Opinion
No. WD 42266.
March 6, 1990. Motion for Rehearing and/or Transfer to Supreme Court Denied April 24, 1990. Application to Transfer Denied June 19, 1990.
APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT, MONITEAU COUNTY, GARY SCHMIDT, J.
Anthony Robert Nenninger, Bourbon, pro se.
Edward Berg, Columbia, for respondents.
Before KENNEDY, P.J., and LOWENSTEIN and BERREY, JJ.
Pro se defendant and putative father in paternity case appeals trial court's pendente lite order awarding custody of 16-month old child to mother.
We hold that the trial court's pendente lite custody order was not a final judgment. It was therefore not appealable. Section 512.020, RSMo 1986.
Pendente lite orders awarding child support, maintenance and attorneys' fees in dissolution cases have been held to be appealable final judgments, see Bradley v. Bradley, 295 S.W.2d 592, 595 (Mo.App. 1956), on the rationale of State ex rel. Gercke v. Seddon, 93 Mo. 520, 6 S.W. 342, 343 (1887). See also, Richardson v. Richardson, 524 S.W.2d 149, 153 (Mo.App. 1975). Temporary child custody awards, on the other hand, are held to be not final for purposes of appeal. Haldeman v. Haldeman, 685 S.W.2d 570, 571-72 (Mo.App. 1984); Femmer v. Femmer, 669 S.W.2d 63 (Mo.App. 1984); Dorris v. Dorris, 623 S.W.2d 47, 48 (Mo.App. 1981); Raines v. Raines, 590 S.W.2d 117, 118 (Mo.App. 1979); Raines v. Raines, 567 S.W.2d 459, 460 (Mo.App. 1978); Lipschitz v. Smith, 459 S.W.2d 17, 18 (Mo.App. 1970).
Appeal dismissed.