Custody modification help for Stonecrest parents.
Sometimes the custody arrangement is right, but the parenting-time schedule in Stonecrest has stopped working as jobs, schools, and routines shift. You can adjust the schedule without reopening the whole question of custody. We help you fine-tune the parenting time so it fits your family again.
Daniels & Taylor serves Stonecrest 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 Stonecrest 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 Stonecrest generally seeks contempt to enforce an order and modification to change it.
Common questions about custody modification in Stonecrest
Can I change parenting time without changing custody?
Yes. Parenting time can be modified on its own to fit current circumstances, separate from a change in legal or physical custody.
Is the standard different for a parenting-time change?
A modification still rests on the child’s best interest; adjusting the schedule can be a more focused request than a full custody change.
What kinds of schedule changes are common?
Shifts in weekday and weekend time, holiday rotations, and exchange logistics, all aimed at a plan that works for the children now.
Parenting time that fits your family again. Call (770) 285-1673 for a free case evaluation.
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