Austin Modification Lawyer: Changing Custody and Support Orders in Texas
Court orders are written for the life you had when the judge signed them. Jobs change, kids grow, people move. When the order stops matching reality, the fix is a modification suit under Chapter 156 of the Texas Family Code, and it has its own rules, deadlines, and traps.
Our Austin modification lawyers handle child custody and child support modifications across Travis, Williamson, and Hays counties, from an office two blocks from the Travis County courthouse. Call (512) 561-5003 for a free consultation.
What Our Clients Say
Key Takeaways
- You need a route, not just a reason. Section 156.101 gives three grounds to change a custody order; Section 156.401 gives two to change support. Wanting a different outcome is not one of them.
- The filing date is money. A modified support order reaches back only to service of citation or an appearance, never to the day your income dropped. Every month you wait is owed at the old rate.
- There is no one-year waiting period. That widely repeated rule does not exist. What exists is a sworn affidavit requirement for a suit filed within one year that seeks to change who designates the child's primary residence, and a judge who finds the affidavit thin denies it without a hearing.
What Is a Modification Suit in Texas?
A modification asks the court that issued your order to change it going forward. It is not an appeal and not a new lawsuit. You file in the court of continuing, exclusive jurisdiction under Section 156.001, which for most Austin families is the same Travis County court that handled the divorce or the original suit affecting the parent-child relationship.
Two things surprise people. Changing an order is harder than getting one, because the court starts from the assumption that stability serves children. And the relief runs forward: a modification cannot undo what has already accrued.
What Counts as a Material and Substantial Change?
Most modifications turn on one question: has something materially and substantially changed since the last order? Section 156.101 measures that from the earlier of the date the order was rendered or the date you signed the mediated or collaborative settlement agreement behind it. If your Austin decree came out of mediation, the clock starts at the mediation, and that difference has cost people cases.
What qualifies is fact-specific, but the recurring ones are real: a job loss or substantial raise, a medical diagnosis, a parent moving, a child developing needs nobody anticipated, a work schedule that no longer fits the possession order. Incarceration for more than 180 days is a material and substantial change by statute.
What does not qualify: being unhappy with the deal you made.
Which Orders Can Be Modified
Conservatorship, possession and access, and child support are all modifiable under Chapter 156. That covers the primary residence designation, the geographic restriction, the possession schedule, the rights and duties allocated between parents, medical and dental support, and the support amount itself.
Spousal maintenance is modifiable too, but under a different chapter with different rules, covered further down. Property division is the outlier: once the decree divides the estate, that division is final and cannot be modified, only clarified or enforced.
Where You File, and What Happens First
You file a petition to modify in the court with continuing, exclusive jurisdiction, and the other parent is served. From there it looks like any family case: temporary orders if something cannot wait, exchange of information, usually mediation, then a final hearing if it does not settle.
Ask one question early. If your child has lived in another county for six months or longer, Section 155.201 gives you a right to move the case there, and the transfer is mandatory when the motion is timely. Timely is strict, and missing it means litigating in the old county for the life of the order.
Child Custody Modification in Texas
Child custody modification is where most of these cases live, and where the rules are least intuitive. Texas does not ask whether a different arrangement would be better. It asks whether circumstances have changed and whether the change is in the child’s best interest, and it puts the burden on the parent who wants the order disturbed.
The practical consequence: bring evidence about your own case, not a catalog of the other parent’s failings. The parents who win show what changed, when, and what specifically is not working now.
The Three Grounds for Changing a Custody Order
Section 156.101 gives three routes, and each also requires the court to find the change is in the child’s best interest. Best interest is not a fourth option; it sits on top of whichever route you use.
One. The circumstances of the child, a conservator, or another affected party have materially and substantially changed since the last order or the mediated agreement behind it.
Two. The child is at least 12 and has told the judge, in chambers, who they want designating their primary residence.
Three. The conservator with that right has voluntarily relinquished primary care for at least six months, with an exception for military deployment.
Two more get overlooked. A conviction or deferred adjudication for child abuse or family violence is a material and substantial change by statute. So, since September 2025, is a conservator held in contempt for denying possession after at least three prior contempt findings. That one matters for fathers being denied their court-ordered time.
Filing Within One Year: The Affidavit Rule
Here is the rule that gets stated wrong constantly. There is no general one-year waiting period to modify a Texas custody order. You can file the day after the decree is signed.
Section 156.102 is narrower. If you file within one year seeking to change the person with the exclusive right to designate the child’s primary residence, you must attach an affidavit. It does not apply to possession schedules, the geographic restriction, other rights and duties, or child support.
The affidavit must allege supporting facts for at least one of three things: that the child’s present environment may endanger their physical health or significantly impair their emotional development; that the parent holding the primary-residence right is the one seeking or consenting to the change; or that the parent holding it has voluntarily relinquished primary care for at least six months.
If the judge finds those facts inadequate, the statute says the court shall deny relief and refuse to set a hearing. Decided on the paper alone, no testimony. That is why reciting the statute without specific facts fails.
Temporary Orders While the Case Is Pending
A modification can take months. Section 156.006 lets the court enter temporary orders meanwhile, and for most issues it has broad discretion.
Two things are harder. A temporary order that changes who designates the child’s primary residence, or that creates, changes, or removes the geographic restriction, requires best interest plus one of three findings: that the child’s present circumstances would significantly impair their physical health or emotional development; that the designated parent has voluntarily relinquished primary care for more than six months; or that a child 12 or older has stated a preference to the judge in chambers.
That standard is tougher than the one-year affidavit test. Section 156.102 asks whether the environment may endanger; Section 156.006 asks whether present circumstances would significantly impair. Clients who assume they are the same are the ones disappointed at the temporary orders hearing.
Child Support Modification in Texas
Child support modification is more mechanical than custody, which makes it easier to evaluate honestly at the first meeting. Either you have a route under Section 156.401 or you do not, and we can usually tell you inside ten minutes.
What we cannot do is change what has already come due. Unpaid support that accrued under the old order stays owed at the old amount, whatever the new order says.
The Two Ways to Qualify, and the Agreed-Order Trap
Two independent routes, and you only need one.
Route one: the circumstances of the child or an affected person have materially and substantially changed since the earlier of the order or the mediated agreement behind it.
Route two: three years have passed since the order was rendered or last modified, and the monthly amount differs by either 20 percent or $100 from what the guidelines would produce. Either differential is enough.
Now the trap. Under Section 156.401(a-1), if you and the other parent agreed to an amount that differs from the guidelines, the three-year route is closed and material and substantial change is your only path. A great many Austin decrees contain a negotiated off-guideline number. Read your decree before you count on the calendar.
Why the Filing Date Matters More Than You Think
A modified support order reaches back only so far, and not to the date you filed. Section 156.401(b) limits the change to obligations accruing after the earlier of service of citation or an appearance in the suit.
That costs people real money. Lose your job in March, wait until August to file, have your ex served in September, and the support you could not afford from March through September is still owed in full at the old rate. Nothing later fixes it.
If your income has genuinely dropped, the most valuable thing you can do is get the case filed and served. Not researched. Filed and served.
What Will Not Get Your Support Changed
Three arguments come up constantly and lose, because the statute forecloses them.
Voluntarily paying extra. Section 156.403: a history of paying more than the order requires is not a reason to raise it. Generosity is not a trap, deliberately.
The other parent’s new spouse. Section 156.404 bars the court from counting a new spouse’s resources on either side.
The other household’s lifestyle. Section 156.405 is blunt: an increase in the obligee’s needs or standard of living does not warrant raising support.
On the other side: joint managing conservatorship by itself is not grounds to change support, and the court is never strictly bound to the guideline figure on a modification.
Changing a Spousal Maintenance Order
Spousal maintenance sits in Chapter 8, not Chapter 156, and the rules are different enough that treating them as one thing causes problems.
The headline difference: under Section 8.057, a modification can never increase the amount or extend the duration beyond the original order. Maintenance can be reduced or ended; it cannot be grown. And unlike child support, a maintenance modification reaches back to the date the motion was filed, not to service. Two orders in the same decree, two different retroactivity rules.
We cover eligibility, the caps, and termination in depth on our Austin spousal support page.
Modification or Enforcement: Which One Do You Need?
People ask for a modification when they need enforcement, and the two do opposite things. A modification changes the order going forward. Enforcement makes someone comply with the order as it stands, and can carry contempt.
If your ex is not paying, or is withholding the children, that is enforcement. If the order no longer fits your life, that is modification. Plenty of Austin cases need both filed together.
One caution on money. Texas requires child support to run through the state disbursement unit, and no general statute credits payments handed to the other parent directly. Section 157.008 gives an affirmative defense, but it is keyed to that parent voluntarily giving you actual possession of the child, not to informal payments.
When Filing a Modification Backfires
A modification filed for the wrong reasons has teeth pointed back at you. Under Section 156.005, if the court finds a modification suit was filed frivolously or to harass, it shall assess reasonable attorney’s fees, court costs, and expenses against the filer. Since September 1, 2025 those are three separate recoverable categories.
The abuse and family violence grounds carry more than fees: filing on them while knowing the other parent has no such conviction is a Class B misdemeanor.
Usefully, Section 156.007 confirms that filing a modification is not by itself an admission that circumstances changed as to anything else in the case.
How Our Austin Modification Lawyers Handle These Cases
The first thing we do is tell you whether you have a route. For support that is a short conversation, because the statute is arithmetic. For custody it takes longer: when the last order was signed, whether an MSA sits behind it, what changed, and whether you are moving the primary-residence designation or something less contested.
If the answer is no, we say so at the first meeting rather than after a retainer. We also handle modifications that grow out of a contested Austin divorce, where the original order was fought over and the fight is not finished.
Finding a Modification Lawyer Near You
If you are searching for a modification lawyer near me, ask any attorney one question: based on my order and what changed, which subsection do I file under? An Austin attorney who does this regularly will name it, and say what evidence it needs.
We handle custody and support modifications throughout Travis, Williamson, and Hays counties, including Round Rock, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Leander, Pflugerville, Kyle, and San Marcos. Because the case must be filed where your order was issued, where you originally divorced matters more than where you live now.
Why Austin Clients Choose SMB Law, PC
Shane M. Boasberg has practiced Texas law for more than two decades, with a background running through private practice, the Texas Legislature, and the Office of the Texas Attorney General. He is recognized by Texas Monthly as a Rising Star and belongs to the State Bar of Texas and the Austin Bar Association.
Chapter 156 keeps moving. Two new sections took effect in September 2025 alone. Reading the current statute carefully is a real part of this job.
Our Austin law firm’s client reviews are on Google, Yelp, and the BBB. The consultation is free: (512) 561-5003.
Talk to an Austin Modification Attorney
Modification is how a court order keeps up with a family that changed. Most of the damage we see was done before anyone called a lawyer: waiting months to file after an income drop, filing a thin affidavit inside the first year, or counting on a three-year rule an agreed decree had already taken off the table.
If your order no longer fits, call our Austin office at (512) 561-5003 or reach us through our contact page. The first consultation is free, and you will leave knowing which subsection your case lives under.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does my child get to pick which parent to live with at 12?
No. A child 12 or older can tell the judge in chambers who they want designating their primary residence, and on request the court must conduct that interview. But the statute is explicit that talking to a child does not limit the judge’s discretion to decide what is in that child’s best interest. The preference is evidence, sometimes persuasive. It is not a vote.
Can I stop paying support if my ex will not let me see the kids?
No, and it will cost you. Support and possession are independent obligations in Texas. Withholding payment because you are being denied time turns one enforcement case into two, with you as a respondent in the second. File an enforcement action on the possession denial instead.
What happens if my ex and the kids moved to another county?
If the child has lived in the other county for six months or longer, you have a right to move the case there, and the transfer is mandatory when the motion is timely. Timely is the catch: a petitioner asks when the initial pleadings are filed, and a respondent has until the first Monday after the twentieth day following service. Miss the window and the case stays put.
Does a military deployment change my custody order?
Not on its own. Section 156.105 says deployment, mobilization, or temporary duty is not by itself a material and substantial change. What it allows is temporary orders under Chapter 153, Subchapter L, including naming a designated person to exercise your possession while you are gone. Those end when the deployment ends, and you can petition for additional possession within 90 days of returning.
Can I get credit for money I paid my ex directly?
Usually not. Texas requires child support to be paid through the state disbursement unit, and no general provision credits money handed over directly. There is a narrow affirmative defense where the other parent voluntarily gave you actual possession of the child and you supported the child then, but it must be pleaded and proved. If you are paying outside the registry, stop.
Modification Lawyers Serving Nearby Communities
SMB Law, PC represents clients across Central Texas. Choose your city for local court, filing, and case details: