Teresa Rieger Housholder

Legal advice you can trust at a price you can afford. Call (417) 859-4430 for a free consultation.

Teresa Rieger Housholder, J.D. graduated from the University of Missouri – Kansas City Law School in 1997 (where she was published in the Matrimonial Law Journal), Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State) in 1992, and Marshfield High School in 1988. She is a proud native of Southwest Missouri.

Her practice focuses on Family Law (Dissolutions, Paternity actions, Modifications & Child Support); Adoptions (both agency and private), Registration of Foreign Adoptions; Criminal Law; Probate Law (Parental Delegations, Guardianships, Estate Administrations, Wills, Healthcare POA); Name Changes; Landord-Tenant issues; and Appeals. Her practice is primarily located in Webster and Greene County but she also handles cases in Polk, Dallas, Wright and Christian, and Taney counties. She has successfully handled cases at every level from administrative review hearings to appeals in all three Missouri Court of Appeals and the Missouri Supreme Court.

She was also the Attorney for the Juvenile Office for 7 years in the 30th Circuit for which includes Webster, Dallas, Polk, Hickory, and, Benton counties. She has handled status offenses, delinquencies, child abuse and neglect cases and termination of parental rights including an unanimous decision before the Missouri Supreme Court.

Before she opened her private practice in October of 2005, Mrs. Housholder spent 7 years with the Department of Social Services as an attorney in the litigation unit. She worked her way up from staff attorney to Deputy Assistant Director with the Protective Services Unit which specialized in handling issues dealing with children in foster care. As the Deputy Assistant Director she was responsible for supervising up to 7 attorneys with cases loads of 70-100 cases in multiple offices while handling her own full caseload.

University of Missouri - Kansas City

J.D

1994 - 1997

Missouri State University

B.S | Psychology

1987 - 1994

Staff Attorney Juvenile Division

30th Judicial Circuit

2006 - Current

Attorney

Housholder Law Firm, LLc

2005 - Current

Deputy Assistant Director of Litigation

Department of Social Services

1998 - 2005

Right to Counsel and Role of Counsel

Missouri Bar Juvenile Deskbook

2020

Right to Counsel and Role of Counsel

Missouri Bar Juvenile Deskbook

2011

Right to Counsel and Role of Counsel

Missouri Bar Juvenile Deskbook

2007

Editor

Missouri Bar Administrative Law Deskbook

2004

Editor

Missouri Bar Juvenile Deskbook

2004

Child Abuse & Neglect, ChildProtect, Winona, MN

June 20, 2011

National District Attorneys Association

Child Abuse & Neglect, ChildProtect, Winona, MN

July 19, 2010

National District Attorneys Association

Child Abuse & Neglect, ChildProtect, Winona, MN

August 21, 2005

National District Attorneys Association

Child Abuse & Neglect, ChildProtect, Winona, MN

March 29, 2004

National District Attorneys Association

10 Best Attorneys

American Institute of Family Law Attorneys

2020

10 Best Attorneys

American Institute of Family Law Attorneys

2019

Runner-up Best Attorney of Webster County

Marshfield Mail Newspaper

2019

AV Peer Review Rating

Martindale-Hubble

2019

Top 10 Attorneys

National Academy Of Family Law Attorneys

2017

Missouri State Bar

Member

Current

Missouri

Since 1998

• Free Consultation
• Credit Cards Accepted
  Visa & Mastercard only

Q. Can the non-custodial parent take the child without consent and i do not know the whereabouts of my child (Missouri)

February 4, 2020

A: Title XXXVIII CRIMES AND PUNISHMENT; PEACE OFFICERS AND PUBLIC DEFENDERS

  Chapter 565

  565.153. Parental kidnapping — penalty. — 1. 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 commits the offense of parental kidnapping if he or she removes, takes, detains, conceals, or entices 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.

  2. Parental kidnapping is a class E felony, unless committed by detaining or concealing the whereabouts of the child for:

  (1) Not less than sixty days but not longer than one hundred nineteen days, in which case, the offense is a class D felony;

  (2) Not less than one hundred twenty days, in which case, the offense is a class B felony.

  3. A subsequently obtained court order for custody or visitation shall not affect the application of this section.

  4. Upon a finding of guilt for an offense under this section, the court may, in addition to or in lieu of any sentence or fine imposed, assess as restitution against the defendant and in favor of the legal custodian or parent, any reasonable expenses incurred by the legal custodian or parent in searching for or returning the child.

­­--------

(L. 1988 H.B. 1272, et al. § 2, A.L. 2008 S.B. 714, et al., A.L. 2014 S.B. 491)

Effective 1-01-17 ... Read More