Christine Miller Hendrix Attorney at Law

Did You Know? If a bank account is in your name alone, your spouse does not have access to that account even while married. However, suppose the funds in that account are marital (i.e. the money in that account was earned during the marriage). In that case, the account will likely be considered marital property regardless of whether his name is on the account.

Q: Can I file for child support from the father of my child and still have the right to say I don’t want my child around him? I’m 7 months pregnant, and the father of my child is on drugs, a felon, dangerous to be around, and doesn’t have anything to do with us. We were in a relationship when he was sober and broke up due to him being on drugs and abusive. We don’t communicate, and he hasn’t been around and won’t be around or on the birth certificate. I never want my daughter... around him because he would put her in so much danger. The only thing I would want from him is child support. But would I be able to get that, and he still not be able to see her? I know I would have to obtain a paternity test first, too. I just want to make sure the court would not give him any rights to see her because he does not deserve to be a dad. Once the court recognizes him as the biological father of your child, the court will address issues of custody and visitation between the father and the child (assuming he asks for custody and/or visitation rights). I cannot guarantee that the court will not award some custodial rights to him. The law provides that it is presumed to be in the best interests of a child to have regular, frequent, and on-going contact with both parents. The court is predisposed, given the law, to provide the father some rights of custody and/or visitation. Proving to the court that the child would not be safe around the father would be more challenging than you seem to think. Before you proceed to file for child support, please schedule a consultation with an experienced family law attorney who regularly practices in the county where you reside to discuss how the judges in that county might view your case’s facts that the attorney believes can be proven. You have to weigh the risk of asking for child support because he may ask for contact with the child if you are awarded child support.

Q: Can non-biological grandparents get visitation rights in Missouri? My children's father was adopted. Could his adoptive mother seek visitation rights to my children? He and I are no longer together, and I have been awarded full custody already. In addition to not being their biological grandparent, she has never had much of a relationship with the children. Once your children's father was adopted, his adopted parents were awarded the same legal rights as biological parents. So, yes, they could file for grandparent rights if they were so inclined and meet the statute's other requirements.

Q: Am I required to pay half of the medical expenses for my 18-year-old? I am an out-of-state noncustodial parent of an 18-year-old. He has continued with post-secondary school, so I have continued paying child support, although I have received nothing from the post-secondary school or my 18-year-old. Now the custodial parent is demanding that I pay her for half of the medical expenses for our 18-year-old. Do I need to pay this bill? If your child is in a post-secondary educa...tional program, and the child support judgment was entered in Missouri, there are certain actions that your child must take to remain unemancipated. The child is supposed to provide both mother and father with specific information regarding his educational program as outlined in Missouri Revised Statute 452.340.5. If the child does not comply with a request to provide this information, you should immediately speak with an attorney about whether there is a sufficient basis for you to file a request with the Court to determine that the child is emancipated. So long as the child remains unemancipated, you will be required to pay for uncovered medical expenses as outlined in the judgment for child support. See more

Did You Know? If there is an Order of Protection issued, the Respondent is not supposed to contact the protected individual, by phone or other electronic means such as text or email, or even through third parties.