Section 2 Family CourtLaw

• Library: Juvenile Law 2011

In 1993, the Missouri legislature, following the national trend toward a one-family/one-judge approach to addressing family issues in the legal system, enacted the family court law, Chapter 487, RSMo. The law created “a division or divisions to be designated . . . the family court” in six judicial circuits. Section 487.010, RSMo 2000. The six circuits are the counties of Clay, Callaway, Boone, Jackson, St. Louis, and Greene, and the City of St. Louis. Any other circuit may also choose, by local rule, to designate a family court. Under the law, different actions involving the same family can be consolidated, even actions filed under the Juvenile Code, Chapter 211, RSMo. While the law does...