Custody modification help for Union City parents.
When the parenting schedule shifts in Union City, the child support that was built on the old schedule often no longer fits either. A change in custody or parenting time can ripple straight into the support obligation. We work the two together so an update to the schedule does not leave the support figure stuck in the past.
Daniels & Taylor serves Union City 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 Union City 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 Union City generally seeks contempt to enforce an order and modification to change it.
Common questions about custody modification in Union City
Does changing parenting time change child support?
It can. Because parenting time feeds the support calculation, a real change in the schedule can be grounds to revisit support as well.
Can I modify custody and support in one effort?
The custody or parenting-time change is addressed first; the support recalculation follows from it, and we line the two up so nothing is left mismatched.
What if only the support side feels wrong?
Support has its own modification standard tied to a substantial change in circumstances, which we can assess alongside any parenting-time question.
So the schedule and the support match again. Call (770) 285-1673 for a free case evaluation.