As President John F. Kennedy famously said: Change is the law of life. Since divorce and child custody orders deal intrinsically with the details of our lives, they often need to be amended when our lives change.

Job changes, new relationships, relocations and new children can all require a child support or alimony orders to be modified. For people in this situation, it’s important to work with a skilled family law attorney who can represent your needs and interests.

In some cases, parents or ex-spouses don’t believe that a modification is necessary if they can agree to new terms of child support or alimony on their own. However, it usually doesn’t take long for a conflict or a he-said she-said situation to arise.

In order for a child support or alimony modification to be official, it must be approved by the court. That means working with an attorney to file a motion to amend the original order.

Many modification cases our firm works on comes from parents who can no longer afford the child custody they were ordered to pay because of a job loss, job change or an illness.

The most important thing a person who is behind on child support can do it to contact an attorney and start working toward a modification before getting too far behind. Under Alabama law, child support payments usually cannot be adjusted after the date they were due, which means time is of the essence.

Additionally, our firm assists ex-spouses who have been ordered to pay alimony that is no longer fair due to a significant change in circumstances. In some cases, this involves a paying spouse whose income has been reduced. In others, the receiving spouse’s need has changed due to employment or moving in with a new partner.

If you believe that your divorce or child custody order needs to be modified, our firm can help. For more information, please visit our page on Changing Child Support or Alimony.