Also known as: change in circumstances · change of circumstances · changed circumstance · material change in circumstances
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A material alteration in facts or conditions arising after execution of an agreement or entry of a decree. The change may render a term unconscionable to enforce or may justify modification of maintenance, support, or trustee removal when the alteration is substantial and continuing.
Cassandra Cooper signed a premarital agreement waiving spousal support. After the wedding she developed a disabling illness that prevented employment while her husband's income grew substantially. At divorce she sought to avoid enforcement of the waiver. The court refused to enforce the term because the post-signing illness created substantial hardship.
Clifford Cox obtained a support order based on his farm income. After a drought he sold the farm and inherited new acreage that produced federal subsidies. He petitioned for downward modification claiming the income shift made the original terms unconscionable. The court examined whether the post-decree changes were substantial and continuing.
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Connor Clark executed a will leaving his estate to his spouse. After execution his spouse died and he remarried. He argued the changed family circumstances revoked the will. The court held that a change of circumstances alone does not revoke the will or any part of it.
Curtis Cannon served as trustee of a family trust. After his appointment the trust assets declined sharply in value and the beneficiaries lost confidence. All qualified beneficiaries petitioned for removal. The court considered whether the substantial change of circumstances justified removal when a suitable successor was available.
Carmen Choi challenged a state abortion restriction under an earlier Supreme Court decision. The state argued that intervening medical and social developments constituted changed circumstances requiring reconsideration of the precedent. The Court examined whether the factual underpinnings of the prior holding had been altered enough to warrant overruling.
Christian Coleman preserved gametes before his death. After his passing his spouse sought to use them to conceive a child. The estate argued that intervening events such as remarriage constituted changed circumstances showing lack of consent. The court required affirmative evidence of consent to the new circumstances rather than inferring it from the original preservation.
A court may refuse enforcement if the term was unconscionable when signed or if enforcement would cause substantial hardship because of a material change arising after signing. The inquiry examines the agreement as a whole and focuses on whether the later facts render enforcement oppressive.
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Modification is permitted only as to future installments and only upon proof of changed circumstances so substantial and continuing that the original terms have become unconscionable. Property divisions are generally not modifiable absent grounds to reopen the judgment.
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No. Under the Uniform Probate Code a change of circumstances does not revoke a will or any part of it except in the narrow situations covered by the slayer and divorce revocation statutes.
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Removal is proper when a substantial change of circumstances has occurred, all qualified beneficiaries request removal, removal best serves the beneficiaries' interests and does not contradict a material purpose of the trust, and a suitable successor is available.
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…use has long been engaged in by similarly situated owners ordinarily imports a lack of any common-law prohibition (though changed circumstances or new knowledge may make what was previously permissible no longer so, see id. , § 827, Comment g. So also does the fact that other landowners, similarly situated, are permitted to…