It is very common for divorced people to return to court. Over time you or your ex-spouse’s income can substantially change, which can dramatically affect child support and alimony. Timesharing schedules often must be adjusted to accommodate changing work schedules or school commitments.
After a divorce is finalized and the Final Judgment is signed, there are only two things you can do: enforce the existing court ruling or modify the current ruling. Enforcing the existing Final Judgment means asking for something that was already agreed or ordered by the judge, but your ex-spouse is not obeying. Modifying a Final Judgment means asking to change something that has already been agreed or ruled upon.
In Florida, there is no grace-period or limitation on modifying child support, meaning that you could get a divorce and a child support order established today. If you win the lottery tomorrow, then your spouse would be entitled to go back to court and seek modification of the existing court order.
To get the modification, the legal standard is a substantial, involuntary, permanent and unanticipated change in circumstances. Receiving a significant raise or losing a job altogether would meet the legal standard for modification. Modification is typically in regards to post final judgment rulings and is very common with alimony or financial awards for child support. Sometimes a time-sharing schedule or visitation schedule needs to be modified based on the change of the children’s schedules or the parties’ obligations.
About the Author Marriage does not always work out as expected; the hurt and
stress can be overwhelming when things go wrong, contact
Attorney Andrew Merlo immediately for your free consultation.