Legal Question in Family Law in Minnesota

Re: Child Support/Spousal Maintenance

Thank you for your question. It is highly unlikely that you will be able to obtain an order for spousal maintenance. Most divorce decrees have explicit waivers of spousal maintenance in them. It is very unusual for a judge to disregard such a waiver. However, sometimes, there is language in a divorce decree indicating that the parties are reserving the issue of spousal maintenance. In that event, you may be able to make a claim for spousal maintenance. Once again, it is an extremely rare case where maintenance is awarded for the first time years after the divorce decree.

An attorney would need to review your divorce decree and discuss your specific financial circumstances in order to determine whether there was any basis to make a spousal maintenance claim, however.