If My Ex Remarries Does That Affect Child Support or Maintenance?

When people move on with their lives after a divorce and remarry, there can be some significant financial changes that may impact the previous spouse as well.   How it impacts you depends, more than anything, on whether there is a court order for maintenance (formerly alimony) or child support, or both. Marriage & Maintenance If...

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WHO HAS TO PAY CHILD SUPPORT AFTER A DIVORCE IN MISSOURI?

Divorce is hard on children, they shouldn't have to worry about money. The kids may worry about where they will live and if they will have to change schools. They may fear that their parents' divorce will impact the love and support they receive and the time they get to spend with their loved ones....

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WHAT TYPES OF CUSTODY PLANS ARE AVAILABLE IN MISSOURI?

On October 11, 2018, the Music Modernization Act (H.R. 1551) or MMA was signed into law. Child custody determinations are very important to parents and kids alike. While many child custody cases arrive in court pursuant to divorces and separations, others require judicial intervention at different times in the lives of the parties. Whenever a...

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WHO WILL BE AFFECTED BY ST LOUIS COUNTY PROSECUTOR WESLEY BELL’S NEW CHILD SUPPORT POLICY AND WHAT CAN YOU DO?

When Wesley Bell became prosecutor of St Louis County several weeks ago, he stated that one of his new policy changes is that the St Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's office would no longer criminally charge people if they fail to pay child support. His reason for this is that the non-paying parent is not making...

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WHAT CAN REGULAR PEOPLE LEARN FROM THE ANGELINA JOLIE/BRAD PITT DIVORCE?

I am not particularly interested in the Jolie/Pitt divorce from a celebrity standpoint, but as a divorce attorney the ups and downs and drama is something that I see with some of my own clients, just on a much larger (and far more expensive) scale. Interestingly enough, the resolutions are not all that different than...

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Should You Get a Divorce Now or Later?

Lawyers and accountants often push their clients to plan for unpleasant events. Better to be prepared now than to pay the consequences later. But the Republican tax law that took effect in January has added a new urgency for wealthy Americans contemplating divorce. Several key changes in the law may determine whether it is better...

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Understanding the Missouri Child Support Payment system

I get calls from clients (and former clients) saying that they have not received their child support payment, or that they don't know how to find out if they are up to date on child support payments. Often I can find the answer to their question very quickly by logging onto Missouri's Department of Social...

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Sports Parents and Shared Custody

As if it isn’t challenging enough to co-parent with your Ex, if you have a child or children that play sports it can make it even harder. For parents sharing custody of children, navigating your parenting arrangement with youth sports almost represents a microcosm of all the issues that can come up in co=parenting. Decision…

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Nesting: Is It the Best Arrangement for the Kids?

The following article is from the NY Times, about a concept called "nesting".  I have had some clients try it and to be honest, it didn't seem like it worked well for anything but a very temporary basis.  Nesting started in cities like New York, where real estate is SO expensive that divorcing parents couldn't...

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“MY DIVORCE IS UNCONTESTED”, OR IS IT?

Most everyone probably has heard that an uncontested divorce can save people a ton of time, money and aggravation, so it is usually the goal of at least one of the parties to the divorce. Because of that, many people call me and tell me that they need to hire me to do a non-contested...

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