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Missouri Family Court: Custody and Parenting-Time Guide

Plain-language Missouri information for a custody or parenting-time route, including filing, official forms, free help, fee waivers, and legal-cost context.

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This page provides general legal information, not legal advice. State law, court rules, forms, and local procedures can change. Confirm current requirements with the court handling the case.

State laws, court rules, and forms can change. Automated link checks will run every week once the monitoring job is deployed. Please check each cited source before relying on it. Report a broken link or changed law.

Find the right family court

The custody or parenting-time route described in this guide is handled through the Missouri Circuit Courts. Other family-law matters can follow a different court or procedure.

Find the court for your area.

  • Missouri Courts identifies circuit courts as the trial courts where cases begin and notes that circuit courts can have divisions, including family divisions.Sources:About the Courts

How Missouri courts decide custody

Missouri law directs the court to determine custody according to the child's best interests and creates a rebuttable presumption favoring equal or approximately equal parenting time, subject to the statute's factors and exceptions.Sources:Revised Statutes of Missouri, Section 452.375

  • The statutory factors include each parent's proposed parenting plan, the child's relationship with parents and other significant people, adjustment to home and school, domestic violence or abuse, relocation intent, and the child's unobstructed input.Sources:Revised Statutes of Missouri, Section 452.375

Key legal sources

Parenting time

Missouri's custody statute uses parenting plans and directs courts to consider arrangements that support frequent, continuing, and meaningful contact with both parents when that is in the child's best interests.Sources:Revised Statutes of Missouri, Section 452.375

Key legal sources

How to file

This draft is limited to an original Missouri Circuit Court request for child custody and support between the child's parents, using the official Petition for Child Custody and Support packet. It excludes dissolution, modification, enforcement, emergency or protection-order cases, third-party custody, interstate or tribal cases, and any matter where parentage has not been established.Sources:Petition for Child Custody and Support

  1. Confirm that this is the packet's original parent custody route

    The official packet is titled Petition for Child Custody and Support. It calls the filing parent the Petitioner and the other parent the Respondent. Confirm that parentage has been established and that another case does not already address the child before relying on this route.Sources:Petition for Child Custody and Support

  2. Read the full current packet before preparing forms

    Complete the Litigant Awareness Program and print its certificate. The packet lists the Confidential Case Filing Information Sheet, used by most courts; GN320 Redaction Certification; CAFC201 Petition for Child Custody and Support; CAFC501 Parenting Plan Parts A and B; CAFC250 Statement of Income and Expenses; and CAFC246 Statement of Property and Debt. Complete both parts of the Parenting Plan.Sources:Petition for Child Custody and Support

  3. Follow the packet's hearing, judgment, copy, service, and local-court directions

    The packet identifies CAFC721 Notice of Hearing and CAFC270 Judgment for Child Custody and Support. It says local circuits can handle scheduling and judgment preparation differently. Unless the Respondent files CAFC211-R before service, file copies for personal service; if an answer is filed before service, provide the other parent copies except the Confidential Case Filing Information Sheet. Ask the handling circuit court about its filing fee, Family Court Cover Sheet if it applies, and any additional local forms.Sources:Petition for Child Custody and Support

Official forms

Open the official forms portal.

  • The Missouri Courts Petition for Child Custody and Support packet identifies the core form set for its route. Confirm the packet's current version and the handling circuit court's local requirements before using it.Sources:Petition for Child Custody and Support

Free court self-help

Find court self-help near you.

  • Missouri Department of Social Services legal-aid directory

    Area served: Statewide directory listing regional Missouri legal-aid programs.

    Lists Mid-Missouri Legal Services, Legal Aid of Western Missouri, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, and Legal Services of Southern Missouri as possible lawyer-finding resources.Sources:Finding a Lawyer

    Eligibility: The directory is a referral resource; contact a listed organization to learn about its current eligibility and availability.

  • Missouri Legal Services

    Area served: Missouri county-based legal-aid locator.

    Directs people to apply with the legal-aid program serving their county and provides legal-information topics.Sources:Missouri Legal Services

    Eligibility: It describes free legal help for low-income and disadvantaged Missourians and says program resources may not serve everyone seeking help.

Fee waivers

Missouri Supreme Court Rule 77.03 permits a court to allow a poor person to commence and prosecute a civil action without making a cost deposit or furnishing security for costs. Missouri Courts hosts GN10, Motion and Affidavit in Support of Request to Proceed as a Poor Person, which includes an affidavit and a proposed court order.Sources:Missouri Supreme Court Rule 77.03, Plaintiff may sue as a poor person, Motion and Affidavit in Support of Request to Proceed as a Poor Person

Who may qualify

What to do

  1. Use the official poor-person motion when requesting relief from the cost deposit

    GN10 is titled Motion and Affidavit in Support of Request to Proceed as a Poor Person. It asks for financial information under penalty of perjury and includes an order for the court to grant or deny the request. Confirm local filing directions with the handling circuit court.Sources:Motion and Affidavit in Support of Request to Proceed as a Poor Person, Missouri Supreme Court Rule 77.03, Plaintiff may sue as a poor person

Official fee-waiver forms

Key statute or rule

Attorney cost benchmark

Lawyer fees vary by county, experience, services, and the facts of a case. This state benchmark is context for planning, not a quote.

State and local details to confirm

  • The official custody packet says CAFC501 has separate custody and support parts and instructs users to complete both parts of the parenting plan.Sources:Petition for Child Custody and Support

Part of Family Law in Your State.