Kansas City Family Law Blog

As a parent contemplating a Missouri divorce, one of your biggest concerns likely is how your children will react to your divorce and how the day-to-day loss of both of their parents will affect them. If you have not yet considered joint custody, you may well wish to do so.

Whether or not joint custody will work in your situation depends on how cooperatively you and your soon-to-be ex-spouse can work together in your children's best interests. If you both possess the requisite maturity, stability and determination to make joint custody work, however, your children can benefit in many ways.

The decision to get a divorce from your spouse is no doubt a difficult one, yet one that you typically will not arrive at without having your reasons. The question that many in Jackson County have asked us here at the Stange Law Firm is whether the state will justify those reasons. You are likely familiar with the term "grounds for divorce," which seemingly implies that you must have a valid reason to end your marriage. While that is true, that is not to say that only an egregious action by you or your ex-spouse will warrant a divorce. 

Missouri is a no-fault state when it comes to divorce, which means that neither you not your ex-spouse needs to be proven to be at fault in ending your marriage. Indeed, Section 452.320 of the state's Domestic Relations Code says that you and your spouse claiming (under oath) that your relationship is "irretrievably broken" is enough to qualify for a divorce. Yet what of your spouse disagrees to this? You can then attempt to assign fault to them by proving any of the following situations: 

• Your spouse has committed adultery or some other action which would make it difficult for anyone to expect you to continue to live with them
• Your spouse has abandoned you for at least six months
• You and your spouse have lived apart (consensually) for more than 12 consecutive months
• You and your spouse have lived apart (without mutual consent) for more than 24 consecutive months

When defining "child support," many in Jackson County may state that it is money paid to help cover a kid's basic needs. Yet exactly what are those needs? Food, shelter and clothing are the basic ones that immediately come to mind, yet what about health care? It is easy to forget about the need for health care (or more specifically, health insurance) because people tend to only value it when it is needed. Given the high cost of care, however, it is easy to understand why the cost of health insurance is also considered when determining a child support obligation. 

Many obtain their health insurance through group plans offered through their employers. While enrolling in such plans may be optional, it can become mandatory if and when one becomes involved in a child support dispute with their ex-spouse. Family courts will typically mandate that parents take advantage of any health insurance coverage available to them in order to insure their kids. They may also bypass the parents altogether with this mandate and go straight to their employers. Indeed, per the Missouri Department of Social Services, state law authorizes family courts to require employers to enroll an employee's child in its group health plan (if said employee is obliged to do so through their child support agreement) and withhold the cost to cover insurance premiums from the employee's wages. 

In this post, we will take a close look at some of the challenges that are unique to parents. Raising a child can be tough for many reasons, from financial demands to daily stressors that surface in parents' lives. Sometimes, life as a parent can be particularly tough, such as instances where a couple cannot come to an agreement on a key decision in their child's life. For example, a couple may disagree about sending their child to a particular college for various reasons. In some cases, these disputes can even result in the end of a married couple's relationship.

Parents can disagree on many different key issues when it comes to the best interests of their child. Some may believe that a child should not be vaccinated or allowed to date at a certain age. A parent may be opposed to their child attending a certain college because they are worried about the school's reputation, the cost of tuition or their child moving so far away from home. Unfortunately, this can lead to a divorce, which may be particularly challenging for a child to deal with during a chaotic time in their life.