Cynthia Garnholz

Cynthia Garnholz is an attorney at The Garnholz Law Firm in Clayton, Missouri, with a practice that includes family law, estate planning, probate, and protective order matters. Garnholz handles divorce, custody, support, modification, adoption, guardianship, conservatorship, wills, trusts, powers of attorney, deeds, and domestic abuse protection cases. Her practice combines litigation with collaborative and mediation-based approaches when alternative dispute resolution offers a practical way to address family or estate-related conflicts.

Garnholz earned a B.A./B.S., cum laude, from Fontbonne University in 1976 and a J.D. from Washington University School of Law in 1980. She has been licensed in Missouri since 1980. Her legal education and long practice history support work involving family relationships, property, probate administration, estate documents, and court proceedings. That background allows her to evaluate when negotiation, mediation, collaborative processes, or trial is the more appropriate path for a client’s circumstances.

Garnholz has served as a part-time judge and has extensive trial experience. She regularly serves as a Court Advocate and Special Prosecuting Attorney in domestic violence matters in St. Louis County Family Court. Her professional involvement includes leadership in the Family Law Section of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, participation in Missouri Bar probate and family law groups, and involvement with collaborative family law organizations that focus on nontraditional dispute resolution.

Cynthia Garnholz brings decades of family law and estate-related experience to clients facing divorce, custody disputes, support issues, probate matters, estate planning needs, and protective order proceedings. Her background includes courtroom advocacy, judicial service, mediation-oriented practice, and community leadership in Clayton. She has received an AV Preeminent peer review rating and continues to combine litigation readiness with practical efforts to resolve difficult family and probate matters efficiently and with clear client communication.

Law Office Affiliations

• Attorney, The Garnholz Law Firm LLC
• Probate and Trust Law Committee and Family Law Section, The Missouri Bar
• Chair, Family Law Section and Board of Governors, Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis
• Founding and Former Board Member, Collaborative Family Law Association (CFLA)
• Provisional Judge, St. Louis County Municipal Court (2007-Present)
• Provisional Judge, City of Clayton Municipal Court (1998-2007)
• Member, St. Louis County Bar Association
• Member and Aldermanic Representative, Clayton Parks and Recreation Commission (2014-2017)
• Former Board Member, Clayton Century Foundation (2010-2012)
• Former Board Member, Clayton Plan Commission and Architectural Review Board (2012-2014)
• Member, International Association of Collaborative Professionals
• Member, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC)
• Alderman, City of Clayton (2007-2017)

Licensed State

• Missouri

Education

• Washington University School of Law
  Juris Doctor (JD)
• Fontbonne University
  B.A./B.S. (Cum Laude)

Awards & Badges