Roberts v. Roberts

CRIST, Judge.

The trial court dismissed appellant ex-wife’s motion to modify the provision for alimony in the parties’ 1969 divorce decree, holding the provision did not award decretal alimony but merely approved ex-husband’s contractual obligation to support his ex-wife and therefore was not subject to the court’s modification. We reverse and remand.

We described the principal differences between decretal alimony and contractual support in Bryson v. Bryson, 624 S.W.2d 92, 94 (Mo.App.1981), in connection with provisions like this one made before January 1, 1974, the effective date of the…