Florida Courts and Post-Divorce Modifications: What You Need To Know

What Is a Modification? 

When a party is divorced, or a paternity case is completed, resulting in a final judgment, the court wants some level of closure, and typically, there are only certain things that a court in Florida can modify in the future. 

What Courts Can’t Modify

First, I would like to discuss what a court cannot modify. A court cannot modify the terms of a property settlement agreement. For example, if the parties agree to let one party keep the marital home and the other party keeps a retirement account, if either asset changes in value, the party that did not retain the marital home could not return to court to request that the equalization payment be modified or lowered. The courts want some level of closure, so the parties cannot keep on relitigating the same matters over and over. 

What Courts Can Modify

On the other hand, the parties can relitigate the following issues: 

• Alimony
• Child support
• Time sharing

A court will retain continuing jurisdiction to determine matters that affect the children or support for a party receiving alimony. There are certain threshold factors that the court would consider in any modification of an alimony case. There has to be a substantial change in circumstances that was not foreseen at the time of the original divorce, and it has to be a permanent change in circumstances. 

For time-sharing cases, those that involve children, there are the same exact factors, except that the law recently eliminated the requirement to have unforeseen circumstances since the time of the original judgment. Each case is fact-specific, so if you would like a Florida divorce attorney to discuss your particular situation in more detail and discuss some of the nuances, please do not hesitate to call now, and we will be happy to discuss your situation with you.

Speak With a Florida Divorce Attorney Today

The Florida divorce attorneys at Winthrop Law Offices, P.A., are dedicated to providing every client with the answers they need to make informed decisions. Contact our firm today to schedule a free consultation.