Statute allows termination of maintenance upon a substantial and continuing change of circumstances that makes the maintenance obligation unreasonable. That can include recipient’s cohabitation, if the cohabitation is a substitute for marriage, which requires a circuit court’s conclusions of law upon findings of fact. Factors include the permanency of the cohabitational relationship and its economic implications. Those findings are subject to deference on appeal. The earliest that maintenance may terminate is personal service or, in the absence of personal service, the filing of an answer. Remanded to determine whether willfully failing to pay maintenance after respondent filed an answer supported a judgment of contempt.
Susan Ann Taormina vs. Marc Kenneth Taormina
(Overview Summary)
Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District – WD84334
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