Constructive Divorce, Mediation & Family Law Attorneys in St Louis & St Charles, Missouri

Cynthia Moseley Fox, Attorney at Law

7751 Carondelet Avenue, Suite 700
Clayton, Missouri 63105
USA

(314) 727-4880

(314) 727-5234

www.foxfamilylawyers.com

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Law Firm Overview

Cynthia Moseley Fox, Attorney at Law has focused its practice in family law for over 25 years, with a particular emphasis on matters relating to the dissolution of marriage: divorce representation and divorce mediation, child custody, child support, domestic violence, spousal abuse and spousal support or alimony, paternity, and pre-nuptial agreements.

Ms Cynthia Moseley Fox is a native St. Louisan and graduate of Washington University School of Law, class of '73.

"I am a divorce lawyer who has been where you are now and I understand the pain, stress and uncertainty you are experiencing. Several years ago I went through a difficult and contentious divorce and child custody battle with my ex-husband, and I have traveled this same path with clients hundreds of times.

These experiences have led me to reshape my approach to the practice of divorce law, which I call The ConstructiveDivorce®. The intended result is that my clients are able to move onto the next stage of their lives feeling whole, with their financial and emotional resources intact, and their family relationships preserved."

So, whether you are just starting to think about the possibility of ending your marriage, have already decided to seek a divorce (or your spouse has made that decision), or you want to revisit issues from a prior divorce, such as child custody or child support, we can help.

In far too many divorces, alienated spouses raw with anger have approached their divorce case as a chance to "get even" and to "screw their husband or wife to the wall". Unfortunately, their lawyers have been all too happy to oblige with a highly adversarial approach characterized by endless stonewalling, a blizzard of motions, subpoenas, etc., and brinksmanship instead of negotiation. The result is predictable: a drawn out and contentious process that embitters the combatants while exhausting their emotional and financial resources. But, of course, the lawyers end up well paid.

Cynthia Fox is a survivor of such a divorce and is also a certified mediator, trained to assist in productive conflict resolution. Her experiences led her to pioneer a new approach to divorce representation. Cynthia helps clients focus on the future and rebuild their lives rather than trying to get even for the past. This approach is called the ConstructiveDivorce® and it is designed to lower the emotional and financial costs of a divorce while assuring that clients move on to the next phase of their lives with forward momentum, at peace with the outcome, and an adequately resourced plan for their future.

Even though Cynthia Fox received her initial legal experience as an assistant prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County, she has come to realize that a constructive approach is best: End the fighting and focus on the future! Cynthia Fox works hard to give her clients ownership and control over their cases ... "Ownership and the feeling of control it provides helps clients get past the fear and uncertainty. Owning and accepting the divorce is often the first step in preparing for life after divorce."

"Clients are in a very vulnerable position ... it takes very little to get them to engage in additional fighting. My responsibility is to work for an outcome which is fair to my client without making the situation worse."

The choice of attorney is critical: empathetic to understand the pain, and efficacious to assure a knowledgeable and skillful representation. That is what you get with Cynthia Fox.

Year this Office was Established: 1984

Languages: English

Areas of Law

Additional Areas of Law: Spousal Support Mediation; Modifying Existing Child Support; Spousal Support and Child Custody Orders; PDL Motions; Garnishment; Contempt Motions; Spousal Abuse / Physical Abuse / Adult Abuse; Family Mediation; Divorce Mediation.

Areas of Law Description

Cynthia Moseley Fox, Attorney at Law provides legal representation and services in the area of family law:

- Divorce Representation

Cynthia Fox has represented hundreds of clients, both men and women, as their attorney in a divorce action. It is unlikely that there is a divorce situation or issue that Cindy has not dealt with before. From all this experience, Cynthia Fox has developed a new approach called the ConstructiveDivorce®. The goal is to help clients end the fighting and focus on the future, while also vigorously representing their interests, but without the combativeness of the traditional divorce approach. The intended result is that clients are able to move into the next state of their lives feeling whole and with their financial and emotional resources intact, and their family relationships preserved. Divorce is the legal termination of a marriage between husband and wife by judgment of the court. Typically it will involve issues such as dividing up the marital property (assets and debts), arranging for custody of children, and devising a written plan spelling out the parental responsibilities.

- Divorce Mediation

More and more, people are seeking mediation as a less combative way of terminating their marriage. This is typically less costly...both financially and emotionally for both parties. Cynthia Fox is a trained and court-approved mediator who has helped many clients with the mediation approach.

What is Mediation? Divorce mediation is a process where the spouses meet with Cynthia Fox in her role as mediator. She acts to facilitate the informed and consensual resolution of the issues at stake. She will work on behalf of each of you for information to be provided. She will also make you aware of options to making effective decisions. After all issues are resolved, Cynthia Fox then drafts the settlement documents to reflect those resolutions for presentation to the court. Most of the expense in most divorces is agreeing to a settlement. Current law does not allow the mediator to present the settlement to the court.

- Child Support

By law, each parent owes a duty of financial support to their children, whether married to each other or not. Given that, in a divorce or legal separation proceeding, or in a petition for child support filed by one parent upon the other, the court will likely conclude that child support is payable, typically from the non-custodial parent to the parent with primary physical custody of the child. The exception would tend to be in those situations where each parent has physical custody for an equal amount of time, and each parent’s earnings are roughly the same.

- Child Custody & Parenting Plans

Child Custody or Parenting Plans pertain to non-financial support issues about the children of divorcing or divorced parents, as well as to children of unmarried parents. Child custody issues can be changed by a court when there are big, continuing changes or when it is in the best interest of the child. Cynthia Fox has handled many custody cases, and has provided many different types of parenting plans to suit the needs of the particular families at stake.

- Spousal Support / Alimony

Spousal Support, which is also known as Spousal Maintenance and which was formerly called Alimony, is the monthly payment at a set and designated amount by one former spouse to the other in order to assist the recipient provide for his/her reasonable needs (i.e. living expenses).

- Spousal Abuse / Physical Abuse / Adult Abuse

If you or someone you know is a victim of spousal abuse/ physical abuse/ adult abuse, either threatened or real, your/their immediate priority has to be securing your/their physical safety. Moving to a safe, protected location, be that the home of a friend or relative or a shelter for domestic violence victims, should be your/their first step. Accordingly, please see our listing of domestic violence telephone hotlines serving the St. Louis metropolitan area, where you can learn about the various options available to domestic violence victims.

- PDL Motions

A “PDL Motion”, which is filed with the petition for divorce or legal separation, or any time afterward, by either party. In it, one spouse can ask that the court order the other spouse to provide them with financial relief for their living expenses, support for their children, even pay that party’s attorney fees. Once issued, the order remains in place until further amended by the court, until the divorce is dismissed, or until the final divorce judgment is entered. (“PDL” is short for Pendente Lite, which is Latin for “pending litigation”.) PDL motions are not granted automatically—having a good attorney helps. Importantly, none of these protections, nor the financial relief, is automatic upon filing the motion. The court must agree with their necessity and order their implementation. Cynthia Fox brings the compassion, experience and skill required in dealing with these situations and in seeing that the appropriate level of support and protection is provided.

- Paternity Cases

The purpose of a paternity case is to legally establish the father of a child born out of wedlock. To determine paternity, a simple DNA lab test is needed. Once the court finds that a particular person is the father of a child born out of wedlock, the man will have the same parental rights and obligations to the child as if the child had been born to married parents. For example, a parenting plan will be required identifying the custody rights of both father and mother. The court will also determine how much child support, if any, one parent will have to pay to the other.

- Pre-Nuptial Agreements

Pre-nuptial agreements are commonly viewed as something only the wealthy need. However, their benefits can be of value to any couple engaged to be married, whether well-to-do or of more modest means. These agreements describe in writing what will happen in the event the couple’s marriage ends, whether by divorce or the death of one spouse. It can identify what will happen to the assets the couple owns, how much one party will pay to the other in spousal support and for how long, and even delineate what the surviving spouse will receive in the event of the other spouse’s death.

- Division of Property

Property division applies to married couples. A primary requirement in each divorce case is to divide all the property. That means both the assets and the debts. It also means identifying which assets or debts are not to be shared with the other spouse. Cynthia Fox has years of experience in assessing individual and marital assets to determine their fair and proper distribution. Her experience allows her to proactively guide this process so that each client's individual needs are met.

- Family Mediation

In 25 years of practicing family law, hundreds have come to Cynthia Fox in great pain, yet uncertain, about divorce--certainly many more than the number who come in confident that divorce is the answer. To respond, she has developed a special area of practice-Marital Crossroads Consultations. More lately, with her training as a Certified Mediator, she has begun exploring how these techniques can be used by couples to productively identify and resolve marital issues. Cynthia believes professional mediation can help couples avoid divorce by providing them a structured and cooperative way to resolve on-going marital conflicts. In addition, by participating in mediation, these couples will be exposed to conflict-resolution and negotiation techniques that they can reemploy for positive outcomes for the rest of their lives. Of course, these approaches should not substitute for therapy or marital counseling, nor do they automatically lead to saving a marriage. Instead, they are short-term and focused intervention techniques that provide a positive starting point for moving forward.

- Garnishment

Situations sometimes arise where a person is either unable or unwilling to make court-ordered payments, e.g. to provide for his or her spouse and/or child. In these cases, garnishment is a tool available to try to convert the court order into "money". Cynthia Fox has diligently worked to ensure that court-ordered payments are made to the people who need them. Often clients depend greatly upon such court-ordered monetary payments. Cynthia realizes this fact and works diligently to use all available means to ensure that her client's needs are met.

- Contempt Motions

In cases involving divorce, child custody and child support, court orders are not always followed in some way, or even not at all. The aggrieved party must then bring this to the court's attention in order to seek that the order be complied with. This is done with a "contempt motion". Someone charged with contempt of court can defend themselves if they can prove that they were unable to comply through no fault or action of their own. (For example, the person has no assets to satisfy the judgment and that person did not purposely waste or dispose of their assets.) The court can jail someone found in contempt until the person complies with the court order, and/or assess a daily fine until the judgment is performed, as well as order attorney fees, in order to bring about compliance. Cynthia Fox has extensive experience using contempt motions to bring about compliance on her clients' behalf.

- Modification of Judgments

Change is a fact of life. After a divorce or paternity judgment is made as to support, the income of the parties can change so much that a new level of support should be established. Typically, the court would order a change when the new level of support, as determined by the state's guidelines, would be 20% more (or less than) the amount of support last ordered by the court. In addition, it is possible for support to change just because a child's expenses have dramatically increased, e.g. a child is now driving a car, or attending college or vocational school. Custody issues may also need to be re-addressed if the last court ordered custody plan is no longer in the best interest of the child. An example of that would be if a parent wants to move his or her residence, and the move would occasion a need to change the parenting plan's schedule. Or, a parent wanting to move out of state or a parent that wants to change the schedule so that the child is with the parent more are all examples of a need to re-address the last court ordered plan.