Missouri’s appellate courts have long recognised the fundamental liberty interests of parental rights, familial integrity and child rearing – in re K.A.W., 133 S.W. 3d 1 (Missouri 2004). State intervention in the parent-child relationship must involve procedures meeting due process requirements. Missouri custody law expressly states that it is the public policy of Missouri to encourage parents to participate in decisions affecting the health, education and welfare of their children – Missouri Revised Statute § 452.375.4.

A natural mother may establish the parent-child relationship by proof of her having given birth to the child – Missouri Revised Statute § 210.819.

A man is presumed to be the natural father of a child if he is or was married to the child’s natural mother and the child was born during the marriage or within 300 days after the marriage was terminated by death, annulment, declaration of invalidity, dissolution, or a decree of separation. This presumption and the 300-day time period extends to unmarried fathers who attempted to legally marry the child’s natural mother but the attempted marriage was invalid for some reason. A man is also presumed to be the father of a child if he acknowledges his paternity in writing, he is named with his consent as the child’s father on the child’s birth certificate, he is obliged to support the child, or a blood test shows a specific probability of paternity – Missouri Revised Statute § 210.822. A signed “acknowledgement of paternity” form is also considered a legal finding of paternity – Missouri Revised Statute § 210.823. A legal action to declare the existence or non-existence of a father and child may be brought by a variety of interested parties, including the man in question, the mother, the child, and the child’s legal custodian – Missouri Revised Statute § 210.826.

An adoptive parent may establish the parent and child relationship by proof of adoption – Missouri Revised Statute § 210.819. Non-genetic parents from same-sex relationships face an extraordinarily complicated and challenging analysis under Missouri’s third-party custody rights statutory provision, Missouri Revised Statute§ 452.375.5(5)(a) and appellate case law interpreting it – in re T.Q.L., 386 S.W.3d 135 (Missouri banc 2012). A non-genetic parent is considered a third party who must demonstrate that each parent is unfit, unsuitable or unable to be a custodian of the welfare of the child, and that it is in the best interests of the child to award custody to the third party. The petitioning third party must rebut the legal presumption that the biological parents are fit, suitable and able custodians of their children and a child’s welfare is best served by awarding custody to their parents. Then, the non-genetic parent must prove that he or she is “suitable and able to provide an adequate and stable environment for the child”. The trial court must first determine whether the third party seeking custody has rebutted the parental presumption before the court may examine the factors relevant to whether an award of third-party custody or visitation is in the child’s best interest – K.M.M. v K.E.W., 539 S.W. 3d 722.

Marriage, or an attempt to lawfully marry, within a 300-day time period of a child’s birth implicates a presumption of paternity for the man – Missouri Revised Statute § 210.822. The parent-and-child relationship is not dependent on marriage, as Missouri Revised Statute § 210.818 specifically provides that the parent-and-child relationship extends equally to every child and every parent, regardless of the marital status of the parents.

The Missouri Court of Appeals held that Missouri law referring to the masculine gender includes females as well, and that Missouri law concerning the presumption of natural parentage equally applies to same-sex married couples – Schaberg v Schaberg, 637 S.W.3d 512.

When a child is adopted and a final decree of adoption is approved by a court and filed, all legal relationships and all rights and duties are deemed and held to be for every purpose between the child and its parent or parents by adoption, as fully as though born during a lawful marriage – Missouri Revised Statute § 453.090.

Written notice of a proposed relocation of a minor child by one of its parents must be given to any party with custody or visitation rights at least 60 days in advance of the proposed relocation.

A party seeking to relocate a minor child is required to give written notice by certified mail, with a return receipt requested, to any party with custody or visitation rights. A parent desiring to relocate a minor child is not required to file any motion seeking permission to move – Herigon v Herigon 121 S.W.3d 562 (Mo.App.W.D.2003). Once proper notice is given, the relocation will be permitted unless the non-relocating parent makes a timely objection to the relocation in court. If a timely objection is filed, the party desiring to relocate the child must prove that the proposed relocation is made in good faith and is in the best interests of the child.

Although most of the appellate decisions addressing child relocation involve moves to other jurisdictions, the language of the statute concerning changing the principal residence of the child is not necessarily limited to cross-border relocations. The relocation notice requirement may be implicated by in-state moves that would change the principal residence of a child.

Parental kidnapping is a criminal offence classified as a felony. The statute provides that, in the absence of a court order determining rights of custody or visitation to a child, a person having a right of custody of the child is committing the offence of parental kidnapping if they remove, take, detain, conceal, or entice away that child within or without the state, without good cause, and with the intent to deprive the custody right of another person or a public agency also having a custody right to that child – Missouri Revised Statute § 565.153. Following a conviction for parental kidnapping, in addition to a fine or incarceration, the court may assess against the defendant any reasonable expenses incurred by the legal custodian or parent in searching for or returning the child.

When a relocation occurs in violation of Missouri’s relocation statute, a separate statue provides that the relocation is a change of circumstances allowing the trial court to modify a prior custody or visitation order – Missouri Revised Statute § 452.411.

Missouri’s enforcement provisions of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) provide specific, special protection for persons seeking enforcement of a child custody determination or enforcement of an order for the return of a child under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The parental kidnapping statute provides for simultaneous criminal prosecution of an abducting parent in addition to the civil relief available under the UCCJEA and the Hague Convention.

The United States of America is a signatory to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. Missouri has adopted the UCCJEA, which provides for the enforcement and return of the child under the Hague Convention. The United States Department of State, Office of Children’s Issues in the Bureau of Consular Affairs is the central authority that carries out the duties under the Hague Convention.

The United States Department of State issues annual reports, providing a breakdown of abduction cases by country. The 2024 report notes the percentage of cases that are resolved within one year of abduction, along with an explanation about the difficulties encountered with the central authority of some foreign states.

The Department of State is committed to aiding in and providing for the safe return of children abducted from their homes and helps lead the effort to meet the United States’ obligations under the Hague Convention. With that aim in mind, when a parent informs the central authority that their child has been abducted or retained outside the United States, they quickly put that parent in touch with an attorney capable of commencing litigation for the return of the child.

A filed petition is required in order to commence a Hague proceeding. The petition must allege the following:

• the wrongful removal or retention of a child, in violation of a parent’s custody rights that were actually exercised by that parent;
• the source of the custody rights;
• the date of the wrongful conduct; and
• the child’s age.

Once a Hague petition is filed, the court is required to act expeditiously. If a decision has not been made within six weeks of filing, the central authority can request a statement asking for the reason for the delay. When deciding the case, a court is empowered to take judicial notice of the law and decisions in the state of the child’s habitual residence.

Prior to ordering the return of a child, the court may request a determination of wrongfulness from authorities in the state of habitual residence. The Hague Convention also bars a court in the country where the child has been taken from considering the merits of custody claims once it has received notice of the removal or retention of the child.

Once a petition has been filed, the petitioner has the burden to prove, by a preponderance of evidence, the following:

• the child has either been wrongfully removed to this country or wrongfully retained in this country;
• the child was a habitual resident at the time they were removed;
• the removal was in breach of the petitioner’s custody rights; and
• the petitioner had been exercising those rights at the time of retention.

The respondent may then present affirmative defences, in support of the minor child’s relocation, including the following:

• grave risk (that the minor child would suffer grave risk if returned to the jurisdiction – this is typically used in developing or war-torn countries);
• the other parent has consented to, or acquiesced in, the relocation;
• the child is of an appropriate age and maturity, and objects to the return; and
• the petition was filed more than one year following the relocation and the child is well settled in the new jurisdiction.

The United States of America is a signatory to the Hague Convention.