Custody & Kidnapping

In general, a person may have a couple of options to explore when s/he is dissatisfied with a judge’s order. First, in some situations, if a judge failed to take into account certain pieces of evidence, it may be possible to file some sort of legal motion to reconsider or reexamine certain evidence or to re-argue a certain point of law. I do not know what type of legal motion to reconsider may be available in your state nor can I say whether or not your situation would be the appropriate one to file such a motion or not. Hopefully, you can get some advice from a lawyer.
Another possible avenue, if the judge made an error of law, could be to appeal the court order. We have some basic information about filing appeals on our website. However, again, this is often only possible in specific circumstances and a lawyer who handles appeals may be the best type of attorney to consider your case and advise you.
If there is no possibility to appeal the order or to ask the judge to reconsider certain facts/evidence, then perhaps a person may be able to file to modify the order in the future. Here is some more information about what is often required when there is a final order and a parent wants to change it. Generally, once the judge issues an order, that order is the controlling order until it is modified (changed).  If circumstances change or if the other parent violates the custody order, a parent may be able to file to modify/amend the custody order. To change a custody order, generally a person may need to file a petition to modify (change) the custody order and, depending on the state, s/he may have to prove that a “substantial change in circumstances” has happened since the order was issued. If an order was very recently issued, it may be hard to convince the judge that circumstances have changed substantially since the last court date.  However, if the judge believes that there has been a substantial change and that modifying the order would be in the children’s best interests, the judge might change the order. [LOOK IN THE END OF THE CUSTODY PAGE AND ADD THIS SENT. IF WE HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT HOW TO AMEND AN ORDER] We also have some information about modifying an order in STATE on our website. [HYPERLINK]

Again, you may want to talk to a lawyer to get advice on what options you may have based on your specific circumstances.  You can find information for free and low cost lawyers on our website. [HYPERLINK]