Boise Family Law Lawyers - Boise Divorce Attorneys - Modification

Modification 
As a Boise Divorce Attorney I often get calls from individuals about modification.  There are occasionally misunderstandings about what can be modified or if a modification can happen at all.  There are certain key things to keep in mind about modification.

Divorce
You cannot modify a divorce in Idaho.  This question generally comes up in the context of one party or the other disregarding or actively disobeying the divorce decree.  If this happens, the party who has been wronged generally contacts their divorce lawyers and asks for a modification.  A divorce decree is final.  The way to approach a person who is in violation of a divorce order is to have your divorce attorney file for contempt.  In general, an Idaho Court will hold a person in contempt if they have violated the order.  Sometimes, they will give the individual time to correct the error and sometimes they will overlook the contempt.  This generally happens when there is a provision such as that they sell the community home within 3 months.  Given the market today, that may be impossible.  If, however, they tried to comply by putting the house on the market, as opposed to failing to list the home, the judge may excuse the violation of the original divorce decree.  These issues can get sticky and there is often quite a bit of argument about whether they really tried to sell the house or that the house was in a terrible condition so no wonder it didn't sell.  The judge will consider these issues but if he or she sees that the party made a good faith effort, no contempt will be found.

Child Support or Custody Modification
A Boise Divorce Attorney will file for a support or custody modification when it can be shown that there has been a substantial and material change in circumstances.  These can be two different things when you are talking about child support or custody modification.  For example, losing your job, or getting a raise are both definitely a grounds for modifying your child support.  Losing your job or getting a raise, however, are not necessarily grounds for modifying custody.  The circumstances which warrant a modification must be material and substantial.  Losing your job does not suddenly make you a bad parent.  Losing your job, however, does change your income.

Of course, for custody modification, the parties can agree to change the visitation or the custodial arrangement by agreement.  Say for example, your 16 year old son would like to live with his father and have visitation with his mother.  Your divorce attorney can file a stipulation and you can ask the court to change the custody arrangement.  If, however, you later want to change it back, you will have to show a material and substantial change in circumstance if the other parent won't agree to the change.

If you have a modification issue, or any other family law issue, give us a call and speak with one of our family law lawyers, (208) 472-2384