Custody modification help for Marietta parents.
Sometimes both Marietta parents already agree the current order should change, and what they need is to make the new arrangement official. Georgia lets parents modify custody by agreement, with the court reviewing it for the children. We help you turn a shared understanding into a clean, enforceable order.
Daniels & Taylor serves Marietta families from our office in Lawrenceville.
What most people pay for a consultation 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 custody modification is its own separate lawsuit, not something added onto a contempt case, and the petition is filed in the county where the parent who currently has custody lives (O.C.G.A. 19-9-23). 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 Marietta builds on the existing custody order.
Changing a custody order (modification) is legally distinct from enforcing one (contempt); Georgia treats a request to change custody separately from a motion to enforce it (O.C.G.A. 19-9-23(b)), so a parent in Marietta generally seeks contempt to enforce an order and modification to change it.
Common questions about custody modification in Marietta
Can we modify custody if both parents agree?
Yes. Parents can agree to a modified parenting plan, which the court reviews for the child’s best interest before making it an enforceable order.
Why put an agreed change in writing?
An informal agreement is hard to enforce; a court-approved modification protects everyone if a dispute arises later.
Does an agreed modification still need a material change?
The court still applies the best-interest standard, but an agreement between fit parents is given real weight in approving the new plan.
A clean, enforceable order. Call (770) 285-1673 for a free case evaluation.
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