Revestment The court had authority to modify the distribution of proceeds under the doctrine of revestment; under this doctrine, litigants may revest a court which has general jurisdiction over the matter, with both personal and subject matter jurisdiction, over the particular cause after the 30 day period following final judgment during which post-judgment motions must ordinarily be filed. In order for the revestment rule to apply, the parties must actively participate without objection in proceedings which are inconsistent with the merits of the prior judgment. Review Abuse of Discretion Defendant failed to demonstrate that the court abused its discretion in modifying a divorce decree. Discretion of Court The modification of child support provisions rests in the sound discretion of the trial court and will not be interfered with in the absence of an abuse of that discretion or unless a manifest injustice has been done. Although the modification or termination of alimony provisions in a divorce decree rests in the sound judicial discretion of the trial court, such a modification or termination must not be made arbitrarily or capriciously, but rather must be equitable and must be based upon a showing of a substantial change in the circumstances of the parties. Insufficient Record Where there was no indication of the court's judgment concerning the evidence on husband's allegedly greater income, wife's allegedly greater need, and the causes underlying such but the record merely consisted of the testimony of the parties, the argument of their counsel, and general "findings" in the order, then the appellate court was unable to assess the validity of the circuit court's decision and remanded the case to give the circuit court the opportunity to indicate on the record its rational underlying the exercise of discretion which it undertook. New Hearing Required Where the statements of the circuit court reflected that it did not give appropriate significance to the evidence and was laboring under the misconception of the law applicable to a petition for modification of support and attorney's fees, that misconception deprived the wife of fair hearing on her petition and entitled wife to new hearing.
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