Marital dissolution is a serious issue. Unquestionably, divorce upends your life, materially altering circumstances for divorcing spouses and affected children. Many soon-to-be exes rightly regard the process and post-divorce realities with hope. They know that their decision to move on with a new life is well-reasoned and the proper outcome for a failed marriage. Many individuals contemplating divorce in Florida and across the United States enter the process with a clear mind and purposefully. They exit the process with reasonable expectations that the future will truly offer a fresh start. However, family law modifications exist for a reason.
Types of Family Law Modifications in Florida
We always see such hopes and outcomes at the established Tampa family law firm of Quinn & Lynch. Our skilled and knowledgeable legal team routinely helps diverse Florida clients secure optimal outcomes in divorce and other family law matters. Those range widely, often involving matters like these:
- Parenting plan arrangements
- Modifying child custody and visitation
- Alimony modification
- Marital asset division
- Amend divorce decree
Divorcing parties sometimes believe that once their divorce case or other family law matter is dealt with, it is permanently resolved. Such thinking is understandable. Impending exes generally have much on their minds en route to divorce and often focus on the big picture – the end game – rather than the details.
The reality regarding divorce, though, is that permanency concerning every agreed-to detail is not a given. That is, while a divorce is permanent, a spousal agreement concerning things such as child custody, child support, or alimony might require future adjustment. Life is alterable, not static.
We underscore that on our website, stressing therein that “things change, and sometimes an original court ruling or final judgment may need to be modified.”
Reasons for Family Law Modifications
Here is a representative example: A former spouse paying child support could suffer on-the-job detriment such as a demotion, furlough, or even firing, making continuing payments at a previously designated level difficult or impossible. This is one of the most-seen reasons for modifying child support.
And here is another oft-realized scenario: Some fundamental change in family dynamics (perhaps a parent’s illness, addiction, or even death) flatly necessitates the revisiting of details set forth in a current custody agreement or parenting plan.
The bottom line is that while certain expectations written in a divorce decree are envisioned as enduring and even permanent, much about life – especially as it centers around families – is anything but static. One or both divorced parties in Florida and elsewhere frequently feel a compelling need to seek material adjustment to an existing court order.
How a Tampa Family Lawyer Can Help With Court-Ordered Modifications
One of the traits of a good lawyer is the desire to go above and beyond for clients. An empathetic and knowledgeable family law legal team can help them do that via a Supplemental Petition to Modification provisions of the Final Judgment, such as parental responsibility.
Going before a court with such an agenda is far from casual. We underscore on our website that a party petitioning for change must convince a judge that the need for material modification is substantial, material, and involuntary in nature. Moreover, it must relate to a post-judgment matter that was unforeseen and that now reflects a permanent change.
The need for a party seeking modification to ally with proven legal counsel in a timely manner is both strong and urgent in such a matter. An informed and results-driven attorney can often help ex-spouses reach agreements without invoking court intervention (e.g., through negotiations or mediation). Where that does not avail, an experienced advocacy team can present a persuasive argument to a judge urging an outcome that is solidly aligned with a client’s best interests.
We welcome contacts to our firm and the opportunity to meaningfully assist individuals focused on Post-divorce Modification or any other matter relevant to family law.
