Jennifer L. Schutter v. Paul J. Seibold

Missouri Court of Appeals·Decided May 6, 2025·No. WD86995·Published

Opinion

IN THE MISSOURI COURT OF APPEALS WESTERN DISTRICT

JENNIFER L. SCHUTTER, )

)

Respondent, ) WD86995 v. )

) OPINION FILED:

) May 6, 2025

PAUL J. SEIBOLD, )

)

Appellant. )

Appeal from the Circuit Court of Platte County, Missouri The Honorable Daren L. Adkins, Judge

Before Division One: Karen King Mitchell, Presiding Judge, and Lisa White Hardwick and Mark D. Pfeiffer, Judges

Paul Seibold (Father) appeals from the judgment of the Circuit Court of Platte County, Missouri (Missouri court), denying, on the basis of the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), §§ 452.700-452.930, 1 his family access motion and motion for contempt against Jennifer Schutter (Mother) and his motions to modify child support. Father raises four points on appeal. He asserts that the Missouri court erred in dismissing his family access and contempt motions because (1) the UCCJEA does not govern whether the Missouri court has jurisdiction to hear motions to

1 All statutory references are to the Revised Statutes of Missouri (Supp. 2023).

enforce its prior custody determinations, and (2) the UCCJEA permits the Missouri court to enforce a custody order issued by the Tarrant County, Texas court (Texas court) (Points I and II, respectively). Father also argues that the Missouri court erred in denying his request, made in his motion for new trial, to amend his pleading seeking enforcement of the Texas court’s custody order because Missouri courts are required to grant leave to amend when sustaining a motion to dismiss (Point III). Finally, Father contends that the Missouri court erred in dismissing his motions to modify child support because the UCCJEA does not govern support proceedings (Point IV). We affirm in part and reverse in part.

Background 2

Father and Mother have actively litigated child custody and support issues for the past thirteen years, filing dozens of motions with the Missouri court. This is the second appeal by the parties regarding custody issues. For purposes of this appeal, we recite only the background information relevant to the issues raised here.

Father and Mother were married on November 30, 2002, and one child (Son) was born of the marriage. Son has extensive medical, educational, and therapy needs and requires 24-hour assistance and supervision. Father and Mother separated on March 5, 2012, and the initial judgment of dissolution was entered on December 31, 2013. The court awarded sole legal custody of Son to Mother and joint physical custody of Son to

2 “We view the evidence and the reasonable inferences drawn from the evidence in the light most favorable to the judgment, disregard all evidence and inferences contrary to the judgment, and defer to the trial court’s superior position to make credibility determinations.” Houston v. Crider, 317 S.W.3d 178, 186 (Mo. App. S.D. 2010).

Mother and Father, and the court ordered Father to pay $2,620 in monthly child support. 3 On March 7, 2019, the Missouri court entered a “First Amended Judgment of Modification,” which approved Mother’s relocation to Texas with Son, granted Father periods of supervised visitation with Son in both Missouri and Texas, and ordered Father to pay $3,000 per month in child support (the 2019 Modification).

On November 1, 2019, Father filed a motion to modify custody and child support.

Thereafter, Father filed several other motions including a family access motion 4 and a motion to quash Mother’s garnishment of his wages. At that point, the Missouri court concluded that it did not have exclusive, continuing jurisdiction under the UCCJEA and that, even if it did, it was an inconvenient forum and Texas was a more appropriate forum under the UCCJEA. In dismissing Father’s motions, the Missouri court ordered that “all motions now pending by and between the parties in this case, or any sub-case, are hereby dismissed.” Father appealed to this court, arguing, in part, that the Missouri court erred in dismissing, pursuant to the UCCJEA, his family access motion and motion to quash garnishment because the UCCJEA governs only Missouri’s jurisdiction to make child custody determinations and does not govern any other proceedings. We reversed in favor of Father, concluding that the Missouri court erred in dismissing his family access motion and motion to quash on the basis of the UCCJEA. Schutter v. Seibold, 632 S.W.3d 820, 831-32 (Mo. App. W.D. 2021) (Schutter I).

3 Neither party challenges the Missouri court’s jurisdiction to make the initial custody determination.

4 An aggrieved person may file a family access motion if a parent denies or interferes with custody or visitation without good cause. § 452.400.3.

Following Schutter I, Father continued to file, in the Missouri court, family access motions alleging Mother had denied Father parenting time with Son in violation of the 2019 Modification. On February 23, 2023, the Missouri court issued a Family Access Judgment in which the court found that Mother had denied or interfered with Father’s custody or visitation on two occasions without good cause. Accordingly, the court awarded Father two specific periods of compensatory time to be exercised in May and June 2023. The same day the court entered the Family Access Judgment, Father filed, with the Missouri court, a motion to “modify, correct child support.” 5 On May 9, 2023, Father filed, in the Missouri court, another family access motion alleging that he had travelled to Texas to visit Son per the Family Access Judgment, but Mother denied him time with Son. On May 30, 2023, Father also filed, in the Missouri court, a motion for contempt, claiming, among other things, that Mother was in violation of the controlling parenting plan and the February Family Access Judgment. The next day, the Missouri court made a docket entry regarding a conference it held with the Tarrant County, Texas court. According to the entry, the Missouri court would “continue to enforce its Judgments until such time as [the] TX [court] enters a child custody Order or Modificatio[]n Judgment.” 6

5 Father again sought modification of child support in a response he filed with the Missouri court on December 19, 2023. In that response, Father alleged that Mother had voluntarily reduced her income by nearly fifty percent and, for that and other reasons, he requested a modification of his child support obligation.

6 According to Mother’s brief, on June 1, 2023, the Texas court issued an order stating, “This Court finds that it has jurisdiction over this case. The Court in Missouri will hear enforcements, but not modifications, until the Texas [Court] enters an order,

On August 31, 2023, the Missouri court entered a judgment of contempt, finding that Mother had violated the February Family Access Judgment. On October 5, 2023, Father filed, in the Missouri court, yet another family access motion alleging that Mother continued to deny Father time with Son in violation of the August 2023 contempt judgment. In a related motion for contempt filed in the Missouri court on December 19, 2023, Father alleged that Mother had denied him a total of 21 days of compensatory parenting time to which the parties had previously agreed.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Jennifer L. Schutter v. Paul J. Seibold, (Mo. Ct. App. 2025).

Jennifer L. Schutter v. Paul J. Seibold (Jennifer L. Schutter v. Paul J. Seibold) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

State Ex Rel. Brantingham v. Grate
205 S.W.3d 317 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2006)
Houston v. Crider
317 S.W.3d 178 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2010)
Ward v. Smith
780 S.E.2d 702 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2015)
Kelly J. Blanchette v. Steven M. Blanchette
476 S.W.3d 273 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 2015)
C.L. v. Z.M.F.H.
18 A.3d 1175 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2011)
Govoni v. Baum
156 S.W.3d 434 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2005)
Harpagon Mo, LLC v. Bosch
370 S.W.3d 579 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 2012)
Grega v. Grega
524 S.W.3d 150 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2017)
Giventer v. Giventer
863 So. 2d 438 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2003)