Missouri Divorce Law Editorials
A series of fascinating writings addressing all things Missouri divorce.
Articles
- What is an Uncontested Divorce?
- Divorce Timeline: Uncontested vs. Contested
- Filing for Divorce without an Attorney
- Legal Separation vs. Divorce
- Same-Sex Divorce in Missouri
- Missouri Divorce in a Nutshell: Price, Pleadings, and Process
- Cheap Divorce? Depends How You Go About It
- Do I Have to Pay Alimony? A Discussion on Maintenance
- Missouri Uncontested Divorce Timeline
- The Divorce Lawyer's Role in an Uncontested Divorce Case
- Comparing Advantages and Disadvantages of Uncontested vs. Contested Divorce
- Missouri Uncontested Divorce Timeline [infographic]
- Getting a Divorce When Your Spouse is in Jail
- Is Your Divorce Truly Uncontested?
- Can I Get an Annulment Instead of a Divorce?
- Steps to Take When You Are Ready to Start Your Uncontested Divorce
- Can I Get my Spouse to Pay for Part of an Uncontested Divorce?
- Service of Process in an Uncontested Divorce
- Online Uncontested Divorce: Fact or Fiction?
- Getting a Divorce When Your Spouse is Missing
- Need for Speed: Realistic Expectations for Finalizing a Divorce
If you've spent some time on this website, you know that Linnenbringer Law is a big proponent of uncontested, amicable divorce. When parties are able to put their feelings to the side and handle the dissolution of their marriage in a professional, rational manner, they allow themselves the opportunity to mitigate the financial and emotional trauma that can come from a traditional, contested case. In this article, I explain exactly what an uncontested divorce is, and what needs to be agreed-upon in order for your case to be considered uncontested (spoiler alert: everything).
One of the many benefits of an uncontested divorce is how quickly the process moves. Where it is not uncommon for contested divorce cases to drag on for a year or more, an uncontested divorce can be completed in just over thirty days, provided everyone is cooperating and moving at a prompt pace through the process. This article provides general timelines for both contested and uncontested divorce cases.
Filing for divorce without an attorney is easy. The hard part is correctly filing for divorce without an attorney so that you do not waste your time, energy, and filing fee on a self‑represented (pro se) divorce that does not conform with legal standards. I have seen many individuals lose multiple filing fees on pro se divorces before eventually throwing in the towel and hiring me to complete their uncontested divorce in a fast, affordable manner. This article outlines the benefits and potential pitfalls of filing your divorce without the assistance of a lawyer.
There is a common misconception that legal separation is an "easier" case than a divorce. I often have individuals call and say that instead of going through a divorce, they "just" want to get a legal separation. Unfortunately, the same issues that must be resolved in a divorce must also be resolved in a legal separation. The cases do not differ in difficulty, nor is there any difference in what needs to be resolved with regards to property distribution, child custody/support, etc. In this article, I dive into what makes legal separation and divorce different, as well as the most common reasons spouses may choose to pursue a legal separation over a divorce.
The 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling recognized that same-sex couples have the same rights as everyone else - namely, the right to marry, and the right to take advantage of Linnenbringer Law's flat-fee uncontested divorce service. Since the landmark decision, my office has completed roughly twenty same-sex divorces. This article provides some background on same-sex marriages and same-sex divorce, as well as how the same-sex divorce process works (it's a lot like the process for non-same-sex divorces).
This article provides a fairly comprehensive rundown on Missouri divorce law, procedure, pleadings, and price. While the title indicates the information presented in this writing is in a nutshell, the nutshell is pretty big and filled with details and legal terminology that you may run across as you proceed with your divorce. This is one of the few articles that barely touches on Linnenbringer Law's forte - uncontested divorce - and more focuses on the steps involved in moving a contested case through the courts.
Everyone wants a cheap divorce, and I don't blame them. The trouble is that "cheap" and "inexpensive" are not the same thing - the do-it-yourself filing that gets dismissed twice and the $99 online form mill have a way of costing more than doing it correctly the first time. In this article, I compare the common budget routes to divorce, explain where each tends to go sideways, and make the case that the single biggest factor in what your divorce costs isn't the paperwork at all - it's whether you and your spouse can reach an agreement.
Possibly, but not necessarily. Maintenance - otherwise known as alimony or spousal support - is one of the most misunderstood corners of Missouri divorce law, starting with the widespread belief that it's automatic. It isn't. This article covers when maintenance is actually awarded, the factors a Judge considers in a contested case, and how uncontested cases handle it instead - which is to say, however you and your spouse agree to handle it, up to and including waiving it entirely, as the majority of my clients do.
Most of my uncontested divorce cases are finalized in 45 to 60 days, give or take, and this article accounts for every one of those days. From the day you first reach out, through rough drafts (two to three days), revisions (24 hours), signatures, filing, and the mandatory 30-day waiting period, all the way to the Judge entering the Judgment - a day-by-day walkthrough of exactly what happens, when, and which parts of the timeline are in your control.
If you and your spouse have already agreed on everything, what exactly is the lawyer for? Quite a bit, as it turns out - though it's a different job than the one most people picture. In this article, I explain what I actually do in an uncontested case (high-quality pleadings, filing, and shepherding the case to Judgment), what I deliberately don't do (evaluate your agreement as to fairness, or represent both spouses), and why that narrow role is precisely what makes the flat fee possible.
An admittedly biased comparison, argued honestly. I run an uncontested divorce practice, so you can guess where this article lands - but I go through the categories fairly: cost, time, privacy, control, and stress, along with the genuine disadvantages of the uncontested route and the situations where a contested divorce isn't just an option but the correct one. If you're deciding which kind of case you have, start here.
The uncontested divorce timeline again, this time for visual learners. The entire process - intake, rough drafts, signatures, filing, the mandatory 30-day waiting period, and the Judgment - laid out Day 1 through Day 60 or so in convenient box-and-arrow form, with footnotes covering the parts of the timeline nobody (including me) can speed up.
Incarcerated doesn't mean unavailable. A spouse in jail or prison can still sign uncontested divorce paperwork - correctional facilities have notaries, and the mail runs in both directions - which means the case can proceed as a fairly normal uncontested divorce with some extra postage. This article covers the cooperative incarcerated spouse, the uncooperative one, and the practical details (inmate numbers, facility addresses, realistic timelines) that keep the process moving.
Often times potential clients are under the impression that if both parties want the divorce, then the case is uncontested. While a mutual desire to divorce is an essential requirement, it's really only the tip of the iceberg. In this article, I go through what must actually be agreed upon for a case to be truly uncontested - which is to say, everything - along with the "ready, willing and able to sign" test I give every caller, and some advice for couples who are close to a full agreement but not quite there.
Probably not, and that's probably fine. An annulment - what Missouri law calls a declaration of invalidity of marriage - isn't a faster way out of a marriage; it's a finding that the marriage was never valid to begin with, and the qualifying grounds are rare. This article covers what those grounds are, why the "we've only been married three months" theory doesn't work, and why the people asking about annulments are usually ideal candidates for the fastest, simplest version of an uncontested divorce.
You've made the decision and you're ready to get moving - this article is the to-do list for that moment. Five steps, none of them difficult: confirm the agreement is actually complete, gather your information, choose between the online submission and the intake packet, review and sign the drafts, and then step five, which is my favorite: there is no step five. I take it from there.
Sure, if they're agreeable - couples split the cost of their uncontested divorce all the time, in every configuration you can imagine. This article covers how the cost-sharing usually works, the important clarification that who pays has nothing to do with who I represent, and the answer to the follow-up question about making a spouse pay involuntarily (short version: that's a contested-divorce remedy, and a sign you may not have an uncontested case).
A divorce is, technically speaking, a lawsuit, and lawsuits normally require the other party to be formally served - sheriff's deputy, papers in hand, the whole unpleasant production. The good news: in an uncontested divorce, that almost never happens. This article explains what service of process is, how the Entry of Appearance lets your spouse waive it entirely, and what the options are for the reluctant spouse or the missing one.
Kind of. "Online divorce" describes two very different products that happen to share a name: the national form-filling websites that leave you representing yourself, and an actual Missouri attorney handling your case by email, phone, and mail - something my office has done since 2013, to the tune of 300 to 400 cases per year. This article explains the difference, and offers a few questions that will tell you within a minute which kind of "online divorce" you're looking at.
Missouri law does not require you to stay married to someone you can't find - it just requires some extra hoops on the way out. This article is an overview of divorce by publication: the diligent search that comes first (which, more often than you'd think, actually finds the spouse), the four weeks of published notice in a newspaper nobody reads, what a court can and can't grant when a spouse is served only by publication, and what the whole process costs and takes, start to finish.
Faster than you fear, slower than you hope. When people are ready for their divorce to be over, they are generally really ready - which makes them vulnerable to unrealistic promises about speed. This article lays out the honest arithmetic: the mandatory 30-day waiting period nobody can bypass, the parts of the timeline I control (drafts in two to three days, revisions in 24 hours), the part you control, and the part that belongs to the Judge's schedule alone. Includes a pre-answer to the panicked day-31 phone call.