Are Child Custody Plans Final?

If you have recently undergone a divorce and had a child custody plan put into place by a judge you may feel overwhelmed or sad based on the ruling that the judge granted. Some parents feel very lucky to get the amount of time that they have, while others are devastated to not have the time they were hoping for with their children. One thing is for sure, child custody plans are not permanent.

As your kids age, grow, and their needs change the chances of your custody plan changing as well is fairly high. Your kids situations are not the only thing that is likely to change over the year following your court ordered child custody plan. These plans are going to have to evolve as both you and your children change.

How to Change the Plan?

If you feel like you need to have your child custody agreement changed you are probably wondering how you go about getting that done. Ideally, if you could use the same family law attorney that you did in the first go-around it is best. However, using the same attorney is not always an option or the preferred choice.

If you have to hire a new attorney you will need to get them caught up to speed on the things that have happened previously in the case. It is in your best interest to catch the attorney up as much as you can as they will use that information to fight for whatever change in custody you are looking for.

Once you have an attorney and you have gone over the case, you will have to appear in front of a judge. Once the judge hears both sides, and from you kids depending on their ages, they will grant a new child custody agreement.

When to Change

As you get used to sharing your children with their other parent, it may become easier to work together to co-parent your children. Child custody cases are always going to be better and run more smoothly if the parents can get along with one another. You need to do your best to work with their parent so that when the time comes that things need to be adapted that it will not be a fight. Often times child custody evolved naturally over time, but you want to be sure that your new agreements are always done in writing and approved through a judge in case anything is to change.