Legal Question in Criminal Law in Missouri

My nephew was born prematurely and was retarded. He was very good natured and always listened and minded whoever was watching him. Everyone loved him because he was so special. We were very happy for him when he found a compatable mate. We tried to watch after them but had our heads very deep in the sand. When he was tested they told us his mind was 6 or7 years of age. We thought she was on birth control but to our surprise she came up pregnate. After that we tried to help teach them and they seemed to be doing very well. We were so blind! My husband was boss on the job and gave him a job. They helped him through the years and he was able to keep his job with help from my husband and his son for about 25 years. They said he worked harder than anyone. He bought a decent home and furnished it nicely, with my daughter's help. He was able to get a drivers license after multiple tries. Then one day we got the terrible news that he had touched his daughter innappropiately. When we got over there, he was crying so hard he could barely talk. He said he touched her and humped on her and then he jumped back away from her when he realized he should not be doing that. To make a very long story as short as possible, she filed for divorce and claimed they did not have any property to seperate.. We hired a lawyer and the lawyer did'nt do anything about it. I believe he just forgot about it. He was going through a bad time then. His son had just commited suicide and I'm sure he just couldn't remember. You can imagine our surprise when we got letters from the court and he was ordered to pay her another $589.00 Monthly. She was already getting $671.00 from ssi , their daughter was drawing $671.00 ssi plus $500.00 from his social security for herself and their daughter besides $133.00 out of his pay. Finally the question, Is there anything we can do to change this now? If there is would the divorce cause any problems in criminal court? Don't get us wrong, we know he did a bad thing and even though I am 100% sure he would never do that again I would always make sure his daughter was protected. Thank You.


Asked on 3/13/10, 6:54 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Anthony Smith LawSmith

It pains me to have to say this, but it sounds like your nephew needs to ask his attorney who his malpractice carrier is. Certianly, your nephew needs to seek other counsel, and see if the increased support 0rder can be modified. those can only be done so often. If the present attorney dropped the ball, your nephew will be the one paying for it, or his atotrrney sinurer will. It is impossible to tell you if he can get the support amount modified, or if his present attorney committed malpractice, without the specific facts of the case. Get him to a new attorney, who can have access to all that information, and see what your nephew's options are.

Good luck

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Answered on 3/19/10, 2:11 pm


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