A parenting plan is an evolving document. Veerash Srikison details how it is possible for parents in South Africa to change (vary/amend) the terms and conditions of their parenting plan court order.
Once the emotional cloud has lifted and time has passed since you have been divorced, you may realise that the terms of your divorce contained in your court order no longer work for you, given changes in your life, your former spouse’s life or in your children’s lives.
PARENTING PLAN CHANGES MIGHT INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:
- Your children have outgrown the current contact schedule and it no longer applies to their schedules and routine.
- You are moving a long distance from your former spouse or your former spouse is the one who is moving far away. The income of the spouse who is paying child maintenance has increased or decreased.
- One of your children has become seriously ill and you need more financial assistance to help pay for the child’s care and treatment.
- Your former spouse has developed a serious physical or mental illness, has developed a serious addiction to drugs or alcohol, has been arrested for a violent crime, and, you want to change your current contact arrangement that he/she has with your child.
- You or your former spouse has remarried and provisions need to be made to accommodate the new person in your children’s lives.
- The arrangements in your divorce agreement or judgement (court order) are simply not working out, because it lacks the finer details. For example, on how time is spent with your children on special days, does not deal with the minor changes that need to be made on an ad hoc basis
Being a court order, you must follow a legal process that eventually allows your parenting plan to be amended or varied or even replaced by a new document, which will supersede your current court order. If no formal legal process is followed and despite that you both have agreed verbally or through private communication, if you have not filed a document with the court the original document will still stand. Therefore it is best to handle these changes formally so that you are both aware of what is expected from both of you in the long run.
CONSULT A MEDIATOR WHEN AMENDING YOUR PARENTING PLAN
Depending on the circumstances that have caused you to make these changes, your first port of call would be to consult a legally qualified mediator, who will be able to facilitate the discussions surrounding the issues you both have and the terms you want changed (varied). This ensures that a legally sound document is negotiated, which you both understand, that can be presented to the court to be made into your new court ordered agreement.
- Your expert mediator should be able to guide you both into creating a parenting plan that goes into the finer details of your agreement.
- To prevent any further arguments in the future, your mediator should ask for more detail on how you wish to carry out your terms should certain situations arise and do a bit of reality testing with you both.
- Once all of your terms have been discussed and decided upon, you will both be given a memorandum of understanding to agree to which will then be converted into an agreement, which you both sign and this document will be made into a court order by an attorney.
- NB: Make sure you both receive signed copies of your amended parenting plan and that your parenting plan contains a review clause, so that you can revisit it if changes need to be made again.
WHAT IF THERE IS AN IMPASSE
If your circumstances are of such a nature that you both cannot reach agreement through mediation, your alternative would be to consult an attorney who can argue on behalf of you before a judge who will then make the decisions, based on evidence and arguments. Remember, you are entitled to make changes to any court order, including your parenting plan, that you may have in terms of your divorce agreement. By making these changes, you and your former spouse along with your children are aware of what is expected in terms of routine and structure and you do not have to stick to a court order that no longer serves anyone.
