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Missouri's equal parenting time presumption · Family Law Talk

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Family Law Talk. Family Law Talk presented by
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  Kirk Stangy of Stangy Law Firm DC. Stangy Law Firm
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  is a multi state.
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  Speaker 2: Family law firm.
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  Speaker 1: Now here's your host, Kirk Stangy.
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  Speaker 2: Welcome to Family Law Talk. We have an interesting topic today.
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  The topic is Missouri's equal parenting time presumption. In this
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  episode today is based on an article on our blog
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  dated May sixth, twenty twenty four, and the title of
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  that article is Missouri makes equal parenting time a rebuttable presumption.
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  So as a follow up to the episode today, go
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  on over to Familylaw Headquarters dot com and read this
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  article for more information. But let's go ahead and jump
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  into the topic at hand today, and the topic is
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  an important one for folks who are in the state
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  of Missouri and going through a divorce or child custody matter.
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  It's a very important topic to change in Missouri in
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  many ways, and I would say, as a lawyer, a
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  pretty big change in the scheme of things. It's not
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  that often that we get new statutes passed that make
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  changes in terms of child custody. It's pretty uncommon. So
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  this was a pretty pretty big event in Missouri. And
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  now you know, when we're talking about is Senate Bill
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  thirty five, which was legislation that passed in the state
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  of Missouri and twenty twenty three, and it went into
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  effect in Missouri on August twenty eighth of last year,
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  twenty twenty three. So it's in effect now, but it
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  hasn't been in effect for even a year. So lots
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  of folks know little about this. They don't understand it
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  and how this could make a difference in terms of
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  their case. Some folks are just unfamiliar with it in
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  terms of how it works. And when we talk about
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  the idea of a rebuttable presumption, most folks don't even
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  know what that term means. It sounds like a lot
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  of legalese to the average individual going through divorce or
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  FAMA law matter, and they might be confused in terms
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  of how this works what it means for them. And
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  so that's what we're going to try to cover today. Okay,
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  So this new law went in effect and it put
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  into play what is known as a rebuttable presumption, and
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  the rebuttable presumption in essence states this that equal or
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  approximately equal parenting time for each parent is in the
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  child's best interest. The new law also urges courts at
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  the outset of a case to enter a temporary parenting
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  plan as soon as possible to ensure that both parents
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  are able to participate in cussy decisions, and to ensure
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  that both parents have frequent, continuing, in meaningful contact with
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  their children. Okay, And so when we talk about the
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  idea of a rebuttable presumption, what we're really talking about
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  is a starting point. Okay. So as a starting point
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  in Missouri, under this new law, when a divorced or
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  custy case comes before a judge is a starting point.
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  A judge is supposed to begin in mind with equal
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  or approximately equal parenting time. Obviously, most folks know what
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  equal means. I mean equal would generally mean a fifty
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  to fifty custody plan, but obviously roughly equal or approximately
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  equal could mean not necessarily fifty to fifty, but something
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  close to it. So in the state of Missouri, now
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  judges are to begin a case with the idea that
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  fifty to fifty or something close to that is going
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  to be the presumption of the state of Missouri. And
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  so then what individuals are able to do is this,
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  if they don't think equal or roughly equal parenting time
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  or approximately equal parenting time is in the best interest
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  to the kids. Then a party is able to present
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  evidence before the family court to explain why equal or
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  approximately equal parenting time is not in the child's best interest.
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  So they can present this evidence before the court to
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  try to overcome the presumption. But it's not easy. Okay. Now, look,
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  if parties agree to not do a fifty to fifty
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  cost a plan or something close to it, then judges
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  will automatically in most instances say that presumption has been overcome.
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  If there's cases where there's domestic violence that's out there,
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  or a pattern of domestic violence, then maybe the presumption
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  could become more easily. But I mean not typically just
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  an isolated incident. We're talking to pattern and repeated pattern
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  and maybe a worry that there could be domestic violence
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  in the future. But in these circumstances, then the presumption
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  could be overcome. And then in other circumstances if there's evidence,
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  if there's facts to justify it. But look, the truth is,
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  under this new law, it's not going to be easy
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  for litigants to overcome this presumption. Right, So a lot
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  of individuals should assume it's going to be hard, it's
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  going to be difficult, and a lot of the typical
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  run of the mill stuff, or where maybe parties aren't
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  getting along, where maybe there is situations where one party
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  doesn't think it's viable to do equal roughly equal parenting time.
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  In most instances, that's not going to be enough to
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  overcome the presumption. I mean, typically under this new law,
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  courts are going to need something more than the usual.
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  They're going to need something unusual, They're going to need
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  something out of the scheme of what they typically ordinarily see.
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  And so moving into the future, and since the onset
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  of this law, individuals going through divorce or family law
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  matters in the state of Missouri where CUSSI is at
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  issue need to know now that equal parenting time or
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  roughly equal parenting time is the presumption, and in most
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  cases that's what judges are going to order under this
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  new statute. So this was a big change in a
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  lot of ways, you know. Having said that, I think
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  for a period of time, even before the statutes came
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  into play, lots of judges were leaning toward fifty to
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  fifty cussy Missouri anyway, and to me, this was very
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  different from when I first began practicing law, dating back
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  to two thousand, where in those days, it seemed like
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  one parent would have most of the custody time and
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  the other parent would have every other weekend, maybe a
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  night during the week, and some extra summer and holiday time.
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  This is called a Siaganthaler parenting plan. So when I
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  first began practicing, this is what was very common, was
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  a Siaganthaler parenting plan of every other weekend and some
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  extra time. But ano this new statute, obviously it's a
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  different ballgame now. Now courts start with equal or roughly
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  equal parenting time. And so, you know, lots of individuals
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  would applaud this new statute and think it's a wonderful thing. Obviously,
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  you know there's some individuals who might not like it
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  and might have liked the way it was before. But
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  this is the law in the state of Missouri now,
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  and it's really made it such that, you know, all
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  courts have to abide by the statute, and if they're
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  not going to do equal parenting time or something close
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  to it, they have to have evidence to rebut the presumption. Now,
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  another change in the statute Which is interesting is this,
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  which is when you get into the kid's wishes or
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  the child's witnesses, the new law requires that the court
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  now consider the child's unobstructed input, free of coercion and manipulation,
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  as to his or her custodial arrangement. And this new
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  language is a change from the prior language that only
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  required that the court make findings is that the child's
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  wishes and so some language in here which was important,
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  and really the idea behind it is kids shouldn't be pressured.
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  Kids shouldn't have their parents lobbying them in order to
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  try to get them to say they want to live
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  with their mom, but they want to live with their
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  dad or something like that. But courts have to do
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  this now. So this was an interesting change as well.
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  Now a lot of individuals in terms of this new
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  statute might ask why was the statute pasted anyway? You know,
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  why was it such a big deal? You know, what's
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  the background facts that really pushed Missouri to enact as
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  new law. Well, I would just say out of the gates.
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  You know, this has been a movement that's been kind
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  of going nationwide for a wildnile and so more and
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  more states moving in this direction, the idea that kids
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  need to have equal access to both parents, and that
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  if kids have access to both parents, that they're going
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  to be happier, healthier, and they're going to be more
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  emotionally regulated when they go into adulthood and happier and
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  all these different things. Whereas if a child is only
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  seeing one parent most of the time and the other
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  parents just a little bit, that this causes kids stress
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  and worry, and it can cause anger and then problems
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  into adulthood that could lead to all sorts of things,
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  including criminal problems and whatnot. So there's some psychological research
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  which is really kind of pushed this and back this,
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  and this is contrary in a way to prior research
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  that indicated that kids should live in one home and
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  the kids don't want to go back and forth with
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  suitcases and this kind of thing. They need one bedroom,
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  one predominant home. I mean, this was kind of the
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  train of thought when I first started practicing, at least
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  a prevailing train of thought when I first started practicing
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  back in two thousand. But the new research shows kids
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  better to have equal access to both parents. And look,
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  some of the other background info on this is this,
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  which is, you know, when a divorce or family law
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  case begins, and front married parents were talking paternity cases,
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  oftentimes there's no temporary custody order and play, so it's
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  kind of a free for all. And what would happen
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  in a lot of instances is, you know, one parent
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  would have the child and the other parent would be
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  getting no access or maybe minimal access, and then they'd
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  have to try to come to court and get a
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  temporary custody motion heard. In Missouri we call these pedente
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  light motions, and the concern was that it could take
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  weeks months to have these motions heard on busy court
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  dockets with lots of litigants. And then you know, one
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  parent would be denied a lot of visitation with their child,
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  and so then the child's growing and getting older. But
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  then there's really a pattern where the child's living in
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  one home more than the other, and then the child
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  has denied access to their other parent. And again, the
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  viewpoint of most individuals was that, look, the child would
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  be with the mom when these cases begin, and the
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  dad would beginning minimal time. And I think a lot
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  of this caused a lot of upsetness from fathers and
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  groups that advocate for fathers that fathers were kind of
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  getting the short end of the stick at the beginning
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  of these cases just because dockets are so clogged up.
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  So this new statude really encourages courts to put something
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  temporary in play right out of the gates that's equal
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  or close to equal parenting time. That way, a child
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  is able to spend time with both parents. Another instance
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  where I would really see this happen when I first
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  started practicing too, was with infants. So with infants there
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  was often a viewpoint with breastfeeding and babies they needed
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  to be with the mom more. And so what I
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  would see a lot of is dad's not getting overtime
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  overnight visits, I should say, for a substantial period of
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  time into the child got old enough to where they
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  weren't being breast fed and they were kind of past infancy,
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  and then the child would gradually get to spend more
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  and more time with fathers. But lots of fathers very
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  upset about this, lots of groups that advocate for fathers
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  very upset about this, and the viewpoint. Again, I'm not
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  taking sides, I'm just trying to give you the argument objectively,
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  but the viewpoint was that dads were getting denied a
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  lot of time with their young children and weren't really
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  getting time into the children grew a little bit older,
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  but then the pattern was developed with the childs basically
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  living with the mom most of the time. So lots
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  of dads very upset by this. Obviously, you know, there's
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  some individuals and groups out there that still think children
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  should be predominantly in one home and that children should
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  be nurtured more by the mother when they're an infant
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  or whatnot. But father's rights groups, if you will, really
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  advocating for equal or roughly equal parenting time out of
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  the gates and indicating that their belief is that this
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  is better for children out of the gates to have
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  equal or roughly parenting time with both parents. So ultimately,
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  again you can analyze this however you wish, but the
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  truth is this new law sent it built thirty five
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  passed in Missouri, and it passed easily, I should say,
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  it was signed into law by the governor. It's now
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  the rebuttable presumption of the state of Missouri. So it's
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  definitely something individuals want to know when they're going through
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  a divorce of family law matter because it really has
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  change the landscape in a lot of ways. All right,
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  well that's the topic today. As a follow up, go
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  on over to Familylawheadquarters dot com read the article titled
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  Missouri makes equal parenting time a rebuttable presumption and that'll
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  give you more information on this topic. But thanks for
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  tuning in today, stay tuned or our next episode coming up.
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  Thank you very much.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Family Law Talk with Kirk Stangy.
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