Yes, usually you can try. But it depends if a Karon waiver was used or not. Keep reading to learn the details.
If you lose your job in Minnesota, you cannot simply stop paying spousal maintenance. You must keep paying the ordered amount until a judge changes it. To lower or pause your obligation, you file a motion to modify under Minnesota Statute 518A.39. A court can reduce maintenance when a job loss is a substantial, involuntary change that makes the current amount unreasonable and unfair. The reduction is not automatic, and some awards cannot be modified at all.
No. The order stays in force until the court signs off on a change. If you stop paying on your own, you fall into arrears. Your ex can ask the court to enforce the order, garnish your wages, or hold you in contempt. In serious cases that can mean jail. I tell every client the same thing. Keep paying what you can, and file fast.
Filing fast matters for a second reason. A court can usually only reduce maintenance back to the date you served your motion on your ex. Every month you wait is a month you likely cannot recover. Silence is the most expensive choice you can make here.
Check this before anything else. Some Minnesota decrees include a Karon waiver. That is a written agreement, approved by the court, that makes maintenance non-modifiable. The authority is Minnesota Statute 518.552, subdivision 5. If you signed one, a job loss will not help you. The amount and the duration are locked.
If your order has no such waiver, it is modifiable. Most orders are. You can then ask the court to adjust the amount based on your changed income.
Under Statute 518A.39, you must show a substantial change that makes the existing order unreasonable and unfair. A large, involuntary drop in income often qualifies. The court compares your finances now against your finances when the order was set.
The judge looks at more than your lost paycheck. The court weighs your other income, your assets, your earning capacity, and your reasonable monthly expenses. If you can still pay from savings or other sources, the order may not change. The burden is on you to prove the hardship.
This is where many motions fail. The income loss must be in good faith. You cannot quit, get fired for cause, or take a low-paying job to dodge maintenance. If the court finds bad faith, it can impute income to you. That means the judge treats you as earning what you could earn, not what you actually earn.
So document everything. Keep your layoff notice, your job applications, and your rejection emails. In my farm and business divorce cases this gets harder to prove. A bad crop year or a failing business is not the same as walking away from work. Be ready to show the court that difference with real records.
You file your motion in the county that handled your divorce. For my Mankato clients, that means Blue Earth County District Court in the Fifth Judicial District. You serve your ex, file a current financial affidavit, and appear at a motion hearing. These run as motion hearings, not full trials. The judge often decides on the written record and short argument. A thin financial record is the fastest way to lose, so bring complete and current paperwork. The court provides a motion to modify spousal maintenance packet that lists what you must file.
One more timing point. You generally cannot move to modify within the first year after your decree unless the decree allows it. Plan around that window.
A job loss is stressful enough without an enforcement action on top of it. The mistake to avoid is going quiet. Do not stop paying and hope it works out. File, document your search for work, and keep the court informed.
