If someone was not awarded spousal maintenance, can they go back and request it if their circumstances change?

Generally speaking, unless maintenance is reserved at the time of the divorce, once that divorce decree is honored, that bars the party from receiving maintenance. That’s a final determination. The fact that circumstances change or that someone finds themselves in a different situation in the future, that’s regrettably not something that’s subject to later modification.

Chuck Roberts is a family lawyer at Momkus McCluskey Roberts, LLC, one of the largest law firms in DuPage County, Illinois.