Can You Modify a Divorce Decree in Missouri?
Partly. Support and custody terms can be modified on the right showing. The property division cannot be, because Section 452.330.5 RSMo makes it a final order not subject to modification.
That split is the single most useful thing to understand about a Missouri judgment, and it is why the same document can be half open and half closed forever.
So the question is never simply whether you can modify a divorce decree. It is which part of it you are asking about. The phrase modify divorce decree covers three very different exercises in Missouri, governed by different statutes, and only some of them are open. The chapter is public at the Missouri Revisor of Statutes and in the Chapter 452 index.
Which Part Can Never Change?
The division of marital property. Once entered, it is done.
Section 452.330.5 RSMo provides that “The court’s order as it affects distribution of marital property shall be a final order not subject to modification”.
The sentence carries one narrow proviso. Orders intended to be qualified domestic relations orders affecting pension, profit sharing and stock bonus plans are modifiable, but only to establish or maintain the order as a qualified domestic relations order or to conform its terms to the expressed intent of the order.
Read that carve out for what it is. It exists so a retirement plan order can be made to work. It is not a route to a different split.
That finality cuts both ways and it is meant to. A property award you are pleased with cannot be reduced later because your circumstances improved. One you regret cannot be revisited because they worsened. Our FAQ on how marital property gets divided covers the division itself.
Which Parts Can a Modify Divorce Decree Motion Reach?
Maintenance and child support, on a standard that is deliberately hard to meet.
Section 452.370.1 RSMo allows the provisions of any judgment respecting maintenance or support to be modified “only upon a showing of changed circumstances so substantial and continuing as to make the terms unreasonable.”
Three words, three separate jobs. Substantial rules out a small change. Continuing rules out a temporary one. Unreasonable is the one people forget, because a change can be both substantial and continuing while leaving the existing order entirely reasonable.
The same subsection requires the court to consider “all financial resources of both parties, including the extent to which the reasonable expenses of either party are, or should be, shared by a spouse or other person with whom he or she cohabits, and the earning capacity of a party who is not employed.”
Child support carries an additional route in the same subsection, which runs on the guidelines in Section 452.340 RSMo. Where applying the guidelines to current circumstances “would result in a change of child support from the existing amount by twenty percent or more, a prima facie showing has been made of a change of circumstances so substantial and continuing as to make the present terms unreasonable, if the existing amount was based upon the presumed amount pursuant to the child support guidelines.”
Three things about that route get misread constantly. The twenty percent is a change in the support amount, not a change in anybody’s income. It makes a prima facie showing rather than winning the motion. And it only works where the existing order was itself built on the guideline number, so an order that already departed from Form 14 does not get the shortcut.
Our FAQ on alimony modification covers the maintenance side, and our FAQ on Missouri Form 14 covers how the support number is produced.
Does the Judgment Say Whether You Can Modify Divorce Decree Maintenance?
It is required to. Section 452.335.3 RSMo says “The maintenance order shall state if it is modifiable or nonmodifiable.”
The same subsection lets a court include a termination date, and provides that unless such an order is nonmodifiable it may be “decreased, increased, terminated, extended, or otherwise modified based upon a substantial and continuing change of circumstances which occurred prior to the termination date of the original order.”
That last clause is a deadline hiding in plain sight. The change has to have happened before the original termination date, not afterward. Our FAQ on what a divorce settlement agreement locks in covers how modifiability gets built in the first place.
Can Custody or Visitation Be Modified?
Yes, and the test is a different one from the support test.
Section 452.410.1 RSMo is written as a prohibition with an exception. The court “shall not modify a prior custody decree unless it has jurisdiction under the provisions of section 452.745 and it finds, upon the basis of facts that have arisen since the prior decree or that were unknown to the court at the time of the prior decree, that a change has occurred in the circumstances of the child or his custodian and that the modification is necessary to serve the best interests of the child.”
Notice what is not in that sentence. The words substantial and continuing do not appear. That standard governs support and maintenance. Custody runs on a change in the circumstances of the child or the custodian, plus a finding that the change is necessary for the child’s best interests.
Notice also the second route in. Facts that were unknown to the court at the time of the prior decree count, even if they had already happened.
From What Date Does a Modify Divorce Decree Order Run?
Not before the other side is served, and this is the most expensive mistake in the area.
Section 452.370.6 RSMo provides that an order “may be modified only as to support or maintenance installments which accrued subsequent to the date of personal service.”
Payments reduced or stopped before a motion is filed and served become arrears, and a successful motion does not forgive them. If circumstances have changed, the filing protects you and the payment change follows the order rather than leading it.
The same subsection gives the court continuing personal jurisdiction over both parties for modification purposes and requires both of them to notify the circuit clerk in writing of any change of mailing address.
What About Correcting a Mistake in the Document?
That is not modification at all, and there is no deadline on it.
Rule 74.06(a) provides that “Clerical mistakes in judgments, orders or other parts of the record and errors therein arising from oversight or omission may be corrected by the court at any time of its own initiative or on the motion of any party and after such notice, if any, as the court orders.”
Note the phrase at any time. A transposed account number, a wrong legal description or a missing page is a clerical problem rather than a substantive one, and the rule is generous about fixing it.
What it will not do is change a term because it produced an unwelcome result. The distinction is between what the judgment says and what the judgment decided.
Can a Property Division Ever Be Reopened?
Not modified, but in limited circumstances relief can be sought from it, and Missouri treats those as different things.
The Supreme Court of Missouri drew the line in Olofson v. Olofson, 625 S.W.3d 419. A spouse alleged the other had failed to disclose a pending acquisition of a company during the settlement negotiations, and moved under Rule 74.06(b) on the fraud ground to set aside the judgment or, alternatively, only its property division. Restating a rule from Leslie v. Leslie, 827 S.W.2d 180, that “orders affecting the distribution of marital property are not modifiable”, the Court then held in its own words that “This statutory prohibition against modification does not mean a court cannot relieve a party from the division of marital property pursuant to Rule 74.06(b).”
Be careful what that decides. Setting aside is not modifying, and relief can be sought as to part of a judgment rather than all of it. The Court vacated and remanded. It did not find that fraud had occurred and it did not undo any division.
And the clock is short. Under Rule 74.06(c) a motion on the fraud ground has to be brought within a reasonable time and in any event “not more than one year after the judgment or order was entered”. Our FAQ on setting aside a divorce decree covers the grounds and how narrow the route actually is.
What Should You Do Before Filing to Modify Divorce Decree Terms?
Read the judgment first, then build the comparison.
- Find the modifiability language. For maintenance it should be stated on the face of the judgment
- Separate property terms from support terms. They are governed by different statutes and only one of them is open
- Pull the original numbers. The financial statements filed in the original case, not your memory of them
- Build the current numbers. A current statement of income and expenses against the old one is the comparison a court is being asked to make
- Check the dates. When the change happened matters for maintenance with a termination date, and when service happens matters for everything
- File before you change what you pay. Section 452.370.6 RSMo is unforgiving on this
Most of the supporting material arrives through discovery rather than assertion.
What Does the Modification Question Not Decide?
Two things worth separating out.
It does not decide enforcement. A judgment that is not being followed is a contempt or collection problem rather than a modify divorce decree problem, and the two are commonly confused. Terms set out in the decree are enforceable by all the remedies available for a judgment under Section 452.325.5 RSMo, and contempt is among them.
And it does not decide whether a motion is worth bringing. The standard is high, the filing date matters, and the honest answer in many cases is that circumstances have changed without becoming unreasonable.
Who Can Help Modify a Divorce Decree in Missouri?
The answer to whether you can modify divorce decree terms is usually sitting in the judgment itself, in language most people have not read since the day they signed it. Reading it properly is a short exercise and it decides whether there is anything to bring.
Bardol Law Firm practices only family law, in St. Louis County, St. Louis City, St. Charles County and Jefferson County. We handle motions to modify support, maintenance and custody, and we defend them, and the first thing we do is read the existing judgment for what it actually left open. Bring the judgment and any separation agreement. You can read more across our family law questions and answers and on our child support modification page.
You should not have to chase your attorney to find out whether an order can be changed. Every client here has a named paralegal on the file, and we generally return calls within one business day.
Family Law, Simplified.
File first and change the payments second. Contact Bardol Law Firm or call 314.918.0100 before you miss anything.
This page is general information about Missouri law and is not legal advice. Every case turns on its own facts. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.