Missouri Divorce in a Nutshell: Price, Pleadings, and Process

First things first - the basics

Missouri is a no-fault divorce state. In order to get divorced, you do not need to prove that your spouse did anything wrong - you simply need to state that the marriage is irretrievably broken. In other words, the marriage is over, and there is no reasonable likelihood it can be saved. Nobody has to be the villain, and the court is not interested in assigning one.

Before a Missouri court can grant a divorce, one of the parties must have been a resident of the state for at least 90 days prior to filing. There is also the mandatory 30-day waiting period - no matter how quickly the paperwork comes together, a Judge cannot enter a Judgment until the case has been on file for at least 30 days. I can't bypass the waiting period, and neither can anyone else, so be wary of anyone who implies otherwise.

The pleadings (i.e., the paperwork)

Every divorce, contested or uncontested, runs on paperwork. The case starts with the Petition for Dissolution (basically a document laying out certain factual requirements and also telling the court you want a divorce). The person who files is the Petitioner; the other spouse is the Respondent. In a contested case, the Respondent is served with a Summons and must file an Answer. In an uncontested case, the Respondent instead signs an Entry of Appearance, which waives formal service and spares everyone the experience of a process server showing up at the door.

From there, the heavy lifting is done by the Settlement Agreement - the document dividing the assets and debts - and, if there are children, a Parenting Plan and a Form 14, which is the worksheet Missouri courts use to calculate child support. The case ends with the Judgment of Dissolution, the document signed by the Judge that officially ends the marriage. There are other filings sprinkled in along the way (a Statement of Income and Expenses, a Statement of Property, and so on), but those are the headliners.

The process

In a contested case, the process runs something like this: the Petitioner files, the Respondent is served, the Respondent answers, and then the parties head into discovery - written questions, document requests, and depositions, all designed to figure out what everyone owns, owes, and earns. Sprinkle in some motions, a settlement conference or two, and possibly a trial, and you can see why contested cases routinely take a year or more to resolve. Judges push the parties toward settlement at every opportunity, and the vast majority of contested cases do eventually settle - generally after a considerable amount of time and money has been spent.

The uncontested process skips essentially all of that. You and your spouse agree on everything up front - property, debts, custody, support, all of it - and both of you are ready, willing and able to sign the paperwork. I prepare the pleadings, everyone signs, the case is filed, the mandatory 30-day waiting period runs, and the Judge reviews and enters the Judgment. Most of my cases are finalized in 45 to 60 days, give or take, and in the vast majority of them neither party ever sets foot in a courtroom.

The price

A contested divorce is billed the traditional way: a retainer up front (often several thousand dollars), an hourly rate that chips away at it, and a refill request when it runs dry. Nobody - not even the attorney - can tell you at the outset what the total will be, because nobody knows how long the fighting will last.

An uncontested divorce with my office works differently. The attorney fee starts at $850 for cases without children and $1,050 for cases with children, quoted down to the dollar before we begin. The court's filing fee is $150, due when the case is ready to file. That's it - no retainer, no hourly billing, and no charge for revisions. No delays, no excuses, and no hidden or additional fees.

Thank you for reading. Please feel free to contact me for more information.