After a few years of abiding by your current child custody order, you may find the original arrangements are conflicting with changes in your life – or your co-parent’s life. Job changes, changes in behavior, changes in your child’s needs, medical and mental health issues and more can all affect how well a custody agreement keeps working.
It can be heartbreaking to think the original custody arrangements you made years ago could cause so many problems, but that’s why modifications are possible. Here’s what you should know:
Reasonable causes to alter a custody order
To alter a child custody order, you’ll have to bring reasonable causes to a judge who will then decide if there is enough reason to adjust the document. After which, you’ll be able to take on more time with your child. You may consider presenting evidence that:
- Your child may be in danger of physical or psychological trauma by an abusive parent, disrupting their well-being and growth. This could also be related to a substance abuse problem from your child’s other parent
- The other parent has stopped following the original custody arrangement. They may be restricting your time with your child or hiding information about their life
- Your child may want to live with you. It may be a decision made out of maturity or because something’s going on in their life
- Your original work and life schedule have conflicted with the arrangements of your custody. This may be making you miss events, family meetings or achievements involving your child.
You may need to know your options when modifying a custody agreement. A minor mistake could cause issues to arise with your child custody order.