Parents in California, whether they are married, divorced or were never married to begin with, work hard to raise their children with their “co-parent.” In most cases in which the parents are separated, divorced or were never married, a child custody order is in place to set the outlines of the custody arrangement. However, even though a child custody order is a legal court order, sometimes those orders need to be changed. When parents in California are facing this type of situation, they need to carefully consider their legal options.
Most importantly, parents should remember that a change to a child custody plan can’t just be requested for any reason. For the most part, there must be a “significant” change in your life circumstances for a court to consider a change to a child custody order. Probably the most common life change that will trigger a child custody modification request is that one parent or the other is moving to a new location and, as a result, one parent or the other will no longer be physically able to abide by the court’s order.
There are, however, other situations that may trigger the need for a request for a change to a child custody order. If, for example, one of the parents who is subject to the order is refusing to obey the mandates of the order, the other parent may feel forced to address the issue with the family law court. Or, if parents in California believe their children are in danger when they are with the other parent, that could lead to a request for a modification to the child custody order as well.
At our law firm, we do our best to attempt to make sure that our clients understand their legal options when it comes to child custody orders. For more information, please visit the child custody overview section of our law firm’s website.
