Carlsbad, CA, Attorney Helps You Modify Court Orders: child custody, visitation and/or support orders

Changing child custody, visitation and/or support orders

Life is not static. Fortunately, court procedures afford you the opportunity to address the many changes you are likely to experience in the years after your divorce. To obtain a modified order, you must demonstrate a change in circumstances. Founded in 1993, Silverman Family Law, APC guides you through the process of modifying your orders to accommodate changed circumstances.

When you can modify your child support order

A decrease in your financial resources may make it difficult to pay the amount of child support ordered in your dissolution judgment. Your changed circumstances may result from a lost job, a failed business or a destroyed home due to a fire or natural disaster. Or, the other parent may have won the lottery, received an inheritance or benefited from a lucrative business buyout that could help support your children’s upbringing. And, children who develop special needs or disabilities, possibly due to serious illness or injury, may require additional support to gain needed treatment and care. Since child support may be modified at any time during a children’s minority, parties’ agreements to bind parents to future child-support payments are invalid.

When to modify your custody or visitation order or judgment

Before the Court makes a final judgment, child custody and visitation can be modified on a showing that the change would be in a children’s best interests. After a Judgment is filed, a parent must show a significant change of circumstances to modify the terms of the Judgment regarding custody or visitation. With the children’s best interests as the primary consideration, the courts lean toward what is likely to provide stability and continuity in child-custody and child-visitation decisions. A move-away custody issue is one of the main reasons for requesting or opposing modification. You may also ask the Court to change your custody or visitation order if you have evidence that the other parent is abusing drugs or alcohol, is affected by psychological issues or is deliberately interfering with your relationship with your children or causing you to be estranged from your children.

Stipulating to modify your order

If the other parent refuses to cooperate in a stipulated agreement or you disagree with the other parent’s proposal to modify your existing order, I petition the court for a ruling on the matter. Remember: you must continue to comply with the terms of your current order until the court issues a modified order.

Petitioning the court to modify or to oppose the change

If the other parent refuses to cooperate in a stipulated agreement or you disagree with the other parent’s proposal to modify your existing order, I petition the court for a ruling on the matter. Remember, you must continue to abide by the terms of your current order until the court issues a modified order.

Consult my firm about modifying your child custody, visitation and/or support order

If you have a change of circumstances that warrants modifying your existing order, call Silverman Family Law, APC, at 760-512-3251 or contact me online to schedule your free, initial phone consultation. Sunday appointments are available.

Silverman Family Law, APC, located in Carlsbad, California, serves clients in and around Carlsbad, San Diego, Vista, Escondido, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Rancho Santa Fe, Encinitas, La Jolla, Mira Mesa, Poway, Rancho Bernardo, San Marcos and all North County San Diego.