October 3-7  |  Starting at $500

Post Judgement Modification

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When Life Changes, Your Family Court Order May Need to Change Too

A divorce, custody, or support order reflects your family’s circumstances at a particular time. Life continues after the order is entered. Jobs change, incomes rise or fall, children’s needs develop, parents relocate, and retirement approaches.

When an existing order no longer fits your circumstances, Minnesota law may allow a court-approved change. If the other party is not following the order, enforcement may be the appropriate remedy instead.

At Lauren Pevehouse Law, we help clients in St. Paul, Minneapolis, Chisago County, Washington County, and throughout the greater Twin Cities seek, oppose, negotiate, and enforce post-judgment family-court orders.

Call 651-800-1030 or email lauren@laurenpevehouselaw.com to schedule a confidential consultation about your existing order.

What Is a Post-Judgment Modification?

A post-judgment modification, also called a post-decree modification, is a court-approved change to part of an existing family-law order after the original case has been decided.

A modification does not automatically reopen every issue in the case. The person requesting the change must identify the provision that should change and satisfy the legal standard governing that type of order.

Even when both parties agree, the safest course is usually to submit the agreement for court approval. An informal agreement may not change the enforceable terms of the existing order.

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What Family Court Orders Can Be Modified?

Different provisions have different legal standards.

Orders That May Be Modified

Depending on the facts and the language of the existing order, a court may modify:

  • Child support, including basic support, medical support, and child-care support;

  • Spousal maintenance, unless modification was validly limited or precluded;

  • Legal or physical custody;

  • The child’s primary residence; and

  • Parenting time or parenting-plan provisions.

Property Division Is Generally Final

A division of real or personal property in a divorce is generally final. It cannot be changed merely because a party later believes the agreement was unfavorable or circumstances have changed.

A court may reopen a judgment in limited circumstances, including mistake, newly discovered evidence, fraud or misrepresentation, a void judgment, or certain circumstances involving a judgment that has been satisfied or should no longer have prospective application. A motion based on mistake, newly discovered evidence, or fraud generally must be made within a reasonable time and no later than one year after entry of the judgment or order.

Reopening a decree is legally different from modifying support, maintenance, custody, or parenting time. Prompt legal review is important because strict deadlines may apply.

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Each Type of Modification Has Its Own Standard

There is no single test for every Minnesota post-judgment motion:

  • Child support focuses on specified changes that make the existing terms unreasonable and unfair.

  • Spousal maintenance focuses on specified changes in gross income, need, or tax law, together with separate rules for cohabitation and retirement.

  • Custody or primary-residence changes require changed circumstances, the child’s best interests, and one of the statutory grounds for changing the existing arrangement.

  • Parenting-time changes that do not alter primary residence generally use the child’s best interests, while restrictions require a higher showing.

The correct legal standard depends on what the existing order says and what change is being requested.

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Modifying Child Support in Minnesota

A child-support order may be modified when one or more statutory changes make the existing terms unreasonable and unfair. Grounds may include:

  • A substantial increase or decrease in either parent’s gross income;

  • A substantial increase or decrease in a parent’s or child’s needs;

  • A qualifying change in cost of living;

  • Extraordinary medical expenses for a child;

  • A change in available health coverage or its cost;

  • New or substantially changed work-related or education-related child-care expenses; or

  • A child’s emancipation.

A change in parenting time may also affect the guideline calculation and support amount, although a parenting-time change and a support modification are separate legal issues.

The 20 Percent and $75 Presumption

Minnesota creates a rebuttable presumption of a substantial change, and that the current order is unreasonable and unfair, when applying the current guidelines produces an amount that is both:

  • At least 20 percent higher or lower than the existing order; and

  • At least $75 per month higher or lower.

If the existing order is less than $75 per month, a calculated change of at least 20 percent may satisfy the statutory presumption.

Other statutory presumptions may apply, including when a parent’s gross income has fallen by at least 20 percent through no fault or choice of that parent. The 20 percent and $75 test is therefore important, but it is not the only basis for modification.

Why Acting Promptly Matters

A child-support modification generally may be made retroactive only for a period when the requesting party’s motion was pending, and ordinarily no earlier than the date notice of the motion was served on the responding party and any required public authority or county attorney. Waiting to act can therefore affect the amount of available relief.

What If a Parent Is Self-Employed?

Self-employment can make current gross income more difficult to determine. Tax returns may not provide the complete picture. Depending on the circumstances, relevant records may include business and personal tax returns, profit-and-loss statements, bank records, owner draws, retained earnings, depreciation, recurring expenses, and personal expenses paid by the business.

A careful review should distinguish legitimate business expenses from payments or benefits that affect the parent’s actual income. Financial experts may be useful when records are complex or disputed.

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Modifying Spousal Maintenance

A court may modify the amount or duration of spousal maintenance when one or more of the following changes make the existing terms unreasonable and unfair:

  • A substantial increase or decrease in either spouse’s gross income;

  • A substantial increase or decrease in either spouse’s needs; or

  • A substantial change in federal or state tax law affecting maintenance.

On a modification motion, the court also applies the maintenance factors that exist at that time. A maintenance modification is not automatic after a job loss, disability, or income change. The moving spouse must establish the statutory basis for relief.

Some decrees contain a valid agreement that limits or prevents future maintenance modification. The language and findings in the existing order must be reviewed before a motion is filed.

Cohabitation and Maintenance

The recipient’s cohabitation with another adult may support a request to reduce, suspend, reserve, or terminate maintenance. Cohabitation does not automatically end the obligation. The court considers the economic benefit of the relationship, its duration and likely future, whether the recipient would marry but for maintenance, and the economic impact if maintenance changes and the relationship later ends.

A cohabitation motion generally may not be brought within the first year after entry of the decree ordering maintenance, unless the parties agreed otherwise in writing or waiting would create extreme hardship.

Retirement and Maintenance

Retirement may support a maintenance modification, but it does not automatically terminate maintenance. The court considers:

  • Whether the retirement is in good faith or an unjustifiable self-limitation of income;

  • Whether the retiring spouse has reached full Social Security retirement age or the customary retirement age for the occupation;

  • Whether the parties have reasonably and prudently managed their assets since the divorce; and

  • The financial resources available to both spouses.

A motion may be filed before retirement if the moving party identifies the expected retirement date. Any ordered change may then take effect when retirement occurs.

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Modifying Child Custody or Primary Residence

Changing custody or the child’s primary residence generally requires more than showing that a different arrangement would now be preferable. The court first considers facts that arose after the prior order or were unknown when that order was entered. The requested change must be necessary to serve the child’s best interests.

The court generally retains the existing custody arrangement or primary residence unless one of the statutory grounds is present, including:

  • Both parents agree to the modification;

  • The child has been integrated into the requesting parent’s family with the other parent’s consent;

  • The child’s present environment endangers the child’s physical or emotional health or impairs emotional development, and the benefit of changing the environment outweighs the likely harm;

  • The parties previously entered a qualifying court-approved written agreement allowing the best-interests standard to apply; or

  • The court denied a request to move the child to another state, but the primary custodial parent moved to another state despite the order.

Because the applicable route and evidentiary burden depend on the history and wording of the case, custody modification requires close review of the existing orders.

Timing Limits on Custody Motions

Unless the parties agree otherwise in writing or a statutory exception applies:

  • A motion to modify custody or a parenting plan generally may not be filed during the first year after entry of the decree containing the custody provision; and

  • After a modification motion has been decided on its merits, another motion generally may not be filed for two years.

These waiting periods do not bar a motion when the court finds persistent and willful denial or interference with parenting time or has reason to believe the child’s present environment may cause statutory endangerment or impairment.

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Modifying Parenting Time

A court applies the child’s best interests when changing parenting time or decision-making provisions if the modification would not change the child’s primary residence. The court may consider a child’s changing developmental needs, school schedule, activities, transportation, and other facts relevant to the child’s best interests.

A proposed schedule change that would alter the child’s primary residence is governed by the custody-modification standard rather than the ordinary parenting-time standard.

Restricting Parenting Time

A court generally may not restrict parenting time unless it finds that:

  • Parenting time is likely to endanger the child’s physical or emotional health or impair emotional development; or

  • The parent has chronically and unreasonably failed to comply with court-ordered parenting time.

A restriction is different from an ordinary schedule adjustment. The legal standard depends on the practical effect of the proposed change, not only the title placed on the motion.

Relocation and Moving With a Child

A parent’s move may require changes to parenting time, transportation, school arrangements, or support. Moving the child’s residence to another state raises a separate statutory process when the other parent has court-ordered parenting time. The relocating parent generally needs either the other parent’s consent or a court order.

The court applies the child’s best interests and considers factors such as the child’s relationships, developmental and educational needs, feasibility of preserving the relationship with the nonmoving parent, the child’s preference when appropriate, the parties’ reasons, quality-of-life effects, and domestic abuse. The burden of proof generally rests with the parent requesting the interstate move, subject to a statutory domestic-abuse exception.

Because relocation may involve parenting time, custody, support, and interstate issues at the same time, legal advice before the move is important.

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Enforcing an Existing Family Court Order

Modification changes an order. Enforcement asks the court to require compliance with an order that already exists.

Enforcement may be appropriate when a party:

  • Fails to pay child support or maintenance;

  • Repeatedly denies or interferes with parenting time;

  • Refuses to transfer property or pay debts as ordered; or

  • Violates another clear requirement of the judgment or order.

Available remedies depend on the violation. They may include income withholding and other support-collection measures, compensatory parenting time, reimbursement of expenses, attorney fees when statutory requirements are met, monetary sanctions, contempt, or other court-ordered relief.

Minnesota law provides specific remedies for parenting-time interference. When the statutory findings are made, compensatory parenting time may be required. Repeated and intentional interference can result in additional remedies, including costs, attorney fees if the responsible party has the means to pay, sanctions, and possible custody relief under the custody-modification statute.

Do not stop complying with your own obligations simply because the other party has violated the order. For example, parenting time and child support are generally enforced separately. Seek legal guidance about the appropriate remedy.

Common Reasons to Seek Legal Review After a Case Ends

  • A substantial increase or decrease in income;

  • Job loss or a change in employment;

  • A change in a child’s medical, educational, or developmental needs;

  • Changed health-insurance or child-care costs;

  • A significant parenting-time change;

  • A proposed move with a child;

  • Retirement affecting spousal maintenance;

  • A serious health condition or disability;

  • Cohabitation affecting spousal maintenance;

  • Persistent denial of parenting time;

  • Nonpayment of support or maintenance; or

  • Discovery of possible fraud or omitted assets within an applicable deadline.

Areas We Serve

We proudly help individuals and families in St. Paul, Minneapolis, Woodbury, Maplewood, Stillwater, Chisago County, Washington County, and surrounding Twin Cities communities.

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How Lauren Pevehouse Law Can Help

We assist clients with Minnesota post-judgment family-law matters, including:

  • Reviewing the existing judgment, decree, and later orders;

  • Identifying the correct legal standard and available remedy;

  • Evaluating whether the evidence supports a motion;

  • Calculating potential child-support changes;

  • Reviewing self-employment and business income;

  • Filing or responding to motions involving support, maintenance, custody, parenting time, or relocation;

  • Negotiating agreed modifications and submitting them for court approval; and

  • Enforcing existing orders when the other party does not comply.

Talk to a Minnesota Post-Judgment Modification Attorney

If your circumstances have changed or the other party is not following the order, you may have options. Lauren Pevehouse Law can help you understand the governing standard, the available evidence, and the practical path forward.

Call 651-800-1030 or email lauren@laurenpevehouselaw.com to schedule a confidential consultation.