Practice Area: Family Law

Divorce  •  Custody  • Child Support  •  Maintenance (Formerly Alimony)  •  Paternity
Support and Custody Modifications  •  Abuse/Neglect  •  Adoptions •  Other Family Law Matters

Missouri Child Custody Attorneys

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Custody can become an emotional issue when parents divorce. Custody can also be at issue in a paternity suit. The overriding consideration for Missouri courts when deciding custody issues is the best interests of the child, although that can be hard to determine. The family law attorneys at Hendren Andrae are experienced in dealing with sole legal custody, sole physical custody, joint legal custody, joint physical custody and all of their variations. Such legal jargon can be confusing when dealing with custody issues, which is why it is important to have an attorney that can explain the long-term effects each type of custodial arrangement will have on you and your children.

Primary physical custody means that the child will spend most of his or her time residing with one parent and the other parent will have a smaller amount of custodial time with the child. When it comes to decisions regarding education, religion, medical treatment or other major decisions in your child's life, both parents will need to cooperate to make the decision they believe is best for their child.

Sole legal custody allows one parent to make the major decisions in a child's life without that parent having to consult the other parent. When sole physical custody is awarded in conjunction with sole legal custody, the parent that does not have custody of the child (non-custodial parent) will receive visitation with the child. Visitation is so termed because it allows the non-custodial parent less time than that parent would have likely received if they had been awarded joint physical custody.

The final undefined custodial arrangement is joint physical custody. There are a wide variety of arrangements that are encompassed by joint physical custody. One parent having the children every other weekend and one night per week can be defined as joint physical custody. One parent having the children for 3 weeknights one week and 2 weeknights the next week and every other weekend can be defined as joint physical custody. One parent having the child for one full week and the other parent having the child the next full week can also be defined as joint physical custody. It really depends on what custodial arrangement will work best to foster the interests of your children. At Hendren Andrae it is always our practice to have an in-depth and candid discussion about what you think is best for your children.

To read and print a sample custody and visitation schedule:
Sample Custody/Visitation Schedule

Contact: Sara Michael

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