Changing and Enforcing an Order

Child support and maintenance

A court can modify support or maintenance when circumstances have changed substantially and the existing order has become unreasonable and unfair: a real change in either party’s income or needs, in health coverage, or in child care costs (Minn. Stat. § 518A.39, subd. 2). For child support, a change is presumed substantial when the guidelines now produce a number at least 20 percent and at least $75 a month different from the current order.

One rule matters more than the rest. A modification can reach back only to the date the motion was served on the other party. With narrow exceptions, every month before that stays as ordered. If your income has dropped, the motion comes first and the negotiation second.

Some decrees waive the right to modify maintenance. If yours does, that waiver is usually enforceable. Bring the decree.

Custody

Custody is harder to change than support, on purpose. Unless both parents agree in writing, no motion to modify custody may be made within one year after the decree, or within two years after an earlier motion was decided. Those limits lift if there is persistent and willful interference with parenting time, or reason to believe the child’s environment endangers the child (§ 518.18).

After that, the court keeps the existing arrangement unless circumstances have changed and a change is necessary for the child’s best interests, and one of a short list is true: both parents agree, the child has been integrated into the other parent’s home with consent, or the present environment endangers the child’s physical or emotional health and the benefit of a change outweighs the harm.

A recent agreement is the hardest order to undo. A new job or second thoughts will not do it.

Parenting time

A schedule can be adjusted when the change serves the child’s best interests and does not change where the child primarily lives. Cutting a parent’s time back is different: the court may restrict parenting time only if it endangers the child or the parent has chronically and unreasonably failed to follow the schedule (§ 518.175, subd. 5).

Moving a child to another state takes the other parent’s consent or a court order, and the parent who wants to move carries the burden (§ 518.175, subd. 3).

When the other side ignores the order

• Parenting time withheld. The court must consider compensatory time when a parent has intentionally made a substantial amount of court-ordered time unavailable, and it has further remedies when that continues (§ 518.175, subd. 6).
• Support unpaid. Unpaid support becomes a judgment. It can be collected through income withholding and other enforcement tools, and through contempt.
• Property terms not carried out. A refinance that never happened, an account never divided, a title never signed over. The court that entered the decree can order it done.

I start with the order itself and a record of what happened: dates, messages, payment history. Then I bring it back to court.

Questions people ask first

I lost my job. Can I stop paying?

No. The obligation continues at the ordered amount until a court changes it, and the change can go back only to the day your motion was served.

We agreed between ourselves to change the schedule. Is that enough?

It works until one of you stops agreeing. An agreement the court has not approved is hard to enforce. Put it in an order.

How long do I have to wait to ask for a custody change?

Usually a year after the decree, and two years after a prior motion, unless you both agree in writing or the exceptions for interference or endangerment apply.

My ex wants to move the children out of state.

Not without your consent or a court order, if you have parenting time. Call before the move, not after.

General information about Minnesota law, not advice about your case. Statutes checked November 2026.

Related

• Divorce
• Custody, parenting time, and support
• Property and debt
• Divorce & family law overview