Belleville and Edwardsville Divorce Law Blog

Many Missouri couples might skip a prenup when they get married if they are just starting out or are still college students. Like many people, they might assume that a prenup is only for those who already have substantial assets. However, a prenup is one way to plan for the future, particularly when there is always the possibility that a couple's financial situation might significantly change.

While it might seem like negative thinking, a prenup does more than just prepare for the possibility of the end of a marriage. It can also help if one of the spouses passes away and there is the need to manage their estate. In the case of a divorce, a prenup takes into account any debt that the two spouses brought into the marriage -- for example, financing for their college and advanced education. What a prenup does is consider what each person would want in case the marriage ends while taking into account both what they bring to the marriage and what the potential for additional assets is as the years go by. A prenup also provides a good basis for an honest conversation about finances and financial planning before the marriage even begins.

According to a 2016 study conducted by the ADP Research Institute analyzing anonymous pay data of 12 million American workers, about 7 percent of American workers are having their wages garnished. When an employee's wages are garnished, a court orders an employer to automatically deduct money from the employee's wages in order to pay debt. Wage garnishments affect employees in certain industries and parts of the country more than others. Manufacturing workers in the Midwest have the highest rate of wage garnishment at about 26 percent.

The average yearly salary of employees who have their wages garnished is about $44,000 and most workers are middle-aged. Large companies have a higher percentage of employees who have wage garnishments with about 10 percent of employees being affected by wage garnishments versus about 7 percent for small companies.

Fathers in Missouri who were not married when their child was born will need to file a petition to establish paternity to enjoy the same rights as fathers who were married to a child's mother when the child was born. This is true even if a father's name is on the birth certificate and there is no doubt that he is the father of the child.

A father who wants to establish his paternity rights will either need to take a DNA test to prove that he is the biological father, or both he and the biological mother can sign an affidavit acknowledging paternity. Signing an acknowledgement and obtaining a court order is the fastest way to establish paternity.

When two working parents in Missouri decide to divorce or separate, child support can be a serious and contentious issue. One of the most significant costs of child-raising is often day care, and many parents may wonder how they will continue to pay childcare costs after divorcing. If you are divorcing while your child is in daycare, a child support and family law attorney can help you to seek a fair solution that reflects these costs in the child support formula.

Under state law in both Missouri and Kansas, daycare and other childcare costs can often be included in the overall child support formula. While the most basic child support calculations reflect primarily the income of each parent and the number of children requiring support by both, other factors can also be taken into account by the court. Those other factors include additional expenses involved in caring for the child. Most commonly, this provision applies to childcare costs like daycare fees, preschool costs or nannies' wages. Many family law judges will allocate childcare costs between the two parties based on comparative shares of their net income.