Modification of Spousal Support and Child Support Orders
Post-judgment motions related to spousal support and child support orders are especially important to understand—particularly for the party paying the support. There are legal limitations regarding the modification of child and spousal support orders that allow the family court to modify a support order only back to the date that a request to modify is filed. The old order, which, if you lost your job you can no longer afford to pay, continues to accrue whether you can afford to pay it or not.
The only current exception to this rule is in the case of incarceration. An incarcerated obligor of a support order may obtain relief from an order for child support dating back to the date of incarceration so long as he or she does not have an alternate source of funds from which to pay child support.
Modification of Child Custody Orders
Once a permanent order for child custody and visitation is made by a family court judge, that order is generally only modifiable in the future if there has been a significant change in circumstances since the order was made. A change in circumstances would be anything that could potentially have an effect on the current co-parenting plan. It could be that the non-custodial parent’s work schedule has changed to allow for more frequent visits. It could be that the child has graduated from grade school to high school and his or her level of maturity or connection with one parent or the other has changed.
Many facts and situations can arise that may or may not be considered by the court as a material and significant change in circumstances. Generally, so long as it has been a significant period of time since the last orders were made, the court will allow for the motion to modify to proceed. The focus is always going to be to ensure that any orders made are in the best interests of the children.
For Help Modifying a Court Order in Carlsbad, Contact GYL
If you have been served with a post-judgment motion or wish to evaluate whether or not you should file a post-judgment motion, it is important that you talk to a qualified attorney as soon as possible. At Griffith, Young & Lass, we have assembled a team of talented attorneys who have the skills and expertise to handle family law-related cases of every nature, including those involving post-judgement modifications. If your court order is no longer working for you, we want to help you modify it in a way that does.
Contact our Carlsbad modification attorneys at (858) 371-5569 or online for more information about your options for post-judgement modification.