Best Personal Injury Lawyers in Columbia, MO

A court can grant a divorce thirty days after the other spouse has been served. Of course, the courts are not always available on day 31 to grant a divorce. Generally, a divorce granted this fast is usually done by an agreement where the spouses have worked out all their issues. Occasionally, a divorce can also be granted where the other spouse simply fails to participate which is fine in cases where there are no assets, debts, and children and people simply need to be divorced.

A person must have been a resident of the state of Missouri for at least ninety days before they can file a petition for divorce. Generally speaking, the children must have been residents of the state of Missouri for six months before the courts have jurisdiction over a child. Therefore, divorces with children are treated differently than divorces without children. We can prepare the petition and accompany documents for filing with the court in a matter of a day, assuming that we have all the information from you that we need to draft the petition and accompanying documents.

A divorce is a life-altering experience. People separating in a divorce will often experience a change in lifestyle transitioning from a two-income household to a one-income household. Life is going to be different. You need to plan accordingly. Some people will have lived separately and apart before filing for divorce. Those spouses have usually divided up many of their assets and debts. For people still living together who are contemplating divorce, the process can be more cumbersome.

We do not represent both spouses in a divorce. We can only have one client. In a divorce, there is too much risk that spouses disagree, even if the spouses initially believe they have an agreement worked out. For example, if a meeting were to occur where both spouses were present and one spouse would ask a question that is harmful to the other spouse, and that spouse would not want us to answer the question, then there is a conflict. Consequently, we do not represent both spouses. And we will not meet with both spouses. We frequently will draft all the divorce documents and settlement documents for our client. Our client can then present the proposed settlement to the other spouse for his or her review and signature. This is a method that we frequently use to resolve divorces quickly where our client believes the divorce can be resolved by an agreement. This way, we maintain our duty of loyalty to our clients. But, we also provide the service that our client needs which is to get the divorce resolved efficiently and cost-effectively.