What is Legal Guardianship?

Posted by Kathleen Shaul on December 16, 2012

Guardianships are legal protections for both children and adults who cannot take care of their own affairs. For example, the court can grant legal guardianship of a grandchild, niece or nephew in the event that the child’s parents are unable to perform their parental duties. Another common situation is when a parent or grandparent develops dementia and can no longer take care of his or her financial matters.

Missouri defines a “guardian” as someone appointed by the court to have the care and custody of a minor or an incapacitated person. An incapacitated person is someone who cannot take care of himself or herself alone. The key indicator of incapacitation is when he or she can no longer make proper health and financial decisions on his or her own. There are many reasons that a person can be considered incapacitated but some of the most common reasons are disease, injury, and old age. Continue reading “What is Legal Guardianship?” →

Child Custody and Co-Parenting in the Digital Age

Posted by Kathleen Shaul on December 10, 2012

Having trouble communicating with your ex about child custody?

Co-parenting during a separation or after a divorce can be difficult and stressful. To ease communication, consider using online co-parenting programs such as Our Family Wizard.

Our Family Wizard is web-based program that provides numerous features to help parents co-parent and communicate. Features include:

Calendar –A place to keep track of events and appointments, trade days, and keep a record of the children’s custody. Events that both parents need to be aware of such as doctor’s appointments, t-ball games, or parent/teacher conferences can be added to the calendar without texting or e-mailing personal accounts.
Journal – The journal option can be shared or unshared. If shared, the parents can use it as a place to document information the other parent should know about such as updates on a medical condition. If unshared, you can use it as a place to keep a private record of an event such as a custody exchange. Either way, it’s a great place to keep a detailed, dated report of events.
Expense Log – Make online payments from your checking or savings account and track shared expenses with detail. Using the expense log to make payments will provide documentation of child support payments, health expenses, or reimbursements paid to the other parent.
Message Board – The message board is easy to manage and provides a secure place to communicate information about the children with the other parent.
Information Bank – The information bank is a place where both parents can input information such as medical or school information.
Notification Alerts – You can customize Our Family Wizard to provide notification alerts when the other parent posts to the account by adding or updating information. As an added convenience, Our Family Wizard even has an app for your smart phone allowing you to access your children’s information wherever you may be.

From a legal standpoint, programs like Our Family Wizard can be an invaluable resource for documenting events as they occur. Since all entries are date and time-stamped, this forum allows the Court to eliminate the “he said, she said.” With the detailed information from the website, there is no debate as to what, when or how the parents communicated.

Another benefit to using an online co-parenting program is that parents tend to be more civil in their communications. Just knowing that your ex’s attorney or even the Judge may read your communications is a great incentive to communicate clearly, concisely, and civilly.

While co-parenting during a separation or after a divorce is challenging under even the best of circumstances, web-based programs can be a great a solution to help simplify a complicated family situation.

If you have questions about a child custody or support issue, we’re here to help. Schedule a confidential consultation with an experienced family law attorney.

Tips for the Holidays When You’re Considering Divorce

Posted by Kathleen Shaul on December 5, 2012

Most people considering divorce tend to postpone filing until after the holidays to lessen the disruption on the family. While this makes for a more pleasant holiday on the surface, the internal stress can be overwhelming. Getting a divorce is a big life change and even if you are postponing filing for divorce until after the holidays, there are steps you should take now to make the process smoother. Continue reading “Tips for the Holidays When You’re Considering Divorce” →

8 Factors in Determining Child Custody in Missouri

Posted by Kathleen Shaul on November 26, 2012

As should be the case when parents are separating or divorcing, it is public policy in Missouri that frequent, continuing, and meaningful contact with both parents is in the best interests of the child.

Both parents are encouraged to participate in decisions affecting the health, education and welfare of their children. As a result, it is generally difficult to obtain sole legal custody or sole physical custody today. The evidence must be overwhelmingly in favor of one parent for such an award; however, all parents facing a custody battle should be aware of the factors the Court will look at in making a custody determination.

Factors the Court Will Consider in Awarding Child Custody:

The wishes of both parents;
The child’s need for a frequent, continuing and meaningful relationship with both parents, and the ability and willingness of each parent to perform their functions as parents;
The relationship of the child with parents, siblings, and any other significant person;
Which parent is more likely to allow the child frequent, continuing and meaningful contact with the other parent;
The child’s adjustment to the child’s home, school, and community;
The mental and physical health of all individuals involved, including any history of abuse of any individuals involved;
The intention of either parent to relocate the residence of the child; and
The wishes of the child as to the child’s custodian.

The Court can also look at other factors, including: home environment, stability, parenting skills, moral fitness, adultery and sexual misconduct, cohabitation, drug and alcohol abuse, attempted alienation of the child, and religious beliefs. Courts will not look at a parent’s religious beliefs without a very good reason and only when there is a concern for the best interests of the child.

Five Types of Custody Awards in Missouri:

Joint physical and joint legal custody to both parents;
Joint physical custody with one party granted sole legal custody;
Joint legal custody with one party granted sole physical custody;
Sole physical and sole legal custody to either parent; and
Third-party custody or visitation.

Joint legal custody means that both parents make decisions about the health, education, and welfare, and that the parents consult with one another with regard to those decisions.

Sole legal custody means that one parent makes the decisions about health, education, and welfare. The parent without legal custody is still consulted about those decisions and still has access to all of the child’s records and information including medical, dental and school records.

Joint physical custody means that each parent has significant, but not necessarily equal, time with the child. The child has frequent, continuing and meaningful contact with both parents.

Sole physical custody means that the child lives with one parent. The other parent may have reasonable visitation rights which may or may not be supervised.

Third-party custody means that custody is awarded to someone other than the parents. For the Court to do this, both parents must be unfit or unable to care for the children.

Grandparent Visitation

Parents aren’t the only ones who can obtain custody or visitation rights in Missouri. The Court may also grant reasonable visitation rights to the grandparents under the following circumstances:

When the parents of the child have filed for a divorce, grandparents have the right to intervene (be a party) in the case with regard to visitation;
One parent of the child is deceased and the surviving parent denies reasonable visitation to the parent of the deceased parent of the child;
The child has resided in the grandparent’s home for at least 6 months within the previous 24 month period;
A grandparent is unreasonably denied visitation with the child for a period exceeding 90 days, unless the natural parents are legally married to each other and are living together with the child. In this case, the grandparent may not file for visitation; or
The child is adopted by a stepparent, another grandparent, or another blood relative.

If you still have questions about child custody in Missouri or would like more information on how you can obtain custody or visitation rights, contact us today to set up a confidential consultation with one of our child custody attorneys.

When Does Child Support End?

Posted by Kathleen Shaul on November 20, 2012

Most people know that child support usually ends somewhere around the child’s 18^th birthday but are a little unclear as to exactly when or how it should end. While every situation is unique, we’ve put together the following guidelines to help clear up the confusion of when child support ends.

From a legal standpoint, the question is answered by the Revised Statutes of Missouri §452.340.5:

If when a child reaches age eighteen, the child is enrolled in and attending a secondary school program of instruction, the parental support obligation shall continue, if the child continues to attend and progresses toward completion of said program, until the child completes such program or reaches age twenty-one, whichever first occurs.

Continue reading “When Does Child Support End?” →