Ford’s National Employee Services Center mailing address is now:
PO Box 199721, Dallas, TX 75219-9721
Phone: 800.248.4444
Pension, TESPHE, QDRO, and other information may be obtained from the Center.
Kurt H. King
Law Office of Kurt H. King, 816.781.6000, 20 E. Franklin, Liberty, Clay County, Missouri 64068;
Bankruptcy, Child Custody & Support, Divorce & Modification, Family Law
Personal Injury, Missouri Workers’ Compensation
The question comes up about whether the court the non-custodial parent who is ordered to pay child support in a divorce case in Missouri can legally be ordered to maintain life insurance coverage on his/her life to pay out to or for the minor children of the marriage should the non-custodial parent die.
Right now, and the law may change on this in the future, the answer is that the court can make that order in a judgment dissolving the marriage IF the parties so agree in a settlement agreement which is part of the judgment and the parties ordered to comply with the terms of the settlement agreement. See Wheeler v. McDonnell Douglas Corporation, 999 S.W.2d 279, 287-88, hns. 9-11 (Mo. Ct. App. E.D. 1999); and, Weiss v. Weiss, 954 S.W.2d 456, 459, hn. 6 (Mo. Ct. App. S.D. 1997).
However, if there is no settlement agreement, then the court generally CANNOT validly order the non-custodial parent to maintain life insurance for the benefit of the children of the marriage. The rationale is that such an order makes the non-custodial parent pay child support past the date of his/her death which is contrary to Missouri law.
But, note that a court may order a spouse to maintain life insurance with the other spouse as beneficiary to secure that spouse’s obligation to pay a particular sum of maintenance over time or perhaps to satisfy some other marital obligation as ordered by the court. This type of life insurance order may be used because it is not one which has do with child support.
In sum, the rule now in Missouri (other states may handle this differently) is that the court cannot validly order the non-custodial parent to maintain life insurance for the benefit of the children unless the parties so agree in a written settlement included or perhaps incorporated in the court’s divorce judgment.
It would also be a good idea to provide (and get a receipt in person or by Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested) a copy of the judgment and settlement agreement to the insurance company to put them on notice in case the non-custodial parent tries to change the beneficiary or cancel/non-renew the policy.
Kurt H. King
Law Office of Kurt H. King, 816.781.6000, 20 E. Franklin, Liberty, Clay County, Missouri 64068
Bankruptcy, Child Support & Custody, Divorce & Modification, Family Law
Personal Injury, Missouri Workers’ Compensation
When the owner of a business is involved in a Missouri divorce case, issues can be complicated and expensive to resolve.
Perhaps the biggest issue in a case where husband and/or wife own a business is valuing the business–at least the part that is marital property to be divided. In some cases, the business is one where it has little going concern value were the spouse running it to sell (the “business spouse”). Examples may include the solo practicioner lawyer, some small construction companies, and others where the value of the business is really wrapped up in the connections or skills of a key person spouse.
Take a construction company where home builders call the husband-spouse–a person that the builder knows–to have residential or commercial construction work done. If those builders are unlikely to continue to call on that business if the operating spouse stopped working in the business, then the going concern value of the business may well be basically its net value–assets minus debts/liabilities. In this situation, it may make more sense to hire an appraiser to value the business assets, rather than spend $5,000 and likely more to hire a business valuation expert.
In short, if the business is a key man company and the spouse is the key man, then the business may not be worth much more that its assets minus liabilities in a case where the business is sold/liquidated in a divorce case scenario.
On the other hand, many are fortunate to own a business which other people or companies would like to buy for considerable amounts of money. If so, then you can expect to need solid expert business valuation testimony at trial to support what you believe to be the correct value of the business. Don’t plan on just handing all the financial reports to the judge to figure it out. Business valuation takes many hours of time, research, accounting expertise, experience, and training. Most judges do not have that kind of time and training. Even if they do, it is an unfair and unwise imposition on the judge to simply drop it all in his/her lap to do the work for you. This is even more true when the other side of the divorce case brings their expert to give his/her valuation opinion with supporting explanation, but you don’t. Guess which value the court is likely to find as that of the business when one party/side to the case fails to carry his/her burden of proof?
Keep in mind that the business spouse may cause the business to retain extra earnings to lower his income from the business. Or, the business may take on new leases, loans, and debt to confuse as to its true net worth. Or, maybe the business spouse decides to buy business equipment/property to reduce its net cash flow. There are many other such moves that can be made.
Yet another consideration arises where the key person spouse is going to keep on running the business, and the business has a history of substantial income. Then the spouse not in the business may want to claim a serious amount of maintenance–formerly called alimony–to be paid by the busniess spouse. This claim may cause the business spouse to agree to pay a substantial amount–lump sum maintenance–to the other spouse to “buy out” of having to pay months and years of maintenance. (Maintenance set by the judge and not by agreement often runs indefinitely until termination by law–death, remarriage, for instance.) So, you may want to keep this in mind.
Let me close this small post on a large subject by cautioning against just taking your spouse’s word for what the business is worth. First, he/she may not know the correct value. Secondly, in a divorce the business spouse is probably trying to pay you as little as possible for your share of the business. Get your own people to check it out. Otherwise, you may find yourself agreeing to settle for far less than what your half of the business is worth.
There are many angles to this situation, and whole books could be written on the subject. Be careful and have it checked out by persons who are looking out for your best interests. Don’t be naive.
Kurt H. King
Law Office of Kurt H. King
816.781.6000
20 E. Franklin
Liberty, Clay County, Missouri 64068
Bankruptcy, Child Custody and Support, Divorce and Modification, Family Law
Personal Injury, Missouri Workers’ Compensation
Many spouses in broken marriages face filing (1) Chapter 7 bankruptcy and (2) for divorce. When couples divorce, many lack enough income to pay his/her share of the bills/debts. Should they file bankruptcy first, or start with the divorce, or do both at once?
Here are some considerations:
1. A husband and wife can file bankruptcy together in a single case. After the divorce, the couple are no longer married and each has to file their own bankruptcy case which doubles the total cost in attorneys fees and court filing fees. With attorneys fees of up to $2000 per case (or more) and a filing fee now of $299, it saves money to file 1 case instead of 2.
2. Can the couple agree/cooperate well enough to file the bankruptcy together? If not, then he/she will have to file bankruptcy separately. Preferably he/she/each files before the divorce so all the debts of the person filing are wiped out by the bankruptcy, making it easier to settle or for the judge to decide the divorce case because it is often more simple to divide property than it is to divide both property and the debts.
3. Also, it may be better to discharge the debts in Chapter 7 bankruptcy before filing for divorce, because divorce cases which address division of debts typically call for for each spouse to pay some of the joint debts, and to indemnify/reimburse the other spouse if the creditor collects from the other spouse who was NOT ordered to pay the debt. These indemnity provisions generally do NOT go away in Chapter 7 bankruptcy cases, which, means that one spouse could be forced to repay the other ex-spouse after the divorce. It is better to wipe out these debts with bankruptcy before divorce to reduce the exposure to having to indemnify an ex-spouse for joint debt the court ordered you to pay and hold harmless/indemnify.
4. Can the divorce and the bankruptcy cases run at the same time? Yes they can both be filed and pending in court at the same time, but when division of property is involved, the automatic stay in bankruptcy law (11 U.S.C. 362(b)(2)) will put a stay/stop on the divorce case as far as property until the bankruptcy court determines what property goes to creditors. A bankruptcy case with no assets for creditors takes 3 months or more, so considerable delay can result while the spouses wait to get divorced.
5. There are many other factors such as the incomes of the parties and whether their combined or separate incomes are too great to qualify under the means test of Chapter 7; who has filed bankruptcy before, what chapter of bankruptcy, and how long ago (8 years or more?); etc.
These are thorny questions for you and your attorney.
Kurt H. King
Law Office of Kurt H. King
816.781.6000
20 E. Franklin
Liberty, Clay County, Missouri 64068
http://www.kurthking.com
Bankruptcy, Child Custody and Support, Divorce and Modification, Family Law
Personal Injury, Workers’ Compensation
Spouses headed for divorce often wonder about maintenance–what used to be called alimony.
Here in the Kansas City area, and presumably other Missouri courts, the judges lean away from maintenance. This is especially true where the marriage is short–less than 10 years for instance.
Maintenance in the typical situation arises when one spouse lacks income to pay his/her necessary bills while the other spouse has income to contribute. Many times a judge will take a sharp pencil, so to speak, to the expense amounts of the needy spouse; then do likewise to the expenses of the spouse who may have extra income. If that review shows a legitmate shortage of income for one spouse, and income remaining after expenses for the other spouse, then the extra income may be ordered paid to the needy spouse in an amount that the court finds is best after the court also considers the factors set out in Missouri statute 452.335 (marital misconduct, time to re-educate, etc.). Often times neither spouse is really happy about a maintenance order–one spouse thinks it too high, while the other thinks the amount awarded is too low.
A major consideration in maintenance cases is how long will the payor have to pay maintenance. Death or remarriage of the payee often terminates the obligation to pay maintenance unless the parties have agree otherwise. The key to keep in mind, however, is that unless there is sufficient proof of a definite date that maintenance is no longer needed, it may be required to be paid until such death or remarriage which may be years and years down the road.
Because the risk of an open-ended order to pay maintenance with no termination date is so great, many spouses faced with a real possibility of the court ordering he/she to pay maintenance often negotiate about a stop date on maintenance. To get that stop date, the paying spouse often has to give up assets or agree to pay a somewhat high amount per month as compared to what he/she thinks he would have to pay if he left it up to the judge to set the amount and duration.
Another motivation for settling to get a definite stop date on maintenance is that without the agreement, the party receiving maintenance can later file a motion to modify under Missouri statute section 452.370 to increase the amount or duration of maintenance being paid. To make that case for modification, the receiving party must prove a substantial and continuing change of circumstances based on the facts of the case. Negotiating a written agreement on maintenance with a provision that it is non-modifiable protects against a later modification case to increase maintenance.
A pretrial conference with the judge is a good way to get a read on what the judge may do and thus what it may take to reach an agreement on maintenance. Each legitimate maintenance case tends to turn on its own facts and there is no formula in which to simply plug numbers as with child support. The experience of counsel in similar cases may be best guide, aided by the pretrial conference.
Kurt H. King
Law Office of Kurt H. King
816.781.6000
20 E. Franklin
Liberty, Clay County, Missouri 64068
http://www.kurthking.com
Bankruptcy, Child Custody and Support, Divorce and Modification, Family Law
Personal Injury, Workers’ Compensation
What if father pays child support and mother brings the children to him and says, “you take care of them–and I don’t want any child support?” What happens if the father stops sending in his child support to the Family Support Payment Center? And, what if mother changes mind 7 months later and takes children back?
The father in this example needs to file to get a court order immediately based on a stipulation/agreement with mother, or otherwise if she won’t sign a stipulation, changing custody and terminating his child support obligation.
If he fails to do so, his child support obligation does NOT stop, he builds up a child support non-payment arrearage, and he lacks the court order to prove that he now has the primary/home/residential custody rights to the children. That let’s the mother in this example walk back in and take the chilren–even claim the back due child support that accrued while the father had the children (she may or may not win on the back support but she puts father out to hire an lawyer and try to get court order that he does not owe the back support).
This happens time and again, often to folks who cannot afford to make a mistake and cannot repay back child support.
Get A Court Order or Beware.
Kurt H. King
Law Office of Kurt H. King
816.781.6000
20 E. Franklin
Liberty, Clay County, Missouri 64068
http://www.kurthking.com
Bankruptcy, Child Custody and Support, Divorce and Modification, Family Law
Personal Injury, Workers’ Compensation
Many divorced folks wonder what their child support obligation is for children in college or other post-high school education/training. There are many facets to this question but let me point out some of the main points:
1. Missouri law changed from 22 to 21 as the age up to which support is required (exceptions for non-self supporting children with special needs);
2. Parent paying child support can ask court for permission to pay support directly to the child so attending;
3. Child generally has to provide enrollment and grade information and take sufficient number of hours (be full-time, basically) or else child support obligation may be terminated;
4. Some judges expect child to pay for some of college/post H.S. education expense by student loan, work, other;
5. Some judges look at parent incomes and other factors and may not require student to pay for part of such costs;
6. In Missouri, such college/post-high school education costs are generally capped at what tuition, books, meals, and housing would cost on a plan for a regular year at the University of Missouri–not what a more expensive private or Ivy League school costs;
7. I believe most judges consider if the child commutes from home to the school, spends the summers and school breaks at home, etc., to determine how much support should continue to be paid to the home parent of the child. For example, if the child is home 4 months a year and in school dorm the other 8, then judge may consider having the total of 4 months of support, divided by 12 so that the paying parent pays a part each month of the year, continue on being paid to the home parent, so to speak.
These are some basic factors and there are usually more to be considered. What is fair for one situation may not be for another, so check it out–especially given the amount of money involved.
Kurt H. King
Law Office of Kurt H. King
816.781.6000
20 E. Franklin
Liberty, Clay County, Missouri 64068
http://www.kurthking.com
Bankruptcy, Child Custody and Support, Divorce and Modification, Family Law
Personal Injury, Workers’ Compensation
Kurt H. King
Law Office of Kurt H. King
816.781.6000
20 E. Franklin
Liberty, Clay County, Missouri 64068
http://www.kurthking.com
Bankruptcy, Child Custody and Support, Divorce and Modification, Family Law
Personal Injury, Workers’ Compensation
It seems that one or both parties perjures his or herself in nearly every divorce case.
In one recent one out of Clinton County, those lies came back to haunt the wife in that case. She testified at trial that her husband had certain valuable items of construction equipment and vehicles. After the trial, and the denial of coverage on the homeowners insurance policy, the husband dug until he found his property hidden across the street from where his former wife lived with her new husband, who happened to also own a similar construction business.
After more deception and trial of the ex-wife for contempt, the Clinton County Circuit Court judge jailed her until she pays $90,000 or returns the property items. The Judge declared her perjury, lies, and intentional deception to be the most serious he had seen.
So good to see this lady jailed instead of slapped on the wrist.
Kurt H. King
Law Office of Kurt H. King
816.781.6000
20 E. Franklin
Liberty, Clay County, Missouri 64068
http://www.kurthking.com
Bankruptcy, Child Custody and Support, Divorce and Modification, Family Law
Personal Injury, Workers’ Compensation
A frequent question on family law in Missouri is will the Court order a shared custody plan where the parents alternate weeks with the children of the marriage/paternity relationship.
Speaking mainly as to experience with the Clay County Circuit Court setting in Liberty, Missouri–which other Missouri courts may or may not mirror on this issue–my take is that the court is likely to order such shared custody ONLY IF both parents agree that it is in the best interests of the children. Of course, if a child is in school, then both parents are going to need to be close enough to the school to get the child to school without a long drive.
If the court sees problems with shared custody for the child, it may decide not to order shared custody even if both parents think it is the best way to go. (Sometimes a parent may agree to shared custody for the wrong reasons, i.e., to reduce child support, to win on some other issue, lacked the money to resist the other parent, etc.)
What if the parents do NOT agree that shared custody is best for the children? Then my experience is there is a slim to none chance that the court will order shared custody for the children. An explanation is that the court prefers a primary residential home base for the children, especially where the parents are not in agreement on working a shared custody plan.
Kurt H. King
Law Office of Kurt H. King
816.781.6000
20 E. Franklin
Liberty, Clay County, Missouri 64068
http://www.kurthking.com
Bankruptcy, Child Custody and Support, Divorce and Modification, Family Law
Personal Injury, Workers’ Compensation
The Law Office of Kurt H King 