Congratulations Missouri!

It took nine long years! Nine years of persistent effort from shared parenting advocates, led by National Parents Organization’s Linda Reutzel. But, this past July, Missouri joined the select club of states that establish a presumption of equal shared parenting when parents live apart.

Linda’s efforts had succeeded in getting equal shared parenting presumptions through the Missouri House on three previous occasions (2018, 2019, and 2021), only to have the effort stymied in the Senate, by threats of a filibuster on the Senate floor. Linda didn’t give up. This year, the Missouri Senate passed SB 35, which was approved by the House, too. And on July 6, Governor Parson signed SB 35 into law.

The provision of SB 35 are clear:

There shall be a rebuttable presumption that an award of equal or approximately equal parenting time to each parent is in the  best interests of the child.  Such presumption is rebuttable  only by a preponderance of the evidence in accordance with  all relevant factors, including, but not limited to, the factors contained in subdivisions (1) to (8) of this subsection.  The presumption may be rebutted if the court finds that the parents have reached an agreement on all issues related to custody, or if the court finds that a  pattern of domestic violence has occurred as set out in subdivision (6) of this subsection.

In addition to establishing a clear and explicit presumption of equal shared parenting for final orders, SB 35 contains a statement concerning temporary orders: “the general assembly  encourages the court to enter a temporary parenting plan as early as practicable in a proceeding under this chapter, consistent with” the presumption of equal shared parenting (above).

SB 35 also modifies one of the factors for determining custody of children. Previous Missouri law listed the “wishes of a child as to the child’s custodian” as a factor. SB 35 modifies this to say, “The unobstructed input of a child, free of coercion and manipulation, as to the child’s custodial arrangement.” This is an implicit  caution to the courts to be aware of the alienating behaviors by some divorcing parents and not to give weight to children’s desires that have been formed as a result of such behaviors.

Finally, the new law updates the conditions under which a child support obligor’s driver’s license can be suspended to attempt to prevent unfair or counterproductive suspensions.

Congratulations to Missouri’s legislature, Governor Parson, and especially to NPO’s Linda Reutzel on this great success. Missouri’s children will be the beneficiaries.