Post-decree litigation takes place after the granting of a divorce, dissolution of marriage or legal separation. Post-decrees deal with the enforcement of judgments made in divorce proceedings. Sometimes one party determines that the other has violated a prior order of the court and files a motion to have the order enforced and the person punished. However, the majority of post-decree issues involve children. Issues such as alimony (maintenance), child parenting time and decision-making responsibility are often modified during the post-decree process.
In all divorce, dissolution or legal separation decrees in which there are minor children of the marriage, the court that issued the original decree retains jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to the children. This is referred to as the "continuing jurisdiction" of the court. If circumstances change from the time of the original spousal support award, it may be modified by post-decree motion. This generally will happen if there has been a significant change in the income of one of the parties that was not foreseen at the time of the award.
