Reasons why you need a modification
- You are the paying parent but now your child lives with you
- Your income decreases substantially (unless you voluntarily quit your job)
- Your child's needs have changed (you no longer pay full-time work-related daycare expenses, your child is getting ready to go to college, or your child has been diagnosed with a medical condition which is now more expensive to deal with on your own
- A parent has an illness or disability
- Your child support order is at least 20% too high ($500 per month but the new child support amount calculates to less than $400 or more than $600 per month)
- One of you has relocated to where the current schedule is no longer workable
- Substantiated hotline calls related to abuse or one parent has been arrested for committing some kind of crime while having custody of the child
- You have already informally agreed to 50/50 custody but it's not on paper
- Other parent moving multiple times, not getting the kids to school, appears like they might be on drugs
Reasons why you don't need a modification
- You got divorced between 3 months to a year ago and you aren't happy with the deal you agreed to or the attorney that represented you
- You just went to court on a modification or paternity judgment and you lost
- You have a pending juvenile court case
- You have lots of complaints but they all add up to minor issues with the other parent
- Your child wants to live with you and is not a teenager