If there is one thing we can know for certain, it’s that life circumstances change. Your court orders for child support, child custody and visitation, and alimony may need to change with it.

• If your situation has changed and you need to pay less or receive more support, take your child support or spousal support order back to court.
• If you need to change who your child lives with or the amount of time your child spends with one parent or the other, take your child custody order back to court.

It’s best NOT to make side agreements without changing your court order. While it may seem easier to just agree to a change, if you run into problems with support payments or visitation times and dates, you won’t be able to get that informal agreement enforced by the court or the police. When you go back to court and a judge issues a new child custody or support order, you are protected by the law should problems occur.

Child Relocation

Do you need to relocate for work or family reasons? Has your child’s other parent told you he or she wants to relocate but you don’t want your child to move? The decision to relocate a child must go back to family court, where a judge will consider a number of factors when deciding if it’s in the best interest of the child to move.

Child Support Modification

Children’s financial needs change over time: they start and leave childcare, go to school, get involved in activities and eventually leave home. Parent’s financial situations change, too: jobs are lost or found, pay is increased or cut. All of these changes could result in a change in your child support order.

If you believe your circumstances have substantially changed since your initial child support order, we can help you file a Complaint for Modification with the court.