Posts Distort Missouri Divorce Law Regarding Pregnancy

https://www.factcheck.org/2024/03/posts-distort-missouri-divorce-law-regarding-pregnancy/

There’s no law in Missouri that prevents pregnant women from getting divorced. But social media posts claim Missouri women “cannot divorce their spouse if they are pregnant.” Legal experts told us a judge may wait to finalize a divorce until after a baby is born to determine custody and other arrangements.

Nowhere in Missouri law does it say pregnant women are barred from getting divorced.\
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But a judge handling a case where one party is pregnant may wait to finalize that divorce until the baby is born, which, experts told us, is done in order to consolidate custody and child-support agreements with other end-of-marriage arrangements.\
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This can happen in other states, too.

The claim first circulated online in 2022, when news outlets published stories about women in Missouri who had experienced delays in their divorce proceedings due to pregnancy. The articles included comments from some lawyers who attested to the custom of Missouri judges to wait until birth to finalize a divorce, although none of them pointed to a statute or court rule that mandated judges to do so.

Women are not required to stay with their spouses after they have filed for divorce.

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