Background
Nicholas Collins and Shana Collins divorced under an agreed final order entered April 1, 2025, after both parties, then represented by counsel, told the Kanawha County Family Court they had settled all disputed issues. The order required Husband to pay Wife $1,600 per month in spousal support.
Less than a year later, Husband filed a petition seeking to reduce support. The petition left blank the section asking for circumstances supporting modification. The family court dismissed it, finding that Husband had not alleged a material change in circumstances since the agreed divorce order. Husband appealed.
The Court’s Holding
The Intermediate Court of Appeals affirmed. A party seeking modification of spousal support must first establish a substantial change in circumstances, and Husband’s verified petition alleged no facts at all to satisfy that threshold requirement.
The court declined to revisit claimed errors in the 2025 agreed divorce order, including the income used in calculating support and Wife’s asserted disability. That final order was not the order under appeal, and Husband supplied no legal authority supporting those challenges. Although he asserted unemployment and medical conditions in his appellate brief, he had not presented those facts in his modification petition to the family court.
Key Takeaways
- A spousal-support modification petition must allege facts showing a substantial change in circumstances.
- Arguments raised for the first time on appeal cannot cure an unsupported petition filed below.
- An appeal from denial of modification is not a vehicle to relitigate an unappealed agreed divorce order.
Why It Matters
The decision underscores the pleading threshold for post-divorce support modifications in West Virginia: before a family court evaluates statutory support factors, the requesting party must first state facts supporting a substantial change in circumstances. The court noted that its ruling does not prevent Husband from filing a sufficient modification petition in the future.