In high conflict child custody battles it is not uncommon for the original custody order to be insufficient in its ability to provide a framework for a smooth schedule between the parents. The original child custody evaluator may have underestimated the amount of friction between the parents. The visitation schedule may have too many interactions between resulting in yet more conflict. There may be too little time with the child, or a lack of attention to holidays. But now that is in place how can you make a change?

One great thing about our court system is that you can file a motion for anything, at anytime. Of course it depends on which side of the filing you are on as to how good or bad this fact is. The downside to being able to file for anything ant anytime is that you need cause to bring a motion. Cause for changing a custody order is generally considered to be a significant change of circumstances since the child custody evaluation and order was adopted.

The key to defining significant change is by understanding where you were and where you are. You do not need to have a monumental change to be able to show a significant change for cause. If you continue to have run ins with the other parent because of the child custody order or the lack of detail in it, that could be considered significant enough for cause. If the high conflict has been reduced but the child has aged and is mature enough to handle more equal amounts of time with each parent, that could be considered significant enough for cause.

While you may not be able to file a motion immediately to return to child custody evaluation to make changes, you will likely be able to make changes after a period of time that shows conclusively that the current custody order is simply not doing the job it was intended too. Of course the key to showing that the custody order is not working is documentation.

You will want to keep a journal of the issues that arise. It is the reoccurrence and continuance of these issues that will build the foundation for, not only your motion to show cause, but your new child custody evaluation. When you prepare your motion you can outline the problems and issues that are not covered in the custody order and when you speak to the evaluator you will use your journal to document that the problems you have and explain how the changes you desire will resolve the issues that you still have.

Remember that time is your ally and that building your case may take a long time, even years. So keep you journal, your emails, text messages, and anything else that will show your current order is not working as intended. When you have a clear pattern it is time to file a new motion.