“My Ex is pushing me to go to mediation to resolve our dispute. Should I do it?” This is an increasingly common question for Missouri family law practitioners. The answer to this question can only be reached once you have a clear understanding of the process and whether your circumstances are a good fit for mediation.
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In the recent trend of legal services going viral, Google has now released a program which will account for your text messages and e-mails after your death. The program, aptly named Inactive Account Manager, will allow individuals to prearrange what will happen to their account data and information upon their death. Beneficiaries can be designated to receive certain information, while other private information can be deleted. Such information could include contact information, emails, documents and online messages. Setting up this program makes working out such details easier for those you leave behind after your death, which is a chief consideration when it comes to estate planning in Missouri.
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One of the most difficult decisions a trial judge can be faced with is deciding a custody arrangement that is best for a child. A good trial judge will closely scrutinize the evidence and evaluate each relevant factor in making her decision. In Missouri, those factors the Judge must consider are outlined in our Missouri statutes.
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What happens when you or your ex-spouse want to relocate with your children? This is a common issue that family law practitioners are faced with on a regular basis. It is also one of the most heavily litigated areas of family law in Missouri.
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A stepparent adoption can be one of the most rewarding events in the life of both the child and the adoptive parents. A stepparent adoption is a permanent relationship in which a minor child becomes the child of the spouse of the natural mother or natural father for all legal intents and purposes.
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In our last post, we discussed the use of a Form 14 to determine child support amounts in family court cases in Missouri, as well as some situations where a Form 14 is not used. Since a Form 14 is the predominant way of determining child support here in Missouri, here is a brief rundown of how the Form 14 is used to calculate the monthly child support amount:
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Whether you are going through a divorce, a paternity matter, or a modification of child support, the issue of child support is often one of the principle issues in a Missouri family law case. Determining child support in Missouri can be a challenging task, however it is usually calculated according to a document called the Form 14. By using a Form 14, judges and attorneys alike can determine a child support number based on the parties’ incomes, the number of children they have and other contributing factors.
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In our previous blog entry we addressed the risks involved with failing to be informed about your financial circumstances, not being prepared to provide for your financial necessities in the early stages of the divorce process and the financial damage that can be done by using the divorce process as a means to seek revenge against your spouse. In Part 2 we address failing to budget, lacking an understanding of your retirement plans, failing to consider future needs against your existing desires and not adequately considering which assets have a present financial value and those assets with a monetary value only accessible in the future.
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If you find yourself in the middle of a divorce or are in a situation where you are likely faced with a divorce from your spouse, it is important that you recognize that it is your responsibility to take steps to control your financial future and to avoid those common mistakes that divorcing partners commonly make, with often very detrimental consequences.
This blog entry is a discussion of three of seven common mistakes:
In recent news, Kim Kardashian has requested that her divorce from NBA star player Kris Humphries be expedited, due primarily to the fact that she is due in July with Kanye West’s child. In Missouri, such a request would not be considered by the courts. In fact, Missouri family courts generally delay granting a divorce to a couple when the wife is pregnant. This is done mostly for the sake of judicial economy, so that both the paternity of the unborn child and the divorce can be finalized at one time.
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St. Charles Divorce Lawyer Blog