In Texas, courts CAN order one party to pay another spousal maintenance, even if courts do not often choose this option. If a party IS ordered to pay spousal maintenance, can they get it changed in the future?
Yes, but there has to be a ‘material and substantial change in circumstances’ in the factors that the Court relied on in determining that a spouse required spousal maintenance. Tex. Fam. Code 8.057(c).
Keep in mind that while a party can get spousal maintenance changed (increased, decreased or eliminated), the process does take time. The maintenance order cannot be changed without a hearing, and that hearing requires notice governed under TRCP 245 (final trial notices), so expect at least a 45 day wait from a pretrial hearing.
In other words, a party wanting to change spousal maintenance needs to jump on this quickly, and stay on top of it. File the motion to modify as soon as the conditions have ‘materially and substantially changed,’ get the other party served, and then set up the pretrial hearing to get a final trial date. If discovery needs to be done, then there are going to be additional delays. But until that hearing takes place, there will not be any change in the court-ordered spousal maintenance.
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