Can a Custody Agreement Be Modified After It’s Finalized?

It’s not an easy matter to change a custody order that has been finalized, but it is possible under the right circumstances. However, you’ll definitely want to work with a child custody attorney in Houston who knows the Texas family code and is familiar with the local family courts. An experienced attorney can help you explain to the court why a modification is important in your case.

The answer here is qualified: yes. However, a lot depends on what the grounds are for your modification request and the timing. It’s not possible to request a modification until at least a year has gone by, except on limited grounds. Once that year has passed, however, you can approach the court with a wider of array of reasons for making a change.

If it has not yet been a year since your custody orders were finalized, you’ll only be able to bring a request for modification if you have primary custody, or if the other parent requests a change and you as the primary custodian, agree to that change. If you’re not the primary custodian, and the primary custodian does not agree with the change you’re proposing, the court will only consider it if either the other parent has let someone else have custody of your child for six months or more, or you can prove that your child’s physical or emotional health is danger.

There are two caveats here to be aware of. First, you cannot get any change to a finalized order for custody when the custodial parent is employed on active duty military service. This is, therefore, an exception to the rule that you can bring a request for modification if your child has been sent to live with someone else for six months or more.

If that happened because the other parent is on military duty, the court won’t make a change; however, the court will consider temporary orders giving you custody for as long as the other parent is gone. If you are going out on active duty, you can ask someone other than the other parent to be the primary custodian of your child, but be aware that you may have to go to court to show why that person is a better choice than the child’s other parent.

The other thing to bear in mind is that Texas takes any accusations of danger to a child’s health and welfare extremely seriously. If you make such an accusation against the other parent, the courts will follow up and will act quickly if they believe you are correct. But at the same time, the courts also take false allegations very seriously, too.

There can be some very grave financial and legal repercussions for claiming that the other parent is doing something to harm the child when they are not. Talk to your lawyer if you’re concerned about the safety of your child. It’s important to get help for your child; it’s also important that you have some evidence to go on.

To request a modification for either of the above reasons, you will need clear and convincing evidence, which your lawyer can help you to gather and present before the court. You’ll need to make a statement, signed under penalty of perjury, that the facts you are laying out are all accurate to the best of your knowledge.

The court will review your submission and order a hearing if it believes that the facts, should they prove true, are serious enough to warrant making a modification to your custody orders. If not, the court will dismiss the petition.

Once a full year has passed since your final orders were given, it becomes possible to request a modification for some other reasons besides those given above. There are three grounds that the court will consider:

The legal phrasing here in Texas is “a material and substantial change,” and this means that something serious must have changed about the child’s life or in the life of one of the parents that requires a change to the custody orders. This is the most common reason for seeking a modification to custody orders.

Some things that might warrant a change could include the child or one of the parents developing a disability or catastrophic illness requiring extensive medical treatment or care, or the loss of a job or a serious drop in pay for one of the parents. Some things may or may not qualify. For example, if one of the parents is getting married again, although this is a big change in their life, it may not be enough to warrant a change to the custody schedule. It all depends on the individual circumstances you’re facing, so talk to a custody attorney in Houston right away about your options.

The second ground that the court will consider after a year has passed is if the primary custodian of the child voluntarily gives up their primary custody. The court will be very interested in why this is, but if there is a good reason to modify the request to give joint custody now or to make some other kind of change, it will at least consider the matter.

Once a child has been in the current custody situation for a year, if they are 12 years old or older, they are allowed to ask the court to consider their preferences if they wish to make a change in the custody orders.

The court will always do things according to what it believes is in the best interest of the child, and that means that the child’s preferences are never the final deciding factor. But the child’s preferences do matter: if a child can give good, clear, and mature reasons for preferring to live with one parent over another or can express why or how they feel unsafe spending time with one of their parents, the court will strongly consider this.

Whatever your situation, if you need to modify custody orders that have already been finalized, it’s important to talk with a lawyer as soon as possible to understand all your options and make sure that your request is made in a way that the courts will accept.

A lawyer will help you to work through exactly what your goals are, help you find whatever evidence is needed to prove why a modification is important, take care of all the legal details, and present your case before the court in a hearing.

If you’re fighting back against a parent who wants to modify custody orders in a way you believe will be harmful to your child or yourself, a lawyer will be a strong ally in this battle.

Whatever situation you’re in, if it’s a family law matter, we can help. Reach out to us today at the Clark Law Firm, P.C., in Houston, TX get an experienced litigator on your side.