What Is a Default Hearing in Missouri?
A default hearing is where the party who filed the case asks the judge to grant what the petition requested because the other side never responded in time.
Every family court case starts the same way. The other party is served with a summons and a copy of the pleadings under Rule 54.13, or by mail or publication under Rule 54.12, and a clock starts.
If nothing is filed before that clock runs out, the filing party can move forward without the other side and ask for a default hearing. That is the whole mechanism, and it is less dramatic and more recoverable than it sounds.
How Long Do You Have to Respond?
Thirty days from service, and forty five days if you were served by publication. The second number surprises people and it is in the same rule.
Rule 55.25(a) provides that “a defendant shall file an answer within thirty days after the service of the summons and petition, except where service by mail is had, in which event a defendant shall file an answer within thirty days after the acknowledgment of receipt of summons and petition or return registered or certified mail receipt is filed in the case or within forty-five days after the first publication of notice if neither personal service nor service by mail is had.”
Three different triggers sit in that sentence.
- Personal service. Thirty days from service of the summons and petition together
- Service by mail. Thirty days from when the acknowledgment or the returned receipt is filed in the case, not from when it arrived at your door
- Service by publication. Forty five days from the first publication
Missing the deadline is not the same as losing. It opens a door the other side can walk through, and a default hearing is what they walk through it to.
What Actually Happens at a Default Hearing?
The petitioning party has to put on evidence, because a Missouri default judgment is not granted on the pleadings alone.
Rule 74.05(a) provides that where a party “has failed to plead or otherwise defend as provided by these rules, upon proof of damages or entitlement to other relief, a judgment may be entered against the defaulting party.” The rule also says an interlocutory order of default “is not a condition precedent to the entry of a default judgment.”
Note the phrase upon proof. Somebody still has to testify.
In a family case the court’s own obligations go further. Section 452.305.1 RSMo requires the court to find residency, to find that thirty days have elapsed since the filing of the petition, to find that the marriage is irretrievably broken, and to have “considered and made provision for child custody, the support of each child, the maintenance of either spouse and the disposition of property.” Those are findings, and a silent respondent does not supply them.
On the children the point is sharper still. Section 452.325.2 RSMo excludes “terms providing for the custody, support, and visitation of children” from the terms that bind the court. If the parties’ own written agreement does not bind a Missouri court on those issues, a defaulting party’s silence certainly does not. And Rule 88.01(b) requires the Form 14 child support calculation “in any judicial or administrative proceeding,” which includes a default hearing. Our Missouri child support calculator runs the same worksheet, and our FAQ on Missouri child support laws covers the rules behind it.
Will Anyone Warn You Before It Happens?
No, and this is the part most people get wrong.
Rule 74.05 contains no notice requirement of any kind. There is nothing in it about telling the defaulting party before a default is entered.
The related rule cuts the same way. Rule 74.03 requires the clerk to mail notice of an entered order or judgment “upon each party who is not in default for failure to appear and who was not present in court.” A party in default is expressly carved out of that.
So do not wait for a letter. If you were served and the thirty days has run, assume the case is moving and that a default hearing may already be on the calendar.
What Should You Do If You Missed the Deadline?
Two filings, quickly, and the speed genuinely matters.
- File an answer. It is the pleading you should have filed, and filing it now demonstrates you intend to defend
- File a motion to set aside the default under Rule 74.05(d), stating the facts that satisfy both parts of the rule
Get advice on this rather than improvising it. A motion that fails on one of the two required elements is not easily fixed on a second attempt, and the outer time limit is fixed. Our FAQ on divorce without a lawyer covers what a limited consultation looks like if you are not hiring anyone for the whole case.
What Are the 2 Things You Must Show to Set It Aside?
A meritorious defense and good cause, and Rule 74.05(d) requires both.
The rule is short and worth reading in full. “Upon motion stating facts constituting a meritorious defense and for good cause shown, an interlocutory order of default or a default judgment may be set aside.”
Missouri defines good cause inside the rule itself, which is unusual and helpful. “‘Good cause’ includes a mistake or conduct that is not intentionally or recklessly designed to impede the judicial process.”
Read what that covers. A genuine mistake can be good cause. A deliberate decision to ignore the case is not. In Dozier v. Dozier, 222 S.W.3d 308 (Mo. App. W.D. 2007), a husband who defaulted in a dissolution argued he could not afford an attorney, and the Western District held that was not good cause where he had simply ignored the litigation. The court also confirmed that the two requirements “are stated in the conjunctive,” so a motion has to establish both.
How Long Do You Have to File the Motion?
A reasonable time, and never more than one year.
Rule 74.05(d) says “the motion shall be made within a reasonable time not to exceed one year after the entry of the default judgment.” One year is the ceiling rather than the allowance. A reasonable time on your facts may be far shorter.
The rule also treats this motion differently from an ordinary post-trial motion. A motion under Rule 74.05(d), “even if filed within 30 days after judgment, is an independent action and not an authorized after-trial motion subject to Rule 78.04, 78.06, or 81.05.”
One more thing the rule permits. An order setting aside a default “may be conditioned on such terms as are just, including a requirement that the party in default pay reasonable attorney fees and expenses incurred as a result of the default.” Getting the judgment set aside can come with a bill.
Does It Matter That Children Are Involved?
Yes. Missouri appellate courts treat default judgments in custody cases differently from other defaults, and they say so directly.
In Cutter-Ascoli v. Ascoli, 32 S.W.3d 167 (Mo. App. E.D. 2000), a dissolution involving custody of a minor child, the Eastern District held that “because the adversarial process better protects the child’s interest in a custody proceeding, default judgments in custody cases are strongly disfavored and a refusal to set aside such a judgment is reviewed with heightened scrutiny,” and that “where child custody is concerned, the welfare of the child becomes paramount and the trial court’s discretion is more narrowly bounded.”
Dozier repeated the same language seven years later, putting it plainly. “The law’s distaste for default judgments is even stronger in dissolution cases involving child custody.”
Do not read that as a guarantee. Dozier is the case where the husband lost anyway, because he could not show good cause. Heightened scrutiny describes how an appellate court reviews the decision. It does not remove the two things you still have to prove. Our child custody page covers what is at stake, and our FAQ on what a parenting plan is covers the document a default hearing would otherwise produce without your input.
What Standard Does the Court Apply?
The trial court decides, and an appellate court reviews that decision for abuse of discretion.
The Supreme Court of Missouri restated it in Steele v. Johnson Controls, Inc., No. SC100193 (Mo. banc 2024), holding that “a judgment overruling a Rule 74.05(d) motion to set aside a default judgment is reviewed for an abuse of discretion,” and repeating the rule’s own definition that “good cause includes a mistake or conduct that is not intentionally or recklessly designed to impede the judicial process.”
There is a related point worth knowing about appeals. Steele also notes that a default judgment is generally “not appealable in the absence of a motion to set aside or vacate.” So the motion is not merely the fastest route. It is usually the only one.
Missouri courts have also described the underlying policy. Dozier records that “appellate courts are more likely to reverse a judgment which fails to set aside a default judgment than one which grants that relief,” because of “the law’s distaste for default judgments and its preference for trials on the merits.”
How Do You Avoid a Default in the First Place?
Treat the summons as a deadline rather than as news. Nearly every default hearing traces back to a date somebody did not write down.
- Write the date down the day you are served. Thirty days, or forty five if you were served by publication
- Do not wait to see whether you can afford a lawyer. Dozier is the case on exactly that. An answer filed on time is worth far more than a better answer filed late
- Do not assume a conversation counts. Agreeing with your spouse that you will work it out is not a filing
- Keep your address current with the court. Notices go where the file says you are
- Ask before the deadline, not after. A short conversation before day thirty is a cheaper problem than a motion on day forty
What Does a Default Not Mean?
Three things, because the word sounds more final than the procedure is.
It does not mean the other side automatically gets everything they asked for. Rule 74.05(a) still requires proof of entitlement to relief, and in a dissolution the court still has to make its own findings under Section 452.305.1.
It does not mean the children’s terms were decided by your absence. Section 452.325.2 keeps custody, support and visitation with the court, and Rule 88.01 requires the support worksheet regardless of who showed up.
And a default hearing does not mean the case is over. Rule 74.05(d) exists for exactly this, with a one year outer limit and a requirement that you move within a reasonable time inside it. The sooner you file, the better the argument that you did.
Who Can Help With a Default Hearing in St. Louis?
If a default hearing is on the calendar or a judgment has already been entered, the useful conversation is a fast one about timing.
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. Bring whatever you were served with and any notice you have received, and we will tell you where you are in the process, what a motion to set aside would have to show on your facts, and whether it is worth bringing. Our page on the St. Louis County Family Court covers how cases move there, our page on how long a divorce takes in Missouri covers the wider timeline, and our other family law questions and answers cover the rest.
You should not have to chase your attorney for basic updates while something like this is pending. Every client here has a named paralegal on the file, and we generally return calls within one business day.
Family Law, Simplified.
A default is a situation where days matter, so if you think you are in one, call sooner rather than later. 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.