Legal Question in Family Law in Missouri

Re: Question on Divorce

I had a case a few years ago in which my client married a woman who said that she was divorced although she was not in fact divorced. In Missouri this state of facts renders the second marriage invalid. In that case I filed for and obtained an Annulment. In your situation, you may go to the office of the circuit clerk in the county where you believe the prior divorce would have taken place. Generally this would be in the county where your husband and/or his wife lived at the time. Either the clerk or you with the clerd's help can check for any record of any lawsuit naming either your husband or the woman he was married to before you as either "Petitioner" or "Respondent". If therre is an old court file in which the woman filed suit against your husband for a divorce, you should read the file to determine whether or not a Decree of Dissolution was granted. If so, check the date to be sure it was before you married your husband. If all of these details do not fall exactly into place then you might have a problem. You might not be legally married. Your son would then be illegitimate. He would not inherit legally from his father or vice-versa. His father would have no legal duty to support him unless appropriate Court Orders were obtained. There are many ways in which this could turn out to be a very bad development for you AND your son. If you are located in the eastern half of the state and are not represented by legal counsel, I would be able to provide some assistance and possibly legal services if needed. You may call me for a free telephone consultation at 314-727-2822.