Answer:

Last week, a client came to me very upset about recent events and things that had occurred with her ex-husband. Under their prior divorce case, there was a certain schedule set out for their parenting time. She was no longer happy with that arrangement; in fact, she indicated that both parties were not happy with the holidays and how they were outlined and even the weekday time that the parents were exercising shuffling the children based on that schedule.

In Georgia, in order to change a custody schedule, you need to ask the court to change either custody or just visitation. Once a case has started, a modification action in Georgia would allow you to go to mediation, try and settle if you agree that the parenting time isn’t working for you anymore. Also, in Georgia, you would have an opportunity to go in front of a judge and let a judge decide what changes need to be made.

At that time, the judge has a long list of factors that he can consider. During the time, we would present evidence as to what your children are doing with their lives, and their relationship with the other parent, what special holidays maybe need to be considered in your situation. If you’re ever in possession of a parenting plan that you’re unhappy with, you ultimately will need the court’s approval to make legal changes to that.

Now, any parent can reach an agreement with the other parent to say I don’t like the schedule anymore. Let’s make this tweak or that tweak or let’s swap weekends because I’ve got a family reunion coming up. You can make those small changes amongst yourselves. In fact, one retired judge would always say that a parenting plan should stay in a drawer and parents should work together.

Ultimately, what we see in our practice is some parents can’t do that. They will ultimately need a court to step in and make changes as the children grow older and have different needs. Sometimes you can’t reach an agreement on a change to Christmas morning or a change to a different school, which would mean different parenting times, pick up, drop offs, and custody exchanges based around a school zone.

Oftentimes, when parents can’t reach an agreement, it’s going to be necessary for you to approach the court. In Georgia, you would do that through a modification action. We can walk you through those steps. We can also give you a list of things that judges don’t want to see in every case: pictures of your home, details about your schedule at work. We can compile all those things together to present your case to the judge to ultimately make sure that you get the changes that you want in your parenting time and get a new court order that more accurately reflects what would make you happy at that time.

If you have any questions, please give me a call. I’ll be more than happy to look at your past arrangements and any voluntary changes that were made, and any changes that I think a trial court would approve, and file that modification action for you. We’d be more than happy to help you do that.