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FAMILY LAW & CONTESTED DIVORCE
If you have any other questions or would like to discuss your individual case further, please contact me directly at anytime.
FAMILY LAW FAQ
Is my divorce uncontested?
For a divorce to be uncontested, you and your spouse must have an agreed upon disposition for all issues that are addressed in a dissolution case, including, but not limited to:
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No. I have handled cases for clients that live all around Missouri - from Columbia to Mexico, Missouri to Springfield to Cape Girardeau. Believe it or not, I have never seen some of the clients that use my services for their uncontested divorce. We have been able to complete their entire divorce through email, phone, and mail. So long as one spouse has lived in Missouri for the past 90 days, we can file your divorce in any Missouri county that we want. I file all of my uncontested divorces in St. Louis County to keep my costs low, which allows me to keep your costs low.
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It depends, but I take great pride in getting the divorce started and finished as quickly as possible. Missouri has a mandatory 30-day waiting period between the filing of the Petition and the finalizing of the divorce. Many of the uncontested divorces I handle are complete shortly after the 30-day waiting period is over. I submit your case to the Judge as soon as possible after the waiting period lapses, usually on the 31st day after the filing of the Petition. At that point, the Judge reviews the file and signs the Judgment if he or she see no issues. Once the Judgment has been signed by the Judge, you are legally divorced. If you are planning to re-marry after the divorce, you will need to wait 30-days after the divorce is final to do so. With flat fee pricing, I have no motivation to drag out your case, we both share the objective of getting your case completed correctly and as effeciently as possible.
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To begin your uncontested divorce, your first step will be to contact me for a price quote. Your price will likely be exactly what is provided here on my website, but in some cases, the particularities may warrant small increases in the fee. Once you have agreed on the fee, you will need to provide the information I need to complete the dissolution paperwork. This includes some personal information - names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers, etc. - as well as a list of the property we will be dividing in the divorce, and some basic information about your income and expenses. This can all be done through email, over the phone, or, as most of my clients prefer, in a sit-down consultation. Once I have the information from you, I draft the pleadings as soon thereafter as possible. There are times when previously scheduled court appearances, trials, and appointments can slow me down a bit, but I generally have the paperwork ready for review within one week from being hired. Once the paperwork is complete I email it to you, my client, for review. You can then review it with your spouse to make sure it is accurate and reflects the agreement you two previously came to. If everything looks good, we are ready to proceed with obtaining signatures from the parties and filing the case with the court. Once filed, your work is pretty much complete, and I take it from there.
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Generally, $500-$750 depending on if children are involved. Please see my Fee Schedules for more details. Every case is different and to obtain your exact price quote please call or email and we can discuss the pricing based on the specific details of your case.
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There will be a $140 filing fee due to the court. If there are children involved, each parent must take a mandatory one-time parenting class which costs $50 per parent. In the event that you do not know where your spouse is, and we can only get proper service through publication, there is a $200 publication fee due to the newspaper.
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I am asked this question by every new client - the fact is, most people never want to appear in court if they don't have to. If your uncontested divorce does not involve children, it is almost certain that no court appearance will be required. In fact, in over three years as a solo-practitioner, I have never had a client need to appear in court when there were not children involved. Even if children are involved, it is very unlikely that a court appearance will be required. In that same three-year time period, I have had two clients that were required to appear for their uncontested divorce with children, and those cases had unique factors most cases will not have.
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No. An attorney can only represent one party. Even if an uncontested situation, where the parties have already figured everything out between themselves, there is not a situation where I can represent both parties. That does not necessarily mean, however, that there must be an attorney on the other side. In about 99% of my divorces I am the only attorney on the case.
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Yes. I handle divorces where there is a missing spouse. If, after making a good-faith effort to locate them, your spouse is still missing, we can obtain service on them with service by publication. This will increase your expenses - as the publication fee paid to the newspaper is $200 - and wil also increase the time it takes to obtain your divorce. When using service by publication, we have to wait for the ad to be approved by the court, followed by an extended waiting period of 45 days (opposed to the normal 30 day waiting period), followed by the time it takes to get a court date for the default hearing. There is also a fee associated with the default hearing, if required.
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That's your call, but I will say I have many, many clients who come to me for a divorce after their spouse tried, and gave up, handling the divorce themselves. Once you've completed the hundred someodd pages of pro se paperwork required to file the divorce, you still need to navigate the case through the courts. You will need to file the petition, your spouse must file a waiver, you'll need to get a court date, etc. This is generally not an intuitive process, and the complexities lead some people to abandon the case, forfeiting their filing fee and wasting their time.
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FAMILY LAW FAQ
- How is property distribution determined by the court?
- How are 401ks, IRAs, pensions and other retirement accounts divided?
- How does the court determine child custody issues?
- How much child support will be paid in my case?
- What do I do if I'm not sure I'm the dad?
- How much are attorney fees for an contested family law matters?
- What other costs are associated with a contested family law matter?
- Will I be required to appear in court?
*** MISSOURI FAMILY LAW FAQ ***
Is my divorce uncontested?For a divorce to be uncontested, you and your spouse must have an agreed upon disposition for all issues that are addressed in a dissolution case, including, but not limited to:
+ Who takes what property
+ Who will be responsible for what debt
+ How debts will be refinanced, if necessary
+ Will one party be responsible for paying the other maintenance, and, if so, how much and for how long
+ All child custody arrangements, including visitation, holiday visitations schedules, vacations, etc.
+ All child support arrangements, including who will child support, how much child support will be paid (if any), who will cover the children's health insurance, how daycare expenses will be paid, who will claim the children as dependents for tax purposes, how will college expenses be paid, etc.
+ Even who will pay the court costs
As you can see, everything must be agreed upon for your divorce to be considered uncontested.
+ Who will be responsible for what debt
+ How debts will be refinanced, if necessary
+ Will one party be responsible for paying the other maintenance, and, if so, how much and for how long
+ All child custody arrangements, including visitation, holiday visitations schedules, vacations, etc.
+ All child support arrangements, including who will child support, how much child support will be paid (if any), who will cover the children's health insurance, how daycare expenses will be paid, who will claim the children as dependents for tax purposes, how will college expenses be paid, etc.
+ Even who will pay the court costs
Do I have to live in St. Louis to use your services?
No. I have handled cases for clients that live all around Missouri - from Columbia to Mexico, Missouri to Springfield to Cape Girardeau. Believe it or not, I have never seen some of the clients that use my services for their uncontested divorce. We have been able to complete their entire divorce through email, phone, and mail. So long as one spouse has lived in Missouri for the past 90 days, we can file your divorce in any Missouri county that we want. I file all of my uncontested divorces in St. Louis County to keep my costs low, which allows me to keep your costs low.
How long will my uncontested divorce take?
It depends, but I take great pride in getting the divorce started and finished as quickly as possible. Missouri has a mandatory 30-day waiting period between the filing of the Petition and the finalizing of the divorce. Many of the uncontested divorces I handle are complete shortly after the 30-day waiting period is over. I submit your case to the Judge as soon as possible after the waiting period lapses, usually on the 31st day after the filing of the Petition. At that point, the Judge reviews the file and signs the Judgment if he or she see no issues. Once the Judgment has been signed by the Judge, you are legally divorced. If you are planning to re-marry after the divorce, you will need to wait 30-days after the divorce is final to do so. With flat fee pricing, I have no motivation to drag out your case, we both share the objective of getting your case completed correctly and as effeciently as possible.
What is the process to get started?
To begin your uncontested divorce, your first step will be to contact me for a price quote. Your price will likely be exactly what is provided here on my website, but in some cases, the particularities may warrant small increases in the fee. Once you have agreed on the fee, you will need to provide the information I need to complete the dissolution paperwork. This includes some personal information - names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers, etc. - as well as a list of the property we will be dividing in the divorce, and some basic information about your income and expenses. This can all be done through email, over the phone, or, as most of my clients prefer, in a sit-down consultation. Once I have the information from you, I draft the pleadings as soon thereafter as possible. There are times when previously scheduled court appearances, trials, and appointments can slow me down a bit, but I generally have the paperwork ready for review within one week from being hired. Once the paperwork is complete I email it to you, my client, for review. You can then review it with your spouse to make sure it is accurate and reflects the agreement you two previously came to. If everything looks good, we are ready to proceed with obtaining signatures from the parties and filing the case with the court. Once filed, your work is pretty much complete, and I take it from there.
How much are attorney fees for an uncontested divorce?
Generally, $500-$750 depending on if children are involved. Please see my Fee Schedules for more details. Every case is different and to obtain your exact price quote please call or email and we can discuss the pricing based on the specific details of your case.
What other costs are associated with the uncontested divorce?
There will be a $140 filing fee due to the court. If there are children involved, each parent must take a mandatory one-time parenting class which costs $50 per parent. In the event that you do not know where your spouse is, and we can only get proper service through publication, there is a $200 publication fee due to the newspaper.
Will I be required to appear in court?
I am asked this question by every new client - the fact is, most people never want to appear in court if they don't have to. If your uncontested divorce does not involve children, it is almost certain that no court appearance will be required. In fact, in over three years as a solo-practitioner, I have never had a client need to appear in court when there were not children involved. Even if children are involved, it is very unlikely that a court appearance will be required. In that same three-year time period, I have had two clients that were required to appear for their uncontested divorce with children, and those cases had unique factors most cases will not have.
Are you representing both parties?
No. An attorney can only represent one party. Even if an uncontested situation, where the parties have already figured everything out between themselves, there is not a situation where I can represent both parties. That does not necessarily mean, however, that there must be an attorney on the other side. In about 99% of my divorces I am the only attorney on the case.
I don't know where my spouse is, can I still use your services?
Yes. I handle divorces where there is a missing spouse. If, after making a good-faith effort to locate them, your spouse is still missing, we can obtain service on them with service by publication. This will increase your expenses - as the publication fee paid to the newspaper is $200 - and wil also increase the time it takes to obtain your divorce. When using service by publication, we have to wait for the ad to be approved by the court, followed by an extended waiting period of 45 days (opposed to the normal 30 day waiting period), followed by the time it takes to get a court date for the default hearing. There is also a fee associated with the default hearing, if required.
I downloaded the forms, should I just do this myself?
That's your call, but I will say I have many, many clients who come to me for a divorce after their spouse tried, and gave up, handling the divorce themselves. Once you've completed the hundred someodd pages of pro se paperwork required to file the divorce, you still need to navigate the case through the courts. You will need to file the petition, your spouse must file a waiver, you'll need to get a court date, etc. This is generally not an intuitive process, and the complexities lead some people to abandon the case, forfeiting their filing fee and wasting their time.
