Everything people ask us most, in one place.
If you are facing a divorce, a custody problem, or a support order in the St. Louis area, this page is the shortcut. It holds our Missouri divorce resources in one spot. A working child support calculator, plain answers to the questions people actually call us about, court contact information, and local guides for St. Louis County, St. Charles County, and Jefferson County. Search for what you need, or pick a topic below. None of this is legal advice about your situation. It is the background we would want you to have before anyone talked to you about fees.
Or pick a topicAll resourcesToolsStart hereKids and custodyMoney and propertyBusiness ownersCourt processSafetyAfter the divorceLocal and courts
Tools and calculators
Free tools you can use right now, no account and no call required.
Missouri Child Support Calculator
Run a Form 14 estimate using Missouri’s official worksheet and the support schedule in effect for 2026. It gives you a starting number, not a court order.
Family Law Glossary
92 terms you will hear in a Missouri family law case, defined in everyday words. Searchable, so you can look up one word and get out.
Forms and Checklist
Free intake forms, child support worksheets, local court rules, and the document checklist we hand clients before a first meeting.
Mediators Directory
Court-approved family law mediators for St. Louis County and St. Charles County, with contact details and how each one works.
Missouri Circuit Courts Contact Information
Clerk contact details for all 46 Missouri judicial circuits, searchable by county. Useful when you need a phone number and a real address fast.
Start here, the first questions
If you are just beginning to look into this, start with these.
Start Here
New to all of this. A plain walk through how a Missouri divorce begins, what it generally costs, and what the first few weeks look like.
How Long Does a Divorce Take in Missouri?
An uncontested case often runs 60 to 90 days. A contested one usually runs four to eight months, and longer when the issues are complicated.
How Much Will a Divorce Cost?
Real St. Louis numbers, from the $145 filing fee up through a contested case. Where the money goes and which choices move the total.
Divorce in Missouri, the Complete Guide
The long version. All five stages of a Missouri dissolution, from petition to judgment, with property, custody, and support along the way.
Family Law in Missouri, the Ultimate Guide
A wider overview covering custody, support, adoption, and protection cases, and which court handles which kind of matter.
Divorce Guide, in Three Parts
Getting ready financially, getting ready mentally, and the documents you will need. Short and practical.
Grounds for Dissolution of Marriage
What Missouri actually requires to end a marriage under RSMo 452.305, including the 90 day residency rule and the 30 day waiting period.
Financial Considerations When Going Through a Divorce
The disclosures the court will require, the paperwork to start gathering now, and five money mistakes that are expensive to undo.
The Perks of an Uncontested Divorce
When both people already agree, the case gets cheaper, faster, and a great deal less painful. What it takes to qualify.
Is Hiring a Divorce Lawyer Worth the Money?
An honest look at what a lawyer changes and what it costs, including how getting the child support math right compares to the retainer.
Divorce Without a Lawyer, What Are the Risks?
Plenty of people file on their own. These are the three places it goes wrong, including misclassified pensions and agreements you cannot undo.
Can Spouses Share a Divorce Attorney?
No, and here is why. One lawyer cannot represent two people whose interests may split, even in a friendly case.
What is Collaborative Divorce?
A way to settle everything with trained attorneys and neutral professionals, outside a courtroom, before anything gets filed.
Children and parenting
Parenting time, custody labels, adoption, and how Missouri courts think about children.
Where Will My Kids Live After a Divorce?
How Missouri courts decide living arrangements and parenting time. Also covers where you will live and what happens if a parent wants to move.
What is a Parenting Plan?
The written schedule and decision-making rules that become a court order. What has to be in one and what happens if you cannot agree.
What is Joint Legal Custody?
Both parents share the big decisions about health, school, and welfare. What that looks like in practice when you disagree.
What Is a Guardian ad Litem?
The lawyer a court appoints for your child, what the three duties are, and who ends up paying for it.
How to Adopt a Child in Missouri
The six steps of a Missouri adoption, from the petition through the home study to a final decree six months later.
What is Sole Legal Custody?
What sole legal custody means for major decisions about school, medical care, and religion, and what the other parent still gets.
What is the Young Child Plan?
A schedule built around infants and toddlers, using shorter and more frequent visits so a very young child can bond with both parents.
What is a Siegenthaler Custody Plan?
The every-other-weekend schedule St. Louis courts use often. How the weekends, summers, school breaks, and holidays rotate.
Do I Have to Wait Until the End of My Case to Get Custody?
No. Missouri allows temporary custody orders while a case is pending under RSMo 452.380. How to ask and what the hearing looks like.
Will My Relationship With My Children Change During Divorce?
How to tell your kids, what Missouri’s required parenting class covers, and the things parents say that come back to hurt them.
Can I Request a Psychological Evaluation in My Divorce Case?
When a court will order one under Missouri Rule 60.01, who pays, how the report gets used, and how it differs from a custody investigation.
Money, property, and support
What gets divided, what gets counted as income, and who pays for what.
How Should We Divide Marital Property?
Missouri divides marital property fairly rather than automatically down the middle. What counts as marital, and how debt gets split.
How Can I Protect My Assets During a Divorce?
The lawful version. Documentation, classifying property correctly, and tracing what was yours before the marriage.
Maintenance, Alimony, and Spousal Support, What is the Difference?
They are three words for the same thing. Missouri statutes say maintenance. Also answers whether there is a chart or formula for it.
Missouri Child Support Laws, the Five Key Rules
Who owes support, the two ways an order gets established, how the worksheet sets the number, and the 20 percent rule for changing it.
Does Filing for Divorce Freeze Assets in Missouri?
There is no automatic statewide freeze. What restricts you depends on your county’s local rules, so check before you move money.
Does Divorce Affect My Credit Score?
The divorce itself does not touch your credit. Mishandled joint accounts during the case absolutely can.
Who Gets the Engagement Ring in a Divorce?
A ring given before the wedding is usually separate property and stays with the person who received it.
What is a Statement of Income and Expenses?
The sworn financial form every Missouri divorce requires. What goes on it and how the numbers feed child support and maintenance.
What is a Vocational Exam?
A professional assessment of what someone could realistically earn. Courts use it when earning capacity is disputed in a maintenance or support fight.
Can I Ask the Court to Make My Spouse Pay My Legal Bill?
Sometimes, yes. RSMo 452.355 lets a judge shift fees based on each side’s resources and how the case has been litigated.
Can I Buy a Car During My Divorce Case?
Large purchases during a pending case can violate an automatic court order and change how property gets divided. Read this first.
Will My Spouse’s Cheating Affect Our Divorce Case?
Missouri is a no-fault state, but conduct can still show up in property division and maintenance. Here is where it matters and where it does not.
If you own a business
A divorce involving a company is a different kind of case. These cover it.
Business Owner Divorce, Eight Mistakes to Avoid
Salary, goodwill, appraisals, tracing, operating agreements, buyout structure, tax basis, and transfers. The eight places these cases go sideways.
Is a Business I Own Marital Property?
An inherited or premarital business usually starts as separate property, but marital labor or money poured into it can change that.
How Is an LLC Treated in a Divorce in Missouri?
Whether the LLC is marital property, what an ex-spouse can actually claim, and why the operating agreement matters so much.
How Do I Keep My Company in a Divorce?
Offsets, buyout notes, and combinations of the two. Property division is final in a way that maintenance is not, so the structure matters.
Protect Your Business in a Divorce, Six Steps
Marital agreements, paying yourself a market salary, keeping accounts separate, buy-sell provisions, and records that hold up.
Court and the process
What actually happens between filing and a judgment.
What is Discovery in a Divorce Case?
The formal exchange of information after filing and before trial. The six tools, the limits on each, and the Missouri rules that govern them.
What is a Change of Judge?
A written application to remove the assigned judge, one per side, no reason required. Includes when it makes sense to use it and the filing deadline.
Will My Divorce Trial Have a Jury?
No. A Missouri judge decides a divorce case in a bench trial and issues the ruling in writing, often weeks later.
Should I Bring Witnesses to My Divorce Trial?
Which witnesses actually help, why direct knowledge matters, how hearsay limits testimony, and four mistakes that undercut a case.
What is a PDL Motion?
A request for temporary orders while the case is pending, covering support, custody, and who pays the bills in the meantime.
What is a Default Hearing?
What happens when the other side is served and never responds within 30 days, and what a judge can and cannot award.
How Do I Appeal My Divorce Case?
Two deadlines control everything, and both are short. What can be appealed, what cannot, and why the transcript matters.
Municipal Court or Circuit Court, Which One Hears My Divorce?
Circuit courts handle every divorce, custody, and support case in Missouri. Municipal courts handle city ordinance matters and nothing family related.
Safety and orders of protection
If safety is the issue, these are the pages to read first.
Domestic Violence Corner
Crisis lines, shelters, legal aid, and how to file for an order of protection, organized by county across the St. Louis region.
Can I Fight the Order of Protection Against Me?
Yes. It is a civil case the other side has to prove. What the hearing involves and what evidence a Missouri court looks for.
Life after the divorce
The part nobody warns you about.
How Will I Support Myself After My Divorce?
Maintenance, your share of property, and earning capacity, plus a practical way to build the first post-divorce budget.
Can I Get My Maiden Name Back After My Divorce?
Yes, and it is simplest to request it in the divorce itself. Missouri does not require a separate name change case.
Couples Counseling or Divorce Counseling, What is the Difference?
One tries to repair the marriage, the other helps you get through ending it. Includes when a court expects counseling and how to find someone licensed.
St. Louis courts and local guides
Where to file, who to call, and how it works county by county.
St. Louis County Family Court, What You Need to Know
Where the Clayton family court sits, what it handles, how to reach it, and the rhythm of a case once it is on the docket.
How to File Paperwork for a Divorce in St. Louis County
The forms a St. Louis County dissolution needs, from the petition through the income and expense statement and the parenting plan.
Enforcing Child Support in St. Louis County
What to do when court-ordered support is not being paid. Motions to modify, contempt, and having the court set the amount owed.
Adoption Resources in St. Louis County
Local agencies, the steps a Missouri adoption follows, and where families usually get stuck.
Costs and Benefits of Legal Separation in St. Louis County
How legal separation compares to divorce on health insurance, taxes, and the door it leaves open.
Divorce in Webster Groves
How a dissolution works for Webster Groves families, and which court hears it.
Divorce in University City
Custody, property, and support for University City residents, and where the case gets filed.
Paternity in Oakville
Establishing paternity in Missouri by agreement, by DNA test, or through the court, and what it changes for custody and support.
Still not sure where your situation fits?
That is a normal place to be. Bardol Law Firm handles family law and nothing else, in St. Louis County, St. Louis City, St. Charles County and Jefferson County. Tell us what is going on and we will walk you through the options. We generally return calls within one business day.