## Facts

- Harold R. Schroeder and Bernadine Marie Schroeder divorced after a marriage of about 30 years; both were about 50 at dissolution.
- Bernadine had primarily been a homemaker raising five children; Harold worked as an engineer.
- The dissolution decree awarded Bernadine spousal maintenance of $600 per month for four years, terminating on death or remarriage; the decree did not state whether maintenance was modifiable.
- After the decree, Bernadine worked as a filing clerk earning about $950 per month, which did not meet her expenses; she could not afford to keep the marital home and moved into a mobile home.
- Near the end of the four-year maintenance term, Bernadine was diagnosed with cancer, underwent surgery and chemotherapy, continued working, and incurred medical bills.
- By 1987, Harold earned about $41,000 per year and had remarried; his new spouse also worked.

## Issues

1. Whether a court may extend the duration of a fixed-term, periodic spousal maintenance award when the decree is silent on modifiability.
2. Whether the statutory requirement of “substantial and continuing” changed circumstances permits extension of maintenance while installments are still being paid.

## Decision

- The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the modification order.
- A decree awarding periodic maintenance for a limited term, when silent on modifiability, remains subject to modification under A.R.S. § 25-327(A).
- The court may extend the duration of maintenance upon a showing of substantial and continuing changed circumstances, so long as modification is sought while installment payments are still being made.
- Bernadine’s cancer diagnosis, treatment, and resulting financial burden supported a finding of substantial and continuing changed circumstances justifying extension.

## Legal Principles

- Under A.R.S. § 25-327(A), maintenance provisions of a decree are prospectively modifiable (as to installments accruing after notice) upon substantial and continuing changed circumstances, unless a valid agreement or decree term makes maintenance nonmodifiable.
- A limited term of periodic maintenance does not, by itself, convert the award into a nonmodifiable lump-sum obligation.
- Property distributions are generally final and not modifiable, but spousal maintenance is treated as support and remains modifiable absent a clear limitation.
- Silence in a decree about modifiability does not eliminate the court’s statutory power to modify maintenance; nonmodifiability must be stated clearly.

## Conclusion

A fixed-term spousal maintenance award payable in periodic installments is presumptively modifiable in duration when the decree is silent, and a court may extend maintenance under A.R.S. § 25-327(A) upon proof of substantial and continuing changed circumstances while payments remain due.


Schroeder v. Schroeder, 161 Ariz. 316 (Ariz. 1989)