Family court reform
Missouri
Where Missouri stands on each reform BMD tracks. General information, not legal advice.
Equal parenting time presumption
Passed
Makes an equal, or approximately equal, parenting-time schedule the legal starting point in a custody case. The presumption is rebuttable, and a court that orders something else has to say why.
Bill: SS/SB 35 (2023), effective August 28, 2023
Statute: Mo. Rev. Stat. 452.375
Rebuttable presumption that equal or approximately equal parenting time is in the best interests of the child; rebutted by a preponderance of the evidence, by agreement of the parents, or on a finding of a pattern of domestic violence.
Source: official bill or statute page
Reviewed 2026-10-06.
Deployed-parent custody protection
No bill yet
Enacts the Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act: a military deployment by itself is not a reason to change custody, orders made for the deployment are temporary and end with it, and a deploying parent may delegate parenting time.
No bill of this kind is cited for Missouri at the last review.
Reviewed 2026-10-06.
Parenting time interference remedies
No bill yet
Gives a parent denied court-ordered parenting time a real remedy - make-up or compensatory time, costs, or a penalty - rather than leaving contempt as the only route.
No bill of this kind is cited for Missouri at the last review.
Reviewed 2026-10-13.