{"data":{"id":"us-mo/mo.-rev.-stat.-452.705","jurisdiction":"us-mo","citation":"Mo. Rev. Stat. § 452.705","heading":"Definitions.","body":"As used in sections 452.700 to 452.930:\n(1) \"Abandoned\" means left without provision for reasonable and necessary care or supervision;\n(2) \"Child\" means an individual who has not attained eighteen years of age;\n(3) \"Child custody determination\" means a judgment, decree, or other order of a court providing for the legal custody, physical custody, or visitation with respect to a child. The term includes a permanent, temporary, initial, or modification order. The term shall not include an order relating to child support or other monetary obligation of an individual;\n(4) \"Child custody proceeding\" means a proceeding in which legal custody, physical custody, or visitation with respect to a child is an issue. The term includes a proceeding for divorce, separation, neglect, abuse, dependency, guardianship, paternity, termination of parental rights, and protection from domestic violence in which the issue may appear. The term shall not include a proceeding involving juvenile delinquency, contractual emancipation, or enforcement under sections 452.850 to 452.915;\n(5) \"Commencement\" means the filing of the first pleading in a proceeding;\n(6) \"Court\" means an entity authorized under the law of a state to establish, enforce, or modify a child custody determination;\n(7) \"Decree\" or \"custody decree\" means a custody determination contained in a judicial decree or order made in a custody proceeding, and includes an initial decree and a modification decree;\n(8) \"Home state\" means the state in which a child has lived with a parent or a person acting as a parent for at least six consecutive months immediately prior to the commencement of a child custody proceeding. In the case of a child less than six months of age, the term means the state in which the child has lived from birth with any of the persons mentioned. A period of temporary absence of any of the mentioned persons is part of such period;\n(9) \"Initial determination\" means the first child custody determination concerning a particular child;\n(10) \"Issuing court\" means the court making a child custody determination for which enforcement is sought under sections 452.700 to 452.930;\n(11) \"Issuing state\" means the state in which a child custody determination is made;\n(12) \"Litigant\" means a person, including a parent, grandparent, or stepparent, who claims a right to custody or visitation with respect to a child;\n(13) \"Modification\" means a child custody determination that changes, replaces, supersedes or is otherwise made after a previous determination concerning the same child, whether or not it is made by the court that made the previous determination;\n(14) \"Person\" includes government, a governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity;\n(15) \"Person acting as a parent\" means a person, other than a parent, who:\n(a) Has physical custody of the child or has had physical custody for a period of six consecutive months, including any temporary absence, within one year immediately prior to the commencement of a child custody proceeding; and\n(b) Has been awarded legal custody by a court or claims a right to legal custody under the law of this state;\n(16) \"Physical custody\" means the physical care and supervision of a child;\n(17) \"State\" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States;\n(18) \"Warrant\" means an order issued by a court authorizing law enforcement officers to take physical custody of a child.","path":["Title XXX - DOMESTIC RELATIONS","Chapter 452 - Dissolution of Marriage, Divorce, Alimony and Separate Maintenance"],"source_url":"https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=452.705","current_through":"2026 legislative session (floor)","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-03T22:23:28Z","sha256":"9a07ec15c60dc1d09eb7bfd62b10b318cf0d87b75cfdde2d73e1299a0381b2e0","source_id":"us-mo","stale":false,"prev":"us-mo/mo.-rev.-stat.-452.700","next":"us-mo/mo.-rev.-stat.-452.710"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}