Witness:  Mr. Dave Ketcherside, Father, St. Charles, Missouri

     My background is in psychology, by degree, sociology, and I also have an emphasis in child development. Currently, I am one year into a divorce situation, where very little has happened, except an exparte order was granted against me on false premises, and a temporary visitation custody agreement of every other weekend, every other holiday has been place.

     I had filed for primary custody, and I consider myself a very good parent, better than my wife. What I'm addressing today is several things. Some of the things of which that I think are appropriate for the......

     CASKEY: Let me ask you a question.

     KETCHERSIDE: Yes.

     CASKEY: Did you file for the dissolution.

     KETCHERSIDE: No, I did not file. As I was going to say,.....

     CASKEY: I was going to recommend that you get out of St. Charles County, from what we've heard here today.

     HOLLINGSWORTH: And, don't go to Greene.

     KETCHERSIDE: My wife already took care of that by establishing her residency in Franklin County where her family is well known. Her mother was the assistant deputy assessor. They're very well known. I also went to school there, both high school and college, but, junior college, but, I'm not as well known as I used to be, and, what I am saying is that even though you don't know me, if you would assume that what I am saying is correct, that I am a very good parent, that I feel that it would be wrong, even if I win custody, I would not refuse my wife from having her parenting time with my daughter, because I feel that both parents are the best parents, and even if we were married, there's times that we may disagree on certain aspects of where they would go to school, and so forth, but we'd have to work those out anyway, if we were still married, and, I feel this is the best approach, is having a joint physical relationship, and, referring back to the old Senate Bill 51, I went through anticipation in a great hope that this would be passed, and, of course, the time ran out on the bill. I'm hoping that a new version of this bill is at least offered for vote for both the Senate and the House, that at least it won't be stalled until the last day of the session. That was bitterly disappointing, and I know things move slowly in legislation, but, I think this is the third year that a bill like this has been attempted, and I hope that this is expedited, because I saw a lot of things in that bill that I liked, and I read the copy many times.
 
    I have some recommendations. I think that we need to remove the monetary incentives for divorce. And, that's hard to legislate sometimes, but, I feel that there is an incentive for one party to, perhaps, take advantage of the situation, in child support. I am recommending an accurate and equitable new Form 14 that recognizes that children live in both households, and that, as suchl, the expenses somewhat equal out. I'm, personally, not opposed to paying child support during the preliminary negotiations. I had a preliminary agreement with my wife, that if were to pay double the child support that was on the chart, that she would give me additional visitation time with my daughter. Of course, upon a few days passage, she revoked that offer, which I feel was wrong to use a child as a pawn in negotiations.

     Other things that I have experienced, is the change of venue by her taking my daughter, Amy, who is two and a half years old, out to Franklin County, which I feel she saw as an advantage, her back yard, per se. I had no way of a change of venue, back to St. Charles County, no matter what the reputation, the point is that it could have been a case where my wife took her to another county that extremely biased against men having any custody, and I feel that some provision needs to be made for this tactic, and some provision be made for an abuse of an exparte order. I know that's tough, because there's some cases where an exparte order may be appropriate, but I feel in most cases it's an overused tactic, and I quote my lawyer.

     Also, I feel that, as a practice, that joint legal custody is routinely denied as a judicial policy because one parent objects to joint custody. This is documented on page 121 of Gender and Justice, according to a percentage of what was quoted, of 87 percent of the time. I feel that a new version of Senate Bill 51 would be a big step towards addressing this problem, and, again, I hope that this bill is voted upon and not stalled, and I hope that you vote what you feel is right on this bill, and not according to the monetary interests of outside lobby groups.

     I also feel that the chart needs to be completely restudied and reformed on child support. I feel that it's invalid, and one of the, I think it was Judge Frawley, that made a comment in the Missouri Law Review, accordingly.

     I feel that some provision for taking into consideration each case, as a unique case, needs to be made. I think also that counseling should be mandatory upon filing for divorce. I feel that some of the marriages should at least be attempted to be saved.

     CASKEY: Are there any questions of the witness?

     KETCHERSIDE: Yes, are there any questions?

     MCKENNA: How many children do you have?

     KETCHERSIDE: One two and a half year old daughter, Amy, and she's doing very well under the circumstances, but, it does break my heart when I have to give her back, and I've never missed a custody time, or vice versa, on my wife's part, on the exchange, but, my daughter is, she's suffering from missing me a great deal, and she cries when I have to give her back, but not when I get her. And she also says that she wants to go home with daddy at that time, but, under the law, as I understand it, until age 12, the child has no say, and maybe that needs to be reconsidered too, that principle, but, again, I certainly hope that a full vote of the House and Senate does take place, whatever the outcome. I feel that that would be the only fair thing to the House and Senate as well as the voters.

     CASKEY: Any other questions. Thank you, very much, for appearing.

     KETCHERSIDE: Thank you.

     DOUGHERTY: Mr. Neil Hodges, please. Good morning, Sir, and welcome. Please tell us your name, where you're from, and whether it's St. Charles or Greene County, and be sure and fill out a witness form.