Legal Question in Family Law in Missouri

I did family law cases for many years, but have since quit accepting new ones. It's quite proper for attorneys to engage in settlement negotiations and the judge may sometimes indicate his/her general impression of the case. Missouri law does not mandate an equal, or 50/50 split of property and debts, but rather an equitable, or "fair" division. What's fair? The answer is an unqualfied: It depends. The court may take into account a number of factors, including relative wealth of the parties, marital misconduct, health, earning potential, the standard of living that the parties enjoyed during the marriage--the list goes on. The law does not specify how much weight, if any, that any of the factors should receive. The court also has discretion in awarding legal fees. The trial court has a lot of latitude in coming to a decision, and appellate courts are reluctant to undo a case.

It sounds like you have most of the income potential; assuming this is true, let's look at the possibilities. At one extreme, your wife might receive permanent maintenace, an award of her entire legal bill, all of her other bills paid, and the bulk of the property. At the other extreme, you might receive none of your wife's bills, no order for support or maintenance, and a generous division of property. A result somewhere in the middle is more likely, but the only way to find out for sure what the court would decide if the case was tried is to try the case. This is a gamble, and an expensive one at that.