How Can I Modify Child Support or Alimony?

If you want to modify any terms of your underlying divorce or custody agreement, including child support or alimony, you need to file a post-judgment motion to open and modify. The criteria for the modification usually needs to be that there was a substantial change in circumstances, or, that the modification is somehow in the child’s best interest.

Often, there is a substantial change in circumstances due to a change in income for one or both of the parties. If it is your income that has changed, and it decreased, it is usually in your best interest to file a motion to modify sooner rather than later. Any modification will only be retroactive to the date of service, so if you are seeking to decrease your payments in anyway, a delay in filing the motion will ultimately cost you more money as the decrease would not take effect until you file (and then serve the opposing party).

Another circumstance that often arises is when child support was being paid for multiple children and one or more child has “aged out.” If your underlying custody or divorce decree does not provide for the automatic decrease in such a situation, then you will likely need to file a motion to open and modify to address such.

When one party is receiving alimony, he or she may risk having the alimony decreased or terminated if he or she chooses to cohabitate with another individual. In these cases, the modification would be based on a substantial change in circumstances because the party who is cohabiting would now have additional income attributed to their household and, in accordance with Connecticut Statutes, that could have an effect on the alimony that person receives.

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