You might wish that life plodded along at the same, steady pace forever, but change is a natural fact of life that everyone must deal with. While some change can be easy to deal with, you might be in a situation that makes handling those changes difficult. For example, if you have a child custody and support order, you may need to petition a Texas family court for a modification following a significant life change.
You might need to modify your current custody or support order for a number of reasons. Maybe you and your ex forgot to account for something in your initial custody agreement, or your income has changed and you can no longer afford the original amount of ordered child support. Although you may feel tempted to simply work something out with your ex outside of court, this is not a binding solution to your problem. In the absence of a modification, you could be in violation of your court order, even if you and your ex both agreed to the changes.
Family courts will not necessarily approve every petition for modification. This is especially true if it is not in the best interests of the child. Here are a few situations that might warrant a modification:
- A change in income by the parent paying support.
- A parental relocation that would affect parenting time.
- A child’s special needs.
- A change in a child’s activity expenses or extracurricular activities.
Other situations might also warrant a modification of a child custody or support order, and family court judges usually take a wide variety of factors into account when considering what to do. However, since a modification is a sometimes big change that can have a significant impact on you and your child’s lives, it is better to not leave things up to chance. You can read more about modifications and other Texas family law issues here.
