What Happens if our Life Circumstances Change, and we want to Change our Custody Agreement?

This is a good question, and one with an answer that really highlights the advantage of entering into a custody agreement together, rather than having a court enter a custody order. Let’s face it. Children ad are continually growing, and their needs are One of the many good things about entering into your own agreement is that as your life circumstances change, you can decide, together, to modify your agreement to better fit your family’s needs.

Ultimately, when parents want to modify a custody agreement, they have three basic choices:

• Negotiate with the other parent for the change;

• Enter into mediation or other collaborative process to negotiate necessary change to the agreement;

• File a custody action in court.

Essentially, your agreement is a contract between the two of you, and as such, the two of you can modify it by writing an amendment to the original agreement. It would be required that both parties sign the new agreement in front of a notary, but after doing so, it would be legally binding without any additional involvement from the court. This is obviously the best choice for modification if the parties are able to make this option work.

If it’s too difficult to do so through either agreement or mediation, the parties can always choose to file a new custody action in court. This essentially restarts the entire custody determination process from the beginning, which as noted, can be expensive and stressful. Sometimes, however, it’s the only option if no agreement about modification can be reached otherwise.

​If you need to speak with an experienced child custody attorney in Huntersville, NC, contact Adkins Law to arrange a consultation. 

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