Divorce Recovery Suite
Kansas Divorce Laws

The court will apply state guidelines to the issue of child custody based upon the best interests of the child. You're going to get one shot at getting the parenting-time thing down the way you want it, by negotiating with your spouse. Either you and your dear spouse agree on a Parenting Plan and Child Visitation Schedule, or the court will impose one, and one of you is sure to not like the court's version. If left to the court, factors that can influence the court's decision include:

• The length of time the child has been under the actual care and control of any person other than a parent,
• The desires of the child,
• The interaction and interrelationship of the child with parents,
• The child's adjustment to the child's home, school and community,
• The willingness and ability of each parent to respect and appreciate the bond between child and other parent; and,
• Evidence of spousal abuse.

We recommend that you make an honest effort to establish a Parenting Plan with your divorcing spouse, because if you don't, the court will simply give you a plan, and it may be less or much less than you had hoped for. The court has the ability to order all sorts of conditions, which can include sole physical or sole legal custody.

If you are anything like the rest of us, you may be clueless uncertain how to come up with a residency plan, and might be inclined to let a lawyer draw one up. If you're resourceful, you might even use Parenting Plan software.

Where disagreements over custody remain, and the court determines that the parties are unable to agree to a parenting plan, the court will impose its own plan based upon the best interests of the child. The court can order a temporary parenting plan including temporary child custody. Should a temporary plan be ordered, the following will apply:

• designation of the temporary legal custody of the child,
• designation of a temporary residence for the child,
• allocation of Parental Rights and responsibilities regarding matters pertaining to the child's health, education and welfare, and
• a schedule for the child's time with each parent, when appropriate.

A parent is entitled to reasonable parenting time unless the court finds, after a hearing, that the exercise of parenting time would seriously endanger the child's physical, mental, moral or emotional health.

 

Worried about a custody battle? Don't be blind sided by your ex. Learn the facts by owning a complete Child Custody Library on the best strategies for winning or keeping child custody.

 

Download Kansas Divorce Forms

[Kansas Statutes - Chapter 60 - Article 16 - Subject: 1610]

Both or either party may be ordered to pay a reasonable amount necessary for the support of a child in a divorce or legal separation proceeding. Kansas child support laws mandate the correct amount of child support to be assigned. The court has the latitude to deviate from the guidelines if it finds applying the guidelines would result in an unjust or inappropriate award. 

Support laws are based on gross income, defined as income from all sources excluding public assistance and child support received for other children in the residency of either parent.

Self-employment income is defined as all income less any reasonable business expenses.

If a parent is capable of employment but is intentionally unemployed or underemployed, the courts may impute (or assign) an amount of income for purposes of calculating the amount of support that should be paid. Exclusions from gross income can include child support obligations that are actually paid or received in other pre-existing cases (If one parent is paying child support from a previous marriage or partnership, those payments typically get deducted from the paying parent's gross income).

Adjustments to child support amounts must be applied for to the court, where the burden of proof to justify the adjustment falls to the parent requesting the judgment.

Orders requiring payment will include the mandatory use of the Kansas child support distribution unit. Payment to them can be by check or electronic transfer. The payor will be required to keep accurate records of payment, and maintain records. Failure to make payments are grounds for immediate modification of the order to require payments to be made through the state distribution unit for collection and disbursement of support payments.

Child support in Kansas ends when the child turns 18 or graduates from High School, whichever comes later, unless the court has established special conditions, or the parents have entered into an agreement in writing to extend support. Provisions are in place to extend the age of termination in special circumstances.

 

[Kansas Statutes - Chapter 60 - Article 16 - Subject: 1610]

A Legal Separation is a legal process where a party to a marriage petitions the court to decree that it never existed. The legal separation will require a separation agreement, resolving all issues surrounding the marriage save its status as a marriage. Those issues include custody of any minor child, financial support of child and/or the dependent spouse, and a plan for dividing the marital assets.

Applicants seeking legal separation often do so for religious reasons (to avoid the stigma of divorce) or to preserve health care or insurance coverage. The status of legal separation makes the parties effectively single and able to separate any and all financial dealings from the other. Either may petition the court to 'convert' the separation to a dissolution (divorce). How to file for separation is similar to how to file for divorce, in that the divorce papers are similar. To get it under way, see our divorce forms section, download a complete packet, then call your local county clerk's office for directions on where to bring the completed forms.

 

 

During the separation or divorce process, the parties are given an opportunity to present a divorce settlement of their assets and debts to the court. If they are unable to agree, the court will divide the marital assets consistent with this state being an equitable distribution state. This means that the court will divide the marital property between the parties as it deems equitable and just. The division of assets can be divided unevenly, however.

Should the court not divide the marital property equally between the parties, the basis and reasons will be recited in the order entered. Non-marital assets will be returned to who owned it prior to the marriage. When stocks, bonds, or other securities issued by a corporation, association, or government entity make up part of the marital property, the court will designate in its final order or judgment the specific property in securities to which each party is entitled.

The court is not required to address the division of property at the time a divorce decree is entered if either party is involved in a bankruptcy proceeding. Did you come into this marriage owning a house? Concerned about the equity in that house that you brought into the marriage? Worried a divorce settlement will take away what was originally yours? Here's how it works generally. Kansas divorce law settles the argument: What you brought into the marriage is usually all yours. However, any appreciation of the house or the property value is normally treated as a 'marital asset', meaning that you will likely have to give up a half of that appreciation to your spouse in the divorce.

The courts will set aside to each spouse the separate property of each. Some of the factors the court considers in dividing the property between the parties include:

1. The age of the parties,
2. The duration of the marriage,
3. The property owned by the parties,
4. The parties present and future earning capacities,
5. The time, source and manner of acquisition of the property,
6. Family ties and obligations,
7. The allowance of maintenance or lack thereof,
8. Dissipation of assets (assets hidden; money spent; assets sold and proceeds disappeared, etc.)
9. The tax consequences of the parties; and Other such factors the court considers necessary for just and equitable distribution of property.

Lock up the assets

If you think your spouse might try to hide assets, or spend them, we suggest you file a petition for a financial temporary restraining order. This order prevents liquidating assets or spending money beyond the basic necessities of daily living. You might first consider allocating enough funds to see yourself through, because the restraining order will apply to you too.

[Kansas Statutes - Chapter 60 - Article 16 - Subject: 1610]

In Kansas, alimony is referred to as maintenance, and is often limited to three years as it is designed to be a temporary measure. This short-term approach is not the norm across the states. Alimony (or spousal support) can be awarded if two scenarios are identified:

1. a spouse who has been married for a minimum of ten years and cannot support themselves may qualify for alimony a.k.a. maintenance.
2. The second situation would include family violence in which a spouse is convicted during the filing.

Before the divorce is finalized, the court will make orders concerning the alimony of the wife or the husband and the care of the children, if there are any. Alimony will automatically cease in Kansas if any of the following occur:

1. The date of the remarriage of the person who was awarded the alimony; or the establishment of a relationship that produces a child or children and results in a court order directing another person to pay support to the recipient of alimony, which circumstances would be considered the equivalent of remarriage; or
2. The establishment of a relationship that produces a child or children and results in a court order directing the recipient of alimony to provide support of another person who is not a descendant by birth or adoption of the payer of the alimony, which circumstances shall be considered the equivalent of remarriage.

Worried about a custody battle? Don't be blind sided by your ex. Learn the facts by owning a complete Child Custody Library on the best strategies for winning or keeping child custody.

 

Kansas uses the family or spousal support chart provided by legislation. That chart is to be revised every (4) years, by Kansas law.

Child support typically terminates at the child's 18th birthday, but can be extended if the child's age of majority occurs before high school graduation. Should a child have special needs, child support can also be extended.

The courts have the discretion to award alimony in fixed payments for a specified period, subject to death or remarriage of the recipient. All orders requiring payments of money for the support and care of any children shall direct the payments to be made through the registry of the court unless the court in its discretion determines that it would be in the best interest of the parties to direct otherwise.

The alimony/spousal support/maintenance award may not exceed 121 months (10 years and one month).

You may realize that we all need some help processing all this angst. This site has a Divorce Bookstore sponsored by Amazon.com, where you can find affordable books on parenting time, kids and divorce, shared custody, parental rights, custody battles, joint custody, co-parenting, child visitation, how to be divorced, life after a separation and just about every consideration pertaining to being divorced. Spend some time and a few bucks to help yourself get through this nightmare in one piece.

[Kansas Statutes - Chapter 60 - Article 16 - Subject: 1610]

A Schedule of Visitation can be cobbled together by the parents and submitted to the court as part of the settlement agreement for a separation or dissolution (divorce). If the parents cannot agree on a Parenting Plan for when the children are parented by the non-custodial parent, the court will step in and make an order covering all aspects of visitation. Generally speaking, it is wise to meet your divorcing spouse in the middle on these matters, because the court's parenting plan is likely to make one of you unhappy, and you don't want that 'one of you' to be YOU.

 

Worried about a custody battle? Don't be blind sided by your ex. Learn the facts by owning a complete Child Custody Library on the best strategies for winning or keeping child custody.

 

The court will typically order alternate weekend visitation (3-day weekends included), mid-week visitation, sharing of the children during periods of school recess -winter, spring and summer, New Year's Eve, Easter, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Thanksgiving, and Christmas with one parent or the other in alternate years, Father's Day with Father, Mother's Day with Mother, alternate years on the children's birthdays, and open communication by phone and computer.

Be aware that you have to guide your side of the divorce. If you get versed in Kansas divorce laws and you get an agreement to a Child Custody Agreement in place, you stand a much better chance of getting what you need from the divorce. Don't rely that your attorney will think of everything. You set the course; your lawyer navigates.

 

 

Kansas divorce law allows no-fault divorces based upon incompatibility of the parties. Additional grounds for divorce include failure to perform a material marital duty or obligation (this references impotence and/or one's ability to financially contribute to the marriage). Incompatibility of the parties due to insanity is allowed as grounds for divorce. The summary of grounds for divorce is therefore:

1. Incompatibility,
2. failure to perform a material marital duty or obligation; or
3. incompatibility by reason of mental illness or mental incapacity of one or both spouses. A specific process to determine mental incapacity is mandated by Kansas divorce law.

[Kansas Statutes - Chapter 60 - Article 16 - Subject: 1601]

In order for a petition for divorce to be accepted by the court, either the petitioner or the defendant must have established residency in Kansas prior to the filing. 60 days of uninterrupted residency must have taken place for the petition to be accepted by the court.

Any person who has been a resident of or stationed at a United States post or military reservation within the state for 60 days immediately preceding the filing of the petition may file an action for divorce in any county adjacent to the post or reservation. A spouse may have a residence in this state separate and apart from the residence of the other spouse.

 

[Kansas Statutes - Chapter 60 - Article 16 - Subject: 1601]

Divorce petitions must be filed with the court at least 60 days prior to any decree of dissolution. In cases where separation is requested, 60 days of residency must have occurred immediately prior to the filing. In either case, the court has the option to declare an emergency and waive that 60 day waiting period requirement.

The period of prohibition to remarriage is 30 days after the entry of the decree.

 

Worried about a custody battle? Don't be blind sided by your ex. Learn the facts by owning a complete Child Custody Library on the best strategies for winning or keeping child custody.

The court may order, at any time prior or subsequent to a divorce decree, that any party or parties and any of their children be interviewed by a psychiatrist, licensed psychologist or other trained professional in family counseling, for the purpose of determining whether it is in the best interests of any of the parties' children that the parties and any of their children have counseling regarding matters of legal custody, residency, visitation or parenting time.

Costs of the counseling and/or mediation will be borne by both or either party. The court may require the parents to attend parent education classes, and require them to be informed about how to prepare a parenting plan, what impact a family dissolution can have on children, the impact of domestic abuse on children, and any procedures that may help them arrive at an agreement.

If parents are unable to resolve issues and agree to a parenting plan, the court may require mediation, unless mediation is determined inappropriate in the particular case.

[Kansas Statutes - Chapter 60 - Article 16 - Subject: 1608 and 1617]

Grandparents may petition, and courts may grant visitation for any unmarried minor child during the child's minority.

A grandparent is entitled to reasonable parenting time unless the court finds, after a hearing, that the exercise of grand parenting time would seriously endanger the child's physical, mental, moral or emotional health. Step-grandparents may be granted visitation rights if petitioned.

Kansas Statute 38-129: Visitation rights of grandparents. (a) The district court may grant the grandparents of an unmarried minor child reasonable visitation rights to the child during the child's minority upon a finding that the visitation rights would be in the child's best interests and when a substantial relationship between the child and the grandparent has been established. (b) The district court may grant the parents of a deceased person visitation rights, or may enforce visitation rights previously granted, pursuant to this section, even if the surviving parent has remarried and the surviving parent's spouse has adopted the child. Visitation rights may be granted pursuant to this subsection without regard to whether the adoption of the child occurred before or after the effective date of this act.

 

 

[Kansas Statutes - Chapter 38 - Article 1]

Doing your divorce yourself isn't wildly complicated as long as you have an attention to detail, and your case is reasonably simple, meaning few if any marital assets or debt and no children from the marriage. It is certainly possible to do your own divorce if you have kids, or have marital assets, but kids and assets invariably complicate matters, bring emotion into the equation, and require absolute agreement between you and your spouse.

These are the steps you will take:

 

1. Prepare the petition and the summons. (See the instructions provided in our Divorce Forms Packages) Your petition must include one or more of the grounds for separate maintenance. No detailed statement of facts is necessary with your petition, although the grounds you allege must be stated as closely as possible in the general language of the statute.
2. You will file the divorce papers at your local courthouse and pay the filing fee. If there is no emergency, your case cannot be heard before 60 days from the filing.
3. You must serve your spouse with the summons. After you file your papers, the county clerk issues a summons for service upon your spouse. You must take that summons to the county sheriff, and they will physically serve your spouse. There may be a small fee for this payable to the Sheriff's Dept.
4. Your spouse must answer the summons in the time allotted or face a default judgment (you win your case). Once the response is filed, either a hearing or a trial will be scheduled.
5. If your case is uncontested, a hearing gets set. At this hearing, the judge will simply confirm the facts of your case. You may wish to bring evidence or witnesses to this hearing.
6. If you are both in agreement, the court will process the information collected at this hearing, and likely issue a divorce some weeks later (depending on the court's workload).

 

Worried about a custody battle? Don't be blind sided by your ex. Learn the facts by owning a complete Child Custody Library on the best strategies for winning or keeping child custody.

 

See our discussion on Do-It-Yourself Divorce