Simply put, in Missouri, marital property is property that is acquired during the marriage and non-marital property is property acquired before the marriage. However, for every rule, there are exceptions. This rule has anumber of exceptions, some obvious and others not so obvious. The emphasis here however, will be about how marital property is decided in the court of law in Missouri.

                For many rules of law, there are statutory presumptions, which are default rules about what happens absent any evidence to the contrary.