Temporary Child Support Orders May Be Made Permanent

If you and your spouse are filing for divorce and you have children together, it’s important to establish a plan when it comes to child custody and visitation. This initial plan, which should be legally binding, is meant to be temporary until a more permanent arrangement can be decided.

It’s worth noting that if these temporary arrangements work well, the court could decide to simply make it permanent rather than coming up with a completely new order.

Of course, courts can always change these “permanent” arrangements based on a variety of factors, if one parent successfully petitions the court to do so. But it’s better to start off with a favorable arrangement than to have to work for something different in the future.

Judges occasionally hesitate to change temporary orders

If a temporary custody arrangement has already been working well, court officials will be more likely to take the attitude of “stick to what’s working.” This means temporary child custody arrangements will set the status quo, so it’s important you do everything in your power to make sure the agreement you establish from the start is beneficial to you and your kids.

Once you have received the temporary order, it is important you follow all directions from the court, including any regarding the rights of the other parent. If you interfere with the other parent’s visitation rights, the court will be more likely to make changes once it comes time to create the permanent arrangement.

If you would like further guidance on difficult issues like child custody and visitation, speak with an experienced New York family law attorney at Bryan L. Salamone & Associates.