Custody Modification Lawyer in The Woodlands and Conroe, Texas
The order that fit your family three years ago may not fit it now. You changed jobs. Your ex moved. Your teenager has a schedule nobody imagined at the divorce, or the support number no longer matches anyone's paycheck. Texas builds family orders to last, which is why a custody modification lawyer in The Woodlands or Conroe starts with two questions: what changed, and when?
The "when" matters more than most parents expect. Texas changes an existing order for conservatorship and possession, the terms Texas law uses for custody, under one set of rules, and child support under another. Griffin & Cain, Attorneys at Law, PC handles modification suits throughout Montgomery County, and we will provide a complimentary consultation so that you can discuss your issue with us.
Here is how each track works, the traps that decide these cases, and what changed on September 1, 2025.
Changing Custody, Possession, or Access
You cannot reopen a custody order just because you are unhappy with it, and neither can your ex. A court must find that the change is in your child's best interest, and your case must fit through one of three doors.
Door One: Life Has Materially and Substantially Changed
The circumstances of your child, of a conservator, or of another person affected by the order must have materially and substantially changed since the earlier of the day the court rendered the current order or the day you signed the mediated or collaborative settlement agreement behind it. That second date catches people. Settle at mediation in March, sign the final order in July, and the clock has been running since March.
The Family Code never defines "material and substantial change." Its meaning comes entirely from court decisions. Changes that have qualified include a lasting change in income or employment, a move that makes the schedule unworkable, changed medical or educational needs, family violence, and a parent who has simply stopped exercising possession.
Door Two: Your Child Is 12 or Older and States a Preference
Once your child turns 12, they can tell the judge, privately in chambers, which parent they prefer to have the exclusive right to designate their primary residence. That lets the suit proceed; it does not decide it. The court must still find the change is in your child's best interest, and the interview does not diminish the judge's discretion. A door, not a verdict.
Door Three: The Primary Parent Handed Off the Child for Six Months
If the parent with the exclusive right to designate the primary residence has voluntarily turned primary care and possession of the child over to someone else for at least six months, that opens the third door. One exception: relinquishment during military deployment, mobilization, or temporary duty does not count.
Changing Child Support
If your income has dropped, or the other parent's has climbed while the number stayed frozen, two routes lead to a new child support order. Best interest is not the test on this track; what happened and when is.
Route One: A Material and Substantial Change
The first route uses the same standard as custody: circumstances materially and substantially changed since the earlier of the order's rendition or the settlement agreement's signing. The classic example is a lasting change in income or employment, and the word that matters is lasting.
Route Two: Three Years Plus a 20 Percent or $100 Gap
The second route is pure arithmetic, and the one parents misread most. Under Texas Family Code § 156.401(a)(2), you can seek modification when it has been three years since the order was rendered or last modified and the monthly amount differs by either 20 percent or $100 from what the child support guidelines would call for today.
Two things parents get wrong: the tests are alternatives, so a $100 gap qualifies on its own; and the gap counts in either direction, supporting a decrease as readily as an increase.
The Trap in Agreed Below-Guideline Orders
If your current order came from an agreement that departs from the guidelines, the three-year shortcut is closed to you. Only a material and substantial change will reopen the number. In our experience, parents who negotiated a below-guideline figure almost never realize they traded that route away at the settlement table.
Also worth knowing: being joint conservators is not, by itself, grounds to change support, and incarceration for more than 180 days is a material and substantial change, as is release where support had been lowered for that reason.
File Now, Because Nothing Is Retroactive
This is the costliest delay in Texas family law. Under § 156.401(b), a support order can be modified only as to payments that come due after the other parent is served or appears in the modification suit, whichever happens first. Everything before that date is untouchable.
A parent laid off in February who waits until October to file still owes the full amount for February through October. However justified the reduction going forward, those months cannot be rewritten.
If your income changed months ago and you have not filed yet, call our Conroe office at 936-539-1011 this week. Every month you wait is a month no court can give back.
Filing Within the First Year: The Affidavit Gate
Ask to change who designates your child's primary residence within one year of the current order, or of the settlement agreement behind it, whichever came first, and Texas adds a gate. Your petition must carry a sworn affidavit stating facts that support at least one of three things:
- the child's present environment may endanger the child's physical health or significantly impair the child's emotional development;
- the parent who currently holds that right is seeking or consenting to the change, and it is in the child's best interest; or
- that parent has voluntarily given up primary care and possession for at least six months, and the change is in the child's best interest.
The gate has teeth. If the affidavit does not state adequate facts, the court must deny relief and refuse to schedule a hearing at all. Not a weak hearing. No hearing.
Keep its scope straight, though. This is a pleading hurdle, not a one-year ban, and it reaches only who designates the primary residence, not possession schedules, other rights and duties, or support.
If you are inside that first year and worried about your child's living situation, the affidavit has to carry the day on paper. We build these filings from specifics: dates, incidents, records. Call our Conroe office at 936-539-1011 before you file, not after a hearing has been refused.
Temporary Orders While Your Case Is Pending
Modification suits take time, and your child's life does not pause for them. Courts can issue temporary orders while the case is pending, with one sharp limit: none can switch who designates your child's primary residence unless that serves the child's best interest and one of three conditions is met.
- The child's present circumstances would significantly impair the child's physical health or emotional development.
- The parent holding that right has voluntarily given up primary care and possession for more than six months, again not counting military duty.
- The child is 12 or older and has told the judge in chambers whom they prefer.
Asking on the first ground requires its own affidavit, and the same rule applies: without adequate facts on paper, no hearing.
Two Changes That Took Effect September 1, 2025
First, nonparents now face a higher wall. A grandparent or other nonparent asking to modify an order against a parent must overcome the legal presumption that a parent acts in the child's best interest, and must do it by clear and convincing evidence. And the nonparent cannot rest on a prior order that granted them rights if the parent agreed to it. For relatives holding rights under an agreed order, that clause changes everything; if that is you, start with our page on grandparents' rights.
Second, chronic denial of your court-ordered time now carries real consequences. A contempt finding for denying possession or access, stacked on at least three prior contempt findings for the same conduct, is itself a material and substantial change that can justify changing conservatorship or possession and access. The catch is the record: the pattern helps only if you enforce the possession order each time instead of absorbing the violations.
The Modification Process, Step by Step
- Petition. Filed in the court with continuing jurisdiction over the current order, with the first-year affidavit attached where required.
- Service. The other parent is served or comes forward with a waiver or an answer. In a support case, this date fixes how far back relief can reach.
- Temporary orders, if needed. Subject to the limits above.
- Mediation. Montgomery County's family courts send you here before any temporary orders hearing.
- Hearing or trial. Whatever mediation does not resolve is tried, and a new order replaces the old one.
Need to Change an Order?
Find out whether your situation qualifies for a modification. Your first consultation is complimentary. Send us a message using the form below.
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We will provide a complimentary consultation so that you can discuss your issue with us. Get started by calling us or contacting us via email, and we will respond as soon as possible.
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Our last review post was a year ago; Brian has continued to provide excellent work and advice on legal matters.
The Mistakes We Correct Most Often
- Waiting to file when income changes. Every month of delay locks another month at the old number.
- Filing inside the first year with a thin affidavit. The court will not even set a hearing.
- Assuming your private agreement changed the order. It did not. Parents who swap weekends or cut support on a handshake are still measured against the signed order.
- Treating a 12-year-old's preference as the decision. It opens the door. Best interest decides.
- Letting denied possession slide. The new pattern-of-contempt ground works only when the violations are in the record as contempt findings.
Modifications in Montgomery County
Family cases here go to the 410th and 418th District Courts and County Court at Law No. 3. State law directs the 418th to give preference to family law matters, and the 410th functions as a family court in practice.
Mediation comes first. The 418th's standing order sends every party to mediation before any temporary orders hearing and, absent settlement, caps the hearing at three hours in child residence cases and two hours in other matters, divided equally. The 410th also orders mediation first and generally limits those hearings to about an hour per side. Expect a mediation table before a courtroom, and short, tightly clocked hearings that reward the parent who shows up prepared.
Local practice also trips up out-of-county filers. Most motions set by submission need 10 days' notice and a certificate that the lawyers conferred first. Amended or supplemental filings are due at least 7 days before the court date. Filings go to the District Clerk at 301 N. Main, First Floor, in Conroe, and attorneys must e-file through eFileTexas.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as a material and substantial change in Texas?
The Family Code does not define the phrase, so its meaning comes from court decisions. Courts have treated a lasting change in income or employment, a move that breaks the possession schedule, changed medical or educational needs, and family violence as qualifying.
Can I change child support after a raise or a job loss?
Possibly, through either route. A lasting change in income can qualify as a material and substantial change on its own. Separately, if three years have passed since the order and the amount is off from the current guidelines by 20 percent or $100, that gap alone supports a change, up or down.
Can my ex and I just agree to change the order ourselves?
Not in any way a court will recognize. A private agreement does not change the order, so the old terms stay enforceable and unpaid support keeps accruing as arrears. If you both agree, put the deal in an agreed modification order and have the judge sign it.
Can my 12-year-old decide which parent to live with?
No. A child 12 or older can tell the judge privately, in chambers, which parent they prefer, and that lets a modification suit go forward. The judge still decides based on your child's best interest, and the interview does not bind the court.
How soon after the last order can I file a modification?
There is no general waiting period. But to change who designates your child's primary residence within a year of the order, or of the settlement agreement it came from, you must attach a sworn affidavit stating facts that meet a strict standard. Without it, the court will not set a hearing.
Will a child support change be retroactive?
Only to a point. A new support amount reaches back no further than the date the other parent was served or appeared in the modification case, whichever came first. Payments that came due before then stay exactly as ordered.
How long does a modification take?
No official source publishes real elapsed times, and we will not invent a number for you. The statewide targets courts work toward are three months for uncontested family cases and six months for contested ones, measured from the appearance date or the end of any required waiting period, whichever is later. Those are administrative goals, not promises.
Talk to a Conroe Custody Modification Lawyer
The date you file decides what the court can reach. The paperwork decides whether it will even set a hearing. A custody modification lawyer does you the most good before either of those is fixed.
Partner Brian Russell Cain, a member of the Montgomery County Bar Association, and our associate attorneys handle custody and support modifications for parents in Conroe, The Woodlands, Magnolia, and Montgomery. Partner Robert S. Griffin serves as the firm's mediator, with mediation training from the A.A. White Dispute Resolution Center, which matters in a county that sends parents to mediation before temporary orders are heard.
Call our Conroe office at 936-539-1011 or contact Griffin & Cain at 400 W. Davis St., Suite 200, Conroe, TX 77301. We will provide a complimentary consultation so that you can discuss your issue with us. Bring your current order and anything that shows the change: the pay stub, the new schedule, the message thread. The first questions will be the ones this page started with: what changed, and when?
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Contact Our Office
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We will provide a complimentary consultation so that you can discuss your issue with us. Get started by calling us or contacting us via email, and we will respond as soon as possible.
Phone:
936-539-1011
Address:
400 W. Davis St., Suite 200. Conroe, TX. 77301