MO HB361

Counties may establish a neutral site custody exchange fund by ordinance and collect a fee of $1-$8 on all civil case filings, to be set and reviewed annually by the county governing body.

The circuit court clerk collects and remits the fees monthly to the county treasurer for deposit into the neutral site custody exchange fund, with exemptions for proceedings filed by political subdivisions.

County governing bodies shall make annual grant disbursements from the fund to qualified nonprofit organizations operating neutral site child custody exchange programs, subject to approval by the chief judge of the judicial circuit.

Grant distributions to nonprofit organizations shall be proportional to each organization's share of total neutral site custody exchanges handled in the prior year, with a maximum of $500,000 per organization annually.

Qualified nonprofit organizations must provide custody exchange services without charging fees to parties involved and must maintain records available for inspection by the chief judge.