Divorce Modification Lawyer
If you need to modify the terms of your divorce agreement, Gregory Law PLLC can assist you. After a divorce decree has been issued, one person may eventually find that the original decree needs to be modified and updated. If a spouse’s financial situation changes, or their home becomes more or less appropriate for a child, a modification to one or more provisions of the divorce may be required. Gregory Law PLLC is a trusted family law firm located in Houston, Texas. To find out how we can help you modify your divorce agreement to reflect your current circumstances, call us today at (713) 861-1293.
Why Do I Need a Lawyer to Handle My Modifications?
While ex-spouses may agree privately and informally to changing the terms of child support, custody, and their rights and responsibilities, if they have a dispute or disagreement about the new private and informal terms, neither spouse has any kind of legal recourse to enforce the modifications.
An attorney must handle any modifications in child support, child custody, and child rights and duties so that the changes will be court-ordered and to protect both the ex-spouses and the minor children.
Furthermore, if a dire situation – such as abuse or addiction on the part of your ex-spouse – necessitates the modification of your divorce agreement, then you cannot leave anything to chance. A lawyer can help you state your case in the most persuasive way to ensure that your divorce is modified for the best interest of you and your children.
Why Choose Us?
Modifications to child support, child custody, and rights and responsibilities can sometimes be contentious and emotional, which can make it difficult to ensure that what is best for the minor children is the final outcome of any changes.
At Gregory Law PLLC, we have almost half a century of experience in modifying the terms of rights and responsibilities, child custody, and child support. Therefore, we can be the caring, but objective, advocate for you and your children to make sure that you all get an outcome that works for everyone.
Our knowledgeable team works with you and the courts in a straightforward way to get a modification agreement that meets the needs of you and your children.
Cases We Handle
There are three areas that most commonly need to be modified because circumstances have permanently and substantially changed. These changes can include things like remarriage, significant increases or decreases in income, relocation to another state or country, and adequate care of minor children.
Child Support
Child support modifications are not uncommon in divorces as time passes. However, an attorney must be able to give concrete evidence as to why the child support needs to be modified, whether it is on behalf of an ex-spouse receiving child support or an ex-spouse providing child support.
For ex-spouses providing child support, a modification may be needed if their minor children are legally adopted by a step-parent, if they retire or are permanently disabled and on a fixed income, if they are laid off or their incomes are reduced significantly, or when the children reach majority.
For ex-spouses receiving child support, modifications may be needed if the minor children have needs – medical or educational – that require more financial support, if their own income and ability to contribute to the support of their children is reduced, if the ex-spouse who is paying support has a substantial increase in income, or if there are other unforeseen circumstances that have a negative financial impact on their ability to provide the financial support their children need.
Custody
Custody is another area of the divorce decree that may need to be modified as time passes after the divorce is finalized. Generally, there are two situations that can elicit a need for child custody orders to be changed. One of these is a violation of the original child custody order. The other is when one or both ex-spouses believe the circumstances of the original order have changed.
An attorney must provide concrete evidence that the original child custody order has been violated in order for a modification to be considered and changed. However, in general, there must be a pattern of violating the original child custody orders established – instead of a single instance where there may be an unavoidable and legitimate reason for the violation – or proof of potential or actual danger or harm to the minor children for custody to be modified.
Relocation is often a reason for a child custody order to be modified. If either ex-spouse moves to another state or country, visitation schedules may need to be changed to ensure that both parents have quality time with their minor children. Included in this kind of change will be the details of transporting the children between the parents’ homes (who will pay, how they will get there and back, etc.) and length of extended stays as well as holiday visits.
A change in the custodial parent’s ability to provide primary custody for minor children is also a reason why the original child custody order may need to be modified. It may be that custodial parent is unfit or unable to continue their role as custodial parent, so an attorney will petition the court for a change in custody that is in the children’s best interests.
A third common reason that custody might need to be modified is for military deployment. Changes may need to be made to the custody arrangement to account for their long absence, and concessions might have to be made to make up for their lost time when they return.
Rights/Duties
As minor children get older and as ex-spouses move on with their lives, possibly to new relationships, one of the areas of the original divorce decree that may need to be modified is what each parent is responsible for with regard to their children.
One of the more common changes in rights and duties comes from the desires of the minor children themselves in deciding they want to live with the non-custodial parent. In this case, much of what was originally agreed upon will be flipped inversely so that the custodial parent has the same rights in the new court order as the non-custodial parent had in the original court order.
Other changes in rights and duties may be necessary because an ex-spouse is unable to perform the obligations they agreed to in the original divorce decree. The reasons are numerous, but could include things like disability, incapacitation, or incarceration.
An attorney will be able to get all the necessary information and paperwork to the courts so that an up-to-date modification of rights and duties can be appended to the original divorce decree.
Contact Us
Let Gregory Law PLLC assist you with modification agreements to child support, child custody, or rights and responsibilities. We serve the legal needs of families, not only in the greater Houston area, but throughout the rest of Texas, and we are ready to help you. Gregory Law PLLC is bilingual, and all of our services are available in both English and Spanish. Contact us at (713) 861-1293 or reach out to us online to schedule a confidential consultation with a knowledgeable Houston divorce modification lawyer now.
