Missouri Family Law Blog

There is a national trend going through the states right now to change current alimony laws. In Missouri we call it maintenance. These proposals, some of which have already been adopted significantly scale back a judge’s ability to award maintenance. These proposals also limit what a judge can do in each individual case. While many a lawyer has complained about the lack of direction in the current Missouri law these changes if adopted will have a significant impact, primarily on women. There are horror stories such as the case of Michael Morgan in Lehigh Acres, Florida. What we don’t know are the individual facts of that case not being reported in the media that the judge took into consideration. We also don’t know the judge or his/her philosophy in hearing that particular case. It is easy for the media or a group opposed to alimony at all to sensationalize such individual cases but much harder for them to look at the thousands of people every year that are not on welfare or living on the street because they were awarded maintenance in Missouri courts. These changes if adopted fail to recognize that every family is unique and often has different needs in the event of a divorce.
Judges and lawyers should have discretion to both craft settlement agreements and make orders that meet the needs of each individual family. The needs of every client cannot be legislated in a way that will protect and serve each person going through a divorce. There is already a presumption in the law that the person who is awarded maintenance has a duty to become self-supporting. Cohabitation language is routinely included in well drafted settlements when one spouse agrees to pay the other maintenance. Judges rarely, if ever award maintenance in situations where it is unwarranted. They already understand the consequences of ordering one party to support the other post-divorce. Perhaps more guidelines yes. Reform, no.