Custody modification help for College Park parents.
For a College Park parent whose work travel has ramped up since the order, an airline job, a new route, longer trips, the existing schedule can quietly become impossible to keep. A real increase in travel is a change the court can take into account. We help you reshape the plan so more time away does not cost you time with your children.
Daniels & Taylor serves College Park families from our office in Lawrenceville.
What most people pay for a case evaluation to learn
A Georgia custody or parenting-time order can be changed, but not just because one parent is unhappy with it. To change custody you must show a material change in circumstances affecting the child since the last order, and then that the change you want is in the child’s best interest (O.C.G.A. 19-9-3; Scott v. Scott, 276 Ga. 372 (2003)).
A parent’s planned move is one of the most common grounds. Georgia has no automatic rule for or against relocation; the court looks at how the move affects this child’s best interest, and it does not have to wait until the parent has already moved (Bodne v. Bodne, 277 Ga. 445 (2003)). When a child turns 14, the child can also choose which parent to live with, and that choice can itself be the material change that reopens custody, though it can be made only once every two years (O.C.G.A. 19-9-3(a)(5)).
How a Georgia custody modification case works
A request to change custody is generally filed in the county where the parent you are filing against lives (O.C.G.A. Ā§ 19-9-23(a), which applies the Georgia Constitution’s general venue rule). The judge first decides whether a qualifying material change has happened, and only then weighs the child’s best interest under the statutory factors (O.C.G.A. 19-9-3(a)).
Because the standard is a real threshold, not every disagreement qualifies. Common grounds include a move, a change in the child’s needs, or a shift in a parent’s circumstances. We can tell you whether your facts are likely to meet the standard before you file, so you are not paying to litigate a change the court cannot grant.
A custody modification in Georgia revisits the original custody determination under the same best-interest standard once a material change is shown (O.C.G.A. 19-9-3), so a modification in College Park builds on the existing custody order.
Changing a custody order (modification) is legally distinct from enforcing one (contempt); in Georgia, a request to change custody cannot be made in response to a contempt motion or other action to enforce the custody order (O.C.G.A. 19-9-23(b)), so a parent in College Park generally seeks contempt to enforce an order and modification to change it.
Common questions about custody modification in College Park
Can increased work travel support a modification?
A substantial change in a parent’s travel demands that affects the existing schedule can qualify as a material change supporting an update.
How does a modified plan handle heavier travel?
It can shift to concentrated blocks between trips, build in make-up time, and add notice rules, so the relationship holds despite the travel.
Could more travel cost me custody?
Not by itself, the focus stays on the children’s best interest, and a well-structured plan keeps you meaningfully involved around the trips.
More time away should not cost you your children. Call (770) 285-1673 for a free case evaluation.