Whether the change is real and provable
A new job with a fixed night shift is a change. Disliking the other parent's new partner, on its own, is not.
Practice area
Modifications
Changing an existing custody, possession or support order when life has genuinely changed.
What the law actually says
A final order is final until a court changes it. The self-help version, where parents quietly agree to a different schedule for two years, is enforceable against nobody and collapses the moment one of them changes their mind.
To modify conservatorship, possession or access, section 156.101 requires a material and substantial change in circumstances of the child, a conservator or another party affected by the order since the earlier of the date the order was rendered or the date the mediated settlement agreement was signed, and that the modification is in the child's best interest. A relocation, a remarriage, a change in work schedule, a serious change in the child's needs, or a parent's conduct can all qualify.
There is a further gate on changing who designates the primary residence within one year of the order: section 156.102 requires an affidavit setting out specific facts showing the child's present environment may endanger their physical health or significantly impair emotional development, or that the primary conservator has voluntarily relinquished primary care and possession and the change is in the child's best interest.
Support has a simpler test. Under section 156.401 you may modify if circumstances have materially and substantially changed, or if it has been three years since the order and the guideline amount now differs from the ordered amount by either twenty percent or one hundred dollars.
Governed principally by Tex. Fam. Code ch. 156
What we handle in this area
- Modifying the primary residence designation and geographic restriction
- Relocation cases where a parent has a job offer out of the area
- Changing the possession schedule after a shift-work or deployment change
- Increasing or decreasing child support after an income change
- The three-year, twenty percent or one hundred dollar support review
- Adding or removing a right or duty from the conservatorship provisions
- Agreed modifications formalised into an Agreed Order Modifying
- Enforcement by contempt where the existing order is simply being ignored
How the case runs
Durations below are what we typically see on the El Paso County family docket. They are not statutory guarantees, and a case with a contested issue can sit outside them entirely.
- Week 1
Order review
We read the existing decree line by line. Half of the modification calls we take are actually enforcement problems.
- Week 1 to 3
Change analysis
We identify what specifically changed, when, and what evidence proves it. Vague dissatisfaction is not a material change.
- Week 2 to 4
Petition and any affidavit
Filed with the section 156.102 affidavit where the order is under a year old.
- Week 4 to 8
Temporary orders, if needed
Available where the child's circumstances require an interim change before the final hearing.
- Month 2 to 5
Mediation
Modifications settle at a high rate, because both parents usually already know the old schedule stopped working.
- Month 4 to 10
Final hearing
Contested modifications are tried to the bench, or to a jury on primary residence if timely demanded.
What drives the cost and the timeline
How old the order is
Inside twelve months the bar is much higher, and it requires a sworn affidavit with specific endangerment or relinquishment facts.
The child's own situation
A diagnosis, a school change, a new activity schedule or a teenager's own needs are frequently the strongest evidence in the case.
Whether you have been following the order
A parent asking a judge to change an order they have themselves been violating starts the hearing badly.
Three years after the divorce my hours got cut in half. They handled the support modification for a flat fee and it was done in nine weeks.
Questions we get about modifications
You can agree, but only an order signed by a judge is enforceable. An agreed modification is quick and inexpensive, and it protects both of you from a later change of heart.
Sometimes. Remarriage alone is usually not enough. Remarriage plus a move, a new household composition that affects the child, or a change in availability often is.
Either there is a material and substantial change, or three years have passed and guideline support now differs from the ordered amount by twenty percent or one hundred dollars. Either route works.
A child twelve or older may express a preference to the judge, and the judge must interview them on request. It is a factor, and you still have to prove a material and substantial change.
A move that makes the existing schedule unworkable is a classic material change. Act promptly, because the longer a new arrangement runs, the more it looks like the status quo.