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SECOND REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 1910
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBL Y
5538H.02C JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
T o amend chapter 454, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to child
maintenance orders for certain persons convicted of driving while intoxicated.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 454, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be
2 known as section 454.1050, to read as follows:
454.1050 . 1. This section shall be known and may be cited as "Bentley and
2 Mason's Law".
3 2. If a person is convicted of the offense of driving while intoxicated, such offense
4 caused the death of a par ent or par ents of a child or children , and a surviving paren t or
5 guardian files a petition to re ceive child maintenance fr om the person convicted of such
6 offense, such person may be order ed by the court to pay child maintenance to the child
7 or childr en until the child or children :
8 (1) Die;
9 (2) Marry;
10 (3) Enter active military duty;
11 (4) Reach eighteen years of age unless the pr ovisions of subsection 3 of this
12 section apply; or
13 (5) Reach twenty-one years of age unless the pr ovisions of the maintenance order
14 specifically extend beyond the child's or children' s twenty-first birthdays for reas ons
15 pr ovided under subdivision (1) of subsection 3 of this section.
16 3. (1) If the child or childr en ar e physically or mentally incapacitated fr om
17 supporting themselves and insolvent and unmarried, the court may extend the
18 maintenance obligation past the child's or children 's eighteenth birthday .
EXPLANA TION — Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is not enacted and is
intended to be omitted from the law . Matter in bold-face type in the above bill is proposed language.
19 (2) (a) If the child or children r each eighteen years of age and ar e enr olled in
20 and attending a secondary school progra m of instruction, maintenance may continue, if
21 the child or children continue to attend and pr ogress toward completion of such
22 pr ogram, until the child or children complete such pr ogram or reach twenty-one years
23 of age, whichever first occurs.
24 (b) If the child or children ar e enroll ed in an institution of vocational or higher
25 education no later than October first following graduation fr om a secondary school or
26 completion of a graduation equivalence degr ee pr ogram and so long as the child or
27 childr en enr oll for and complete at least twelve hours of credit each semester , not
28 including the summer semester , at an institution of vocational or higher education and
29 achieve grades sufficient to ree nroll at such institution, maintenance may continue until
30 the child or children complete their education or until the child or children re ach
31 twenty-one years of age, whichever first occurs. T o rem ain eligible for such continued
32 maintenance, at the beginning of each semester the child or children shall submit to the
33 court a transcript or similar official document pr ovided by the institution of vocational
34 or higher education that includes the courses the child or childr en ar e enr olled in and
35 have completed for each term, the grades and cre dits received for each such course, and
36 an official document fro m the institution listing the courses that the child or children are
37 enr olled in for the upcoming term and the number of cr edits for each such course.
38 When enr olled in at least twelve cred it hours, if the child or children receive failing
39 grades in half or mor e of the child's or children's courseload in any one semester ,
40 payment of maintenance for the child or children rec eiving the failing grades may be
41 terminated and shall not be eligible for r einstatement. Upon r equest for notification of
42 the child's or children 's grades by the court, the child or childr en shall prod uce the
43 r equir ed documents to the court within thirty days of recei pt of grades fr om the
44 education institution. If the child or children fail to pr oduce the requi red documents,
45 payment of maintenance may terminate without the accrual of any maintenance
46 arr earage and shall not be eligible for r einstatement. If the circums tances of the child or
47 childr en manifestly dictate, the court may waive the October first deadline for
48 enr ollment requi red by this subdivision. As used in this subdivision, "institution of
49 vocational education" means any postsecondary training or schooling for which the
50 child is assessed a fee and attends classes regul arly . "Higher education" means any
51 community college, college, or university at which the child attends classes r egularly . A
52 child or childr en who have been diagnosed with a developmental disability , as defined
53 under section 630.005, or whose physical disability or diagnosed health pr oblem limits
54 the child's or childr en's ability to carry the number of cred it hours pr escribed in this
55 subdivision, shall rem ain eligible for maintenance so long as such child or children are
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56 enr olled in and attending an institution of vocational or higher education and the child
57 or children continue to meet the other r equir ements of this subdivision. A child or
58 childr en who are employed at least fifteen hours per week during the semester may take
59 as few as nine cred it hours per semester and rem ain eligible for maintenance so long as
60 all other req uirements of this subdivision are complied with.
61 4. The court may order the person convicted of the offense of driving while
62 intoxicated as provi ded under subsection 2 of this section to pay maintenance in an
63 amount that is reas onable or necessary for the maintenance of the child or children after
64 considering all r elevant factors, including:
65 (1) The financial needs and res ources of the child or childr en;
66 (2) The financial res our ces and needs of the surviving par ent or , if no other
67 par ent is alive or capable of caring for the child or children , the guardian of the child or
68 childr en, including the state if the state is the guardian;
69 (3) The standard of living the child or childr en would have enjoyed;
70 (4) The physical and emotional condition of the child or children and the child's
71 or childr en's educational needs;
72 (5) The child's or childr en's physical and legal custody arrangements; and
73 (6) The reas onable work-r elated child car e expenses of the surviving paren t or
74 guardian.
75 5. In addition to the r elevant factors listed under subsection 4 of this section, the
76 court may consider the guidelines set out under subsection 8 of section 452.340 and
77 Missouri Supr eme Court Civil Pr ocedur e Rule Form 14 in determining the amount
78 r easonable or necessary for the maintenance of the child or children.
79 6. (1) The court may order that child maintenance payments be made to the
80 cir cuit clerk as trustee for rem ittance to the surviving par ent or guardian entitled to
81 r eceive the payments. The cir cuit clerk shall rem it such payments to the surviving
82 par ent or guardian within thr ee working days of receipt by the cir cuit clerk. Cir cuit
83 clerks shall deposit all receip ts no later than the next working day after receipt.
84 (2) As an alternative to subdivision (1) of this subsection, the court may , upon its
85 own motion, order that maintenance payments be made to the family support payment
86 center established under section 454.530 as trustee for rem ittance to the surviving
87 par ent or guardian. However , the court shall not order payments to be made to the
88 payment center if the family support division notifies the court that such payments shall
89 not be made to the center . In such cases, payments shall be made to the clerk as trustee
90 until the division notifies the court that payments shall be dir ected to the payment
91 center .
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92 7. In addition to any other r emedy pro vided by law for the enforcem ent of child
93 maintenance, if a maintenance order has been enter ed, the dir ector of the family
94 support division or the dir ector's designee shall issue an order dir ecting any employer or
95 other payer of the person requ ired to pay child maintenance under this section to
96 withhold and pay over to the family support division or the clerk of the cir cuit court in
97 the county in which a trusteeship is or will be established moneys due or to become due
98 to the surviving par ent or guardian for the child or children in an amount not to exceed
99 federal wage garnishment limitations.
100 8. If a person order ed to pay child maintenance under this section is
101 incar cerated and unable to pay the req uire d maintenance, the person shall have up to
102 one year after the rel ease from incar ceration to begin payment, including any arreara ge.
103 If any obligation under this section is to terminate as pr ovided under subsection 2 of this
104 section but the person's obligation is not paid in full, payments shall continue until the
105 entir e arr earage is paid.
106 9. (1) If the surviving par ent or guardian of the child or children brings a civil
107 action against the person convicted of driving while intoxicated prior to any child
108 maintenance order under this section and the surviving paren t or guardian obtains a
109 judgment in his or her favor in the civil suit, no maintenance shall be order ed under this
110 section.
111 (2) If the court orders child maintenance under this section but the surviving
112 par ent or guardian brings a civil action and obtains a judgment in his or her favor , the
113 child maintenance order shall offset the judgment awarded in the civil action.
114 10. The pr ovisions of any order res pecting maintenance under this section may
115 be modified only upon a showing of changed circums tances so substantial and
116 continuing as to make the terms unr easonable.
✔
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