by division.
And it does not give your side a second application later. The class rule in subsection (d) means one change, spent, for everyone on your side of the case.
If your concern is about something a judge has already done rather than about the assignment, that is a different route entirely. Rule 74.06 deals with relief from a judgment, and our page on appealing a divorce case covers the appellate side. A judgment is final when entered under Section 452.360.1 RSMo, subject to the right of appeal, and those deadlines are short.
Where Can I Read the Rule Myself?
Both rules are published in full by the Missouri courts, and reading the two of them takes about five minutes.
Rule 51.05 and Rule 51.06 are linked above. If you are handling any part of a case without a lawyer, the state also publishes self representation resources and a Litigant Awareness Program, and the statewide dissolution forms are free.
One caution about the rest of what is online. Older pages, including some law firm pages, link Rule 51.05 through a retired clerk handbook address that no longer serves the rule. Read it at the current address rather than a copy.
Who Can Help With a Change of Judge in a St. Louis Divorce?
The useful conversation is about the calendar, because a change of judge in divorce is a deadline question before it is a strategy question.
Bardol Law Firm practices only family law, and we are in the St. Louis County, St. Louis City, St. Charles County and Jefferson County courts regularly. If you are inside the window and wondering whether to use the application, bring us the service date and the assignment date and we will tell you exactly how long you have and what the trade actually costs in your case. Our contested divorce page covers how these cases run, and our other family law questions and answers cover the neighboring procedure.
You should not have to chase your attorney while a deadline like this is running. Every client here has a named paralegal on the file, and we generally return calls within one business day.
Family Law, Simplified.
If you were served recently and this question is on your mind, the sixty days are already counting. Contact Bardol Law Firm or call 314.918.0100.
This page is general information about Missouri law and is not legal advice. Every case turns on its own facts. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.