FAQs
| | | | | | |
Dividing a Business in a Divorce, Will I Lose My Company?
How Is a Business Divided in a Missouri Divorce? Missouri courts do not carve up the company itself. They classify the business, put a dollar value on the marital share, and divide that value between the spouses, which in most cases means one spouse keeps the business...
Can My Ex Become My Business Partner After Divorce?
Can My Ex Become My Business Partner After Divorce? By agreement, yes. By court order over your objection, it is strongly disfavored in Missouri, and the one Missouri appellate decision squarely on the point reversed a judgment that left two former spouses owning...
Business Valuation in Divorce: How Is My Company Valued?
How Is a Business Valued in a Missouri Divorce? A business is value in Missouri as of the date of trial, by a qualified expert, using whichever method the court finds credible on the evidence in front of it. Missouri names no mandatory formula, which is why two...
Business Owner Divorce: What 8 Mistakes Should I Avoid?
What Are the Most Costly Business Owner Divorce Mistakes? The expensive ones are almost never dramatic. They are ordinary decisions made months before anyone hires a lawyer. You keep paying yourself less than the company can afford. You accept an appraisal without...
Does Filing for Divorce Freeze Assets in Missouri?
Does Filing for Divorce Freeze My Assets in Missouri? No. There is no statewide rule in Missouri that freezes your accounts the moment a petition is filed, and whether anything freezes at all depends on which county you are in. At the state level, Section 452.315 RSMo...
Divorce Business Buyout, How Do I Keep My Company?
Can I Keep My Business If I Get Divorced? Usually yes. In almost every Missouri case involving a closely held company, the owner keeps the business itself. The real question is never who gets the keys. It is what the other spouse receives in exchange for the marital...
Protect Your Business in a Divorce, What Are the 6 Steps?
Can My Spouse Take Half My Business in a Missouri Divorce? No. Missouri is not a community property state, so there is no rule that hands your spouse half of anything, and in most cases your spouse receives value rather than ownership. Missouri follows equitable...
Family Business Divorce: Is an Inherited Family Business Marital Property in Missouri?
Is an Inherited Family Business Marital Property in Missouri? No. A business interest you inherited or received as a gift starts as your separate property, and your spouse does not get a share of the interest itself simply because you are divorcing. Section...
How Is an LLC Treated in a Divorce in Missouri?
Is My LLC Marital Property in Missouri? If you formed or bought the LLC during the marriage, yes, it is presumed marital, and having only your name on the paperwork changes nothing. Section 452.330.3 of the Missouri Revised Statutes presumes that property acquired by...
Is a Business Marital Property in a Missouri Divorce?
Is a Business Marital Property in a Missouri Divorce? If the business was formed or acquired during the marriage, Missouri presumes it is marital property, and whose name is on the paperwork does not change that. Section 452.330.3 RSMo says property acquired during...
Municipal Court vs Circuit Court, Which Hears My Divorce?
Municipal court vs circuit court comes down to one line in Missouri, the circuit court hears every divorce, custody and family law case, and the municipal court hears none of them. Municipal courts handle violations of a single city's ordinances, things like speeding...
How to Adopt a Child in Missouri, What Are the 6 Steps?
Adopting a child in Missouri is mostly a court process, and the court has a specific order it wants things done in. Here is that order in plain language, along with the parts that most often slow a case down. How Do You Adopt a Child in Missouri? To adopt a child in...
Does Divorce Affect Credit Score, What 5 Mistakes to Avoid?
Money is the part of a divorce that keeps people awake, and your credit score is usually near the top of the list. Here is the reassuring part. The divorce itself does not damage your credit. The risky part is what happens to the accounts while the case is running,...
Alimony vs Spousal Support: Is There Really a Difference?
What is the Difference Between Maintenance, Alimony, and Spousal Support? Nothing. These are all different words for the exact same thing: payments made to a former spouse for either a predetermined or undetermined amount of time to be used to financially support the...
Municipal Court vs Circuit Court, Which Hears My Divorce?
Municipal court vs circuit court comes down to one line in Missouri, the circuit court hears every divorce, custody and family law case, and the municipal court hears none of them. Municipal courts handle violations of a single city's ordinances, things like speeding...
How to Tell Kids About Divorce, What Should You Never Say?
Most parents ask about the children before they ask about the money, and usually before they ask about themselves. If the thing keeping you up is whether your kids will still feel close to you afterward, that fear is normal and it is worth answering carefully. Here is...
Where Will My Kids Live After a Divorce?
Where Will My Kids Live After a Divorce? Wherever the parenting plan in your judgment says, and Missouri now starts from a presumption that roughly equal parenting time is in a child's best interests. That presumption is rebuttable, which means evidence can move it....
Every Other Weekend Custody Schedule, How Does It Work?
If someone in your case has used the word "Siegenthaler," you are probably wondering whether it is a rule, a form, or something your lawyer made up. It is none of those. It is shorthand for a parenting time schedule, named after a Missouri appeals case from 1988, and...
What is a Parenting Plan?
What Is a Parenting Plan in Missouri? A parenting plan is a written document each parent proposes, setting out the custody schedule, how decisions about the children get made, and how the children's expenses get paid, which becomes a court order once a judge adopts...
What is the Young Child Plan?
What Is the Young Child Plan? A young child plan is a parenting schedule that starts with short, frequent visits with the parent the child has spent less time with, and expands as the child gets older. The name is local practice shorthand. It is what St. Louis area...
Do I Have to Wait Until the End of My Case to Get Custody of My Child?
Do I Have to Wait Until the End of My Case to Get Custody of My Child? No. Missouri law lets you ask for a temporary custody order while the case is still pending, and that order can be entered long before anyone sees a trial date. The question behind the question is...
What is a Default Hearing?
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...
Municipal Court vs Circuit Court, Which Hears My Divorce?
Municipal court vs circuit court comes down to one line in Missouri, the circuit court hears every divorce, custody and family law case, and the municipal court hears none of them. Municipal courts handle violations of a single city's ordinances, things like speeding...
What Is a Vocational Exam?
What Is a Vocational Exam in a Divorce Case? It is an evaluation of what someone is able to earn, done by a vocational professional, and used where income or earning capacity is in dispute. The expert looks at education, work history, health, the local job market and...
What is a Default Hearing?
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...
Missouri Child Support Laws, What Are the 5 Key Rules?
Child support is the part of a family law case that generates the most arguments and the least clear information. Here is how it actually works in Missouri, in plain language, including the one rule that decides whether an existing order can be changed. What Is Child...
Dividing a Business in a Divorce, Will I Lose My Company?
How Is a Business Divided in a Missouri Divorce? Missouri courts do not carve up the company itself. They classify the business, put a dollar value on the marital share, and divide that value between the spouses, which in most cases means one spouse keeps the business...
Can My Ex Become My Business Partner After Divorce?
Can My Ex Become My Business Partner After Divorce? By agreement, yes. By court order over your objection, it is strongly disfavored in Missouri, and the one Missouri appellate decision squarely on the point reversed a judgment that left two former spouses owning...
Business Valuation in Divorce: How Is My Company Valued?
How Is a Business Valued in a Missouri Divorce? A business is value in Missouri as of the date of trial, by a qualified expert, using whichever method the court finds credible on the evidence in front of it. Missouri names no mandatory formula, which is why two...
Business Owner Divorce: What 8 Mistakes Should I Avoid?
What Are the Most Costly Business Owner Divorce Mistakes? The expensive ones are almost never dramatic. They are ordinary decisions made months before anyone hires a lawyer. You keep paying yourself less than the company can afford. You accept an appraisal without...
Does Filing for Divorce Freeze Assets in Missouri?
Does Filing for Divorce Freeze My Assets in Missouri? No. There is no statewide rule in Missouri that freezes your accounts the moment a petition is filed, and whether anything freezes at all depends on which county you are in. At the state level, Section 452.315 RSMo...
Divorce Business Buyout, How Do I Keep My Company?
Can I Keep My Business If I Get Divorced? Usually yes. In almost every Missouri case involving a closely held company, the owner keeps the business itself. The real question is never who gets the keys. It is what the other spouse receives in exchange for the marital...
Protect Your Business in a Divorce, What Are the 6 Steps?
Can My Spouse Take Half My Business in a Missouri Divorce? No. Missouri is not a community property state, so there is no rule that hands your spouse half of anything, and in most cases your spouse receives value rather than ownership. Missouri follows equitable...
Family Business Divorce: Is an Inherited Family Business Marital Property in Missouri?
Is an Inherited Family Business Marital Property in Missouri? No. A business interest you inherited or received as a gift starts as your separate property, and your spouse does not get a share of the interest itself simply because you are divorcing. Section...
How Is an LLC Treated in a Divorce in Missouri?
Is My LLC Marital Property in Missouri? If you formed or bought the LLC during the marriage, yes, it is presumed marital, and having only your name on the paperwork changes nothing. Section 452.330.3 of the Missouri Revised Statutes presumes that property acquired by...
Is a Business Marital Property in a Missouri Divorce?
Is a Business Marital Property in a Missouri Divorce? If the business was formed or acquired during the marriage, Missouri presumes it is marital property, and whose name is on the paperwork does not change that. Section 452.330.3 RSMo says property acquired during...
What Is a Guardian ad Litem, What Are the 3 Duties?
If a judge has appointed a guardian ad litem in your case, or your lawyer has said one is coming, it is normal to feel watched. Here is exactly what the role is, what that person is allowed to do, who pays for them, and what actually happens next. What Is a Guardian...
Can I Fight the Order of Protection Against Me?
Can I Fight an Order of Protection in Missouri? Yes. An order of protection is a contested civil case, the person who filed it carries the burden of proof, and Missouri appellate courts have reversed these orders when the evidence did not support them. That is the...
The Perks of an Uncontested Divorce
What Is an Uncontested Divorce in Missouri? An uncontested divorce is one where you and your spouse already agree on every term before the case is filed, so the court is asked to approve an agreement rather than decide a dispute. That word already is doing a lot of...