A divorce decree or custody order is final — but it isn’t frozen in time. Life keeps moving after the ink dries. People change jobs, lose jobs, remarry, relocate, get sick. Kids grow up, and their needs change with them. Texas law has a process for when the order on paper no longer matches the life you’re actually living. It’s called a modification.

The magic words: “material and substantial change”

You can’t modify an order just because you’ve thought better of the deal. Texas requires a material and substantial change in circumstances since the last order — something real that has shifted for the child, a parent, or another person named in the order. The law deliberately doesn’t spell out an exact list, because life doesn’t either. Common examples:

  • a significant change in either parent’s income
  • a parent relocating
  • a change in the child’s needs — medical, educational, emotional
  • a parent becoming unable, or unfit, to care for the child
  • a parent’s incarceration

The question is always the same: has something genuinely changed since the last order, and does that change matter?

Child support has a second, simpler path

For child support specifically, there’s an additional shortcut. If your order is at least three years old and the amount today’s guidelines would produce differs from your current amount by at least 20% or $100, you can ask for a review — even without proving a dramatic change. Incomes drift over three years. This is the mechanism that lets the number catch up.

(One catch: if you and your ex agreed to an amount that intentionally departed from the guidelines, this shortcut doesn’t apply — you’re back to proving a material and substantial change.)

Changing who the child lives with — the extra hurdle

If you want to change which parent has the right to decide where the child primarily lives, and it’s within one year of the current order, Texas adds a hurdle: you have to file a sworn affidavit showing a serious reason — for example, that the child’s present environment may endanger their physical health or emotional development. It’s a high bar on purpose. Courts value stability for kids, and don’t want the primary home changing on a whim.

Timing, and one caution

Two things worth knowing. First, an informal handshake deal with your ex — “let’s just switch weekends going forward” — is not an enforceable order. If a change matters, get it into the order. Second, a modification runs on the same standard you’ll be held to, so walking in with a clear, documented change beats walking in with a general sense that things feel unfair.

Facing a family law question in Texas?
Schedule a consultation or call WEBB Family Law at 214-871-2730.

This article is general information about Texas law, not legal advice. Every situation is different; talk to an attorney about yours.