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Will the Court order shared custody of my family's household pet? No. In Missouri and Kansas, household pets are considered personal property. This means the court cannot award or enforce a custody arrangement for pets in the same way it would for children. This legal stance can be disappointing, especially when minor children are attached to the family pet and the parents wish to maintain stability in their lives post-divorce. Some states have adopted laws that treat pets more like family members than property. For instance, in Illinois, divorcing parties can ask the court to consider the "well-being of [...]

Contrary to popular belief, placing your money or property into a trust does not automatically protect it from being divided during a divorce. In Kansas, all property owned by either spouse at the time of division is subject to division during a divorce. Property held in a trust may be divided between the spouses if a spouse is the beneficiary, has control of the trust, or has the right to revoke or amend the trust. Property is protected from division only if another person, other than a spouse, has set up the trust (such as in the case of [...]

When you are getting a divorce, it is important to understand how the courts in the state you are living in divide property between the spouses. Typically, the court will value the property and then divide it between the spouses. In contrast to states like Missouri where the court can only divide property acquired during the marriage, Kansas law allows the court to divide all the property either spouse owns at the time of divorce, regardless of when each spouse acquired it. The courts will often set aside to each party his or her premarital property as individual property, [...]