There are a lot of ways you can settle a divorce. No matter your route, you may need a post-judgment modification someday. Life circumstances change and your financial and custodial agreements can be altered to reflect those changes.
If you need to adjust any aspect of your divorce order, this article will help you figure out the process.
A post-judgment modification is an official change to your divorce judgment. The conditions of your finalized divorce are legally binding. You can’t decide on your own to do things like stop paying child support, change your custody agreement, or decrease the amount of spousal support you pay. A court needs to approve those changes.
Post-judgment modifications allow you to make changes when life-altering circumstances come up. A court signs off on the modifications and they either temporarily or permanently replace your existing judgment.
Either party can request a modification to their divorce agreement.
There are a variety of post-judgment modifications someone can make. Most are financial or related to child custody.
Child support orders are the specifics of your child support agreement. Any change to that agreement is considered a post-judgment modification.
The most common adjustments will be one party requesting more child support or the other party requesting to pay a lower monthly support amount. There can be other more nuanced requests, but more times than not the amount of child support is all that will change.
Child custody and visitation agreements can be hotly contested during family law proceedings. Once a child custody order has been established the order must be followed.
People will want to modify their custody or visitation order for multiple reasons. The most common reasons include:
In cases of abuse or neglect, you can get an emergency order from a court to temporarily stop a custody or visitation agreement while evidence is gathered for an official ruling. Make sure to contact the police and file a police report to expedite the process.
Spousal support order modifications are similar to child support modifications. Most people request a post-judgment change to adjust how much they pay or receive.
Child custody and child or spousal support modifications are the most common. Additionally, you can request modifications for property control, domestic violence orders, health insurance changes, and more.
There are a few avenues for pursuing a post-judgment modification. Regardless of the avenue you take, you will want to gather evidence to support your request before you do anything else.
You aren’t required to provide evidence to support your claims, but you are much more likely to have an accepted modification if you can prove you have had a substantial life change that requires a modification.
To successfully change the amount of spousal or child support you pay or receive you will need to prove a substantial change in income or stability has happened. Whether you’re requesting more support or reducing how much you pay, you will want to paint a picture of your financial health.
If you receive child or spousal support and believe you should get more money than you do, you can petition for a change to your child or spousal support judgment.
You can also request a change if you are the person who pays child or spousal support.
The reasons someone requests more support or requests to decrease the support they give are often the same. Individuals on either side can request a modification due to the following reasons:
You need to back any claim you make with pay stubs, receipts, letters of proof, or other evidence. Whether you decide to self-file, use a state agency for assistance, go through a mediator, or hire an attorney you will benefit from getting your evidence sorted first.
Filing a request for modification on your own is an option. You don’t have to involve a lawyer or mediator. This option works best if both parties largely agree on the proposed modification.
Self-filing is more straightforward than you might expect. The process can take longer than any other option but is also the cheapest.
You will follow these steps to request a post-judgment modification on your own:
If self-filing doesn’t work for you, don’t panic. There are other cost-effective options you can try before resorting to hiring an attorney.
Self-filing can be daunting if you don’t know much about the legal system or have an ex-partner who is reluctant to make changes. There are a few state agencies that can help you for free.
They won’t provide legal advice but will ensure you do all you need to do from start to finish.
Getting help from an agency can add time to your request because there is often a backlog, but it will be cheap and instill you with confidence you might not have when filing completely on your own.
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Working with the Child Support Services Department (CSSD) is the easiest and cheapest way to make a child support modification. They will help you through the entire process and ensure your modification is filed with the appropriate court.
This option works well for people who have a solid claim, but don’t want to file completely on their own.
It is also a good option for someone receiving pushback from their ex-partner. The CSSD will review your information and make a recommendation. They will suggest that support be increased, decreased, or stay the same. This alone can convince a reluctant party to agree to modifications without legal representation.
If one or both parties still don’t agree on the proposed modifications you might need to hire an attorney or return to mediation.
Even if you believe your ex-partner won’t agree to the modifications, you can start here. The CSSD will assess your evidence and let you know if a modification is appropriate. This will give you a leg up and save some time if you need to hire a lawyer down the road.
The Los Angeles County Child Support Services Department only helps with child support modifications. They won’t be able to help with custody arrangements or spousal support modifications.
You can start the post-judgment modification process and be guided along the way for free with an LA Courts Family Law Facilitator . The facilitator will help you file paperwork or point you in the right direction.
The Office of the Family Law Facilitator can help with child or spousal support modifications, but not with child custody or visitation modifications.
The facilitator can also help if you represent yourself in court without an attorney. Their advice will only be procedural though, not legal.
When filing for divorce, mediation is one of the most cost-effective options. If filing a modification on your own is not an option, mediation remains cheaper than hiring an attorney and returning to court.
Mediation is a good middle road between self-representation and hiring an attorney. Some divorce judgments stipulate that any post-judgment modifications should be attempted in mediation before returning to court.
Mediation for post-judgment modifications will look similar to mediation in a divorce proceeding. You will present your case and negotiate with the other party with the help of an impartial third-party mediator.
If you don’t reach a mediation agreement you will likely have to hire an attorney.
It isn’t uncommon for a simple post-judgment modification to require an attorney. In an ideal world, you would file a request, pay the court filing fee, and have a modification with minimal cost or effort. Unfortunately, we don’t always live in an ideal world.
If attempts to self-file, work through a state agency or court facilitator, or return to mediation fail it is time to hire an attorney.
Schedule a consultation today if you need representation for your post-judgment modification.
