Overview

After you have resolved your family law issues, you may later need to change the terms of your court order or written agreement that has been filed with the court. For example, you may need to update the amount of child support if the person paying support has lost their job or is making more money since the order was made.

You must file certain documents and you may have to appear in court. Depending on what you want to change and whether you and the other party agree, you will need to bring a:

  • motion to change, if you and the other party can’t agree on how to change your arrangement.
  • consent motion to change, if you and the other party agree and you want to change something other than child support only, such as parenting time, decision-making responsibility, or spousal support (whether or not you also want to change child support).
  • consent motion to change child support, if you and the other party agree and want to change child support only (and not, for example, parenting time, decision-making responsibility, or spousal support).

See Rule 15 of the Family Law Rules to learn more about changing a final order or written agreement.

The appropriate municipality and court

There are rules about where you can bring motions to change, which are similar to the rules that apply as if you are starting a new case. There are two factors that you must consider: the appropriate municipality and the appropriate court.

Learn how to choose the appropriate municipality and court for your motion to change.