When you divorced your ex, the kids were still in their early school years. Now, they are all teens or tweens, and you’ve noticed that the old custody order is no longer working for your changing family.
What is a parent to do? The good news is that it is perfectly fine to return to court to reshape your custody arrangements to better fit all involved.
What parents need to know
It’s always prudent to commit your plans to writing and get the approval of the court to alter the custody plan. While some parents may make informal changes that seem to work, until they no longer do, the custody plan is the parents’ blueprint of the rights and responsibilities of shared custody.
While you may think that your co-parent would never invoke the wrath of the court to change up the custody arrangements to benefit their agenda, these scenarios happen all too frequently.
You might not even need to go to court
In an uncontested motion to modify the custody plan, the family law court judge doesn’t usually require the former spouses to appear in court. It can be handled administratively, with both co-parents receiving copies of the new order once it has been signed and recorded in the civil clerk of court’s office.
This is the best and most efficient way to modify your custody order. In cases where the co-parents don’t agree on the modifications to be made, you and your attorney may need to plead your case in front of the judge.