Most people assume that once a child custody order has been adopted by the court, it is final and cannot be changed. The fact is that any and all orders can be changed. Let’s take a look and see how and why.

Once child custody orders are adopted there is often a clause that states something about a significant change of circumstances must take place in order for either party to bring a motion to change the order. This language exists to keep the parties from filing frivolously just because they don’t like the order. But the truth is that anyone can file a motion at any time.

Some of the reasons that parents might want to change the order are:

• Change to living arrangements
• Change of job
• Childs grades
• Childs age
• Childs health

Most people worry that once there is a child custody order in place that some drastic must happen to file to change it. The reality is that the changes may be subtle and take time. One very clear example of that is the child’s age. When a child is an infant his mother may breast feed him. It makes sense that the mother would have primary custody (notice I didn’t use sole custody) and the vast majority of the visitation time as fathers cannot breast feed. However, as the child grows older and is weaned from mothers’ breast a father that has been active and wants more time can petition the court to change the visitation citing the maturation of the child leading to less dependence on the mother. The significant change in this case is the dependence level of the child on the mother.

Other changes could be a parent who moves a significant distance away. This may require that the visitation be adjusted to find a more suitable balance in visitation versus commute time. But of course the biggest issue is the child’s safety. If some circumstance has changed that has increased the child’s level of danger, like a parent becoming involved with a convicted child molester. This is a scenario that requires that documentation be submitted to the court. Since many jurisdictions have their criminal cases available online, it can be very easy to look up someone’s history. Make sure you get a copy of the final disposition of the criminal case to present in court in support of your case.

As you can see there are a number of issues that can be considered significant enough to ask for a revision of the visitation order. Don’t let your child and yourself get locked into a bad situation because you didn’t think you could change the order. Look for what has changed and how a specific change can make it better for your child.