Modifying Child Support and Child Custody in Texas (832) 390-4414
Sometimes the terms of child support and child custody orders may not be fair for a parent or both parents. Parents can petition family courts to change the terms of these orders. However, this can only be done if the child continues to live in the state of Texas.
Article Outline
Child Custody Orders
Changing custody orders must always be done with the child’s best interests in mind. The family courts hear the individual testimony of both parents and then decide whether to change the child custody order or not. Parents sometimes want the custody order modified when the child’s living circumstances have changed.
The court will only consider modification if the changed living circumstances go against the child’s best interests. But the parents have to provide evidence that the child’s circumstances have changed since the original order. Children over the age of 12 may also help influence the court’s decision by writing to the court about their preferences.
Another reason a non-custodial parent may want the custody order changed is if the custodial parent has voluntarily given the child to a third party for care, for six or more months. For example, a situation where the child’s mother gives the child to her grandparents and the child stays with them for at least six months.
But for the custody order to be changed within the year it was issued, there are a number of rules that come into play. These include:
- The parent must show that the child’s environment is either physically or emotionally dangerous
- The other parent has given the child to another person for six or more months
- The other parent has agreed or consented to changing the order in the child’s best interest
Texas Child Custody Laws
For further reading…
- Texas Child Custody Law – How is child custody determined in Texas?
- Child Custody Attorney
- What does “best interests of the child” mean in Texas Family Law?
Child Support Orders
Frequently Asked Questions – Child Support – TX Attorney General
Scroll to read some of the Texas Attorney General’s answers to frequently asked child support questions.
The state of Texas uses a fixed schedule to determine a parent’s child support obligation if the parent’s net income is below $6,000 per month. Net income per month is the amount the parent earns after taxes. The fixed schedule may require a parent to pay anything from 20 percent to 40 percent of the parent’s net income depending on the number of children involved.
For example, the fixed schedule requires that a parent pays 20 percent if one child is involved. The court can consider other different factors to determine monthly child support payments if the parent earns more than $6,000 each month. Parents can modify child support payments if they show that their children have experienced material or substantial change.
These changes include:
- The child growing older in age significantly
- A child going through a new medical condition
- When the parents change residences
- Relationship changes between the former spouses
- A change in a parent’s employment status or criminal history
Petition to Modify Tx Child Support Order
You may be able to petition the court to modify the child support orders if the orders have been in place for at least three years. In some cases such petitions have led to a court altering the monthly payments by 20 percent. An experienced lawyer will offer the guidance you need in such circumstances.
