Learn Law For All

Expert Insights Into Modifying Family Law Orders

• Launi Sheldon and Guests

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Ever found yourself entangled in the web of legal modifications for parenting time or child support? Fear not, because Randi Burggraff and Michael Dinn are here to illuminate the path forward. This episode is a goldmine for anyone facing the turbulent waters of altering family law arrangements. With expertise and clarity, our guests unravel the complexities behind the conditions that may lead to adjustments in parenting plans, including the critical one-year benchmark and exceptions that arise from circumstances like endangerment. If you're a legal professional or someone personally navigating these challenges, our discussion offers a wealth of knowledge on demonstrating significant changes in circumstances and recalibrating child support in light of income shifts or evolving needs of children.

Transitioning to the nuances of spousal maintenance, we delve into the realm of non-modifiable agreements hashed out during mediation. The stakes are high and the future unpredictable; hence, we dissect the importance of crystal-clear drafting to avoid ambiguity and potential courtroom drama down the line. Bergraf and Dinn impart wisdom on the merits of including modification clauses for life's unforeseen twists, such as health crises. Closing with a trove of resources for those considering modification petitions, this episode equips you with the strategies to confidently tackle these daunting legal endeavors.

You can contact Randi Burggraff and Michael Dinn at:
http://www.BTLFamilyLaw.com

You can contact Launi Sheldon at:
Launi@LearnLawForAll.com

Launi Sheldon:

Hi and welcome to the podcast of Learn Law For All. Today, we are here with Randi Burggraff and Michael Dinn, and a little bit about Randi. Since earning her law degree, randy has dedicated her career to helping parents secure their rights and the rights of their children in even the most volatile situations, and she's able to do that because she has a great background for this. She has a background in psychology as well as family and children's services, and so she really puts that to work in her family law practice. Michael Dinn has been serving the Scottsdale Arizona community through appeals and divorce and family law since 2017. And he's dedicated to securing justice and fairness for all of his clients and he enjoys seeing the law upheld and developed for the good of the community, and he really focuses a lot on appeals. So that's really great. I'm really thankful to have both of you here, so welcome.

Randi Burggraff:

Thank you, thank you.

Launi Sheldon:

And again, as you all probably know, this, my disclaimer the podcast is for educational purposes only and in no way should be considered legal advice, and watching this video does not create an attorney-client relationship. And Randy Mike and myself were only licensed in Arizona and so, even though these concepts are really for Arizona, I think the concepts can be kind of understood nationwide with the changes that we're going to talk about modifications, but, of course, always check the laws in your jurisdiction before relying on this, because laws in each jurisdiction change and, by the way, laws in you know every one jurisdiction can change in a day, right? So thank you both for being here.

Randi Burggraff:

Absolutely. Thank you for having us.

Launi Sheldon:

Right, so we're talking about modification and we just did a CLE on that. That will be. That's also available through our LearnLaw4all website. But talking about it, you know modifications can be difficult, right? Yes, and so when somebody comes to your office and asks you to modify parenting time, you know what does a conversation look like with them, what do you kind of ask them and what do you inform them.

Randi Burggraff:

Absolutely great question. So if I'm dealing with a situation where I have a modification of parenting time, or maybe even legal decision making is a part of that or separate from that, the first sort of conversation I'm having is is I want to know what the prior order say and when they were entered right. So step one is figuring out whether or not I've met, or rather the person who wants to file it. They've met the time requirement. By statute it is one year, but there are exceptions to that when there are situations where there's endangerment, you know, of the child, or if there is a joint decision making award and after six months someone's, you know, abusing that, and we've talked about that, you know, during our CLE segment. But the other part of it is is why are we modifying? What is the change in circumstances? If I have a parenting plan in front of me that says X and my client wants to do Y, what is the reasons, as you know, as to why they want to do that? And really having that detailed conversation with the client about whether or not they're meeting that burden that the court is going to require, that is going to be their responsibility to show that there's been this change and that really can go two different ways, you know, do I have a parent that has, you know, an equal parenting time plan and all they want to change it is from one equal plan to another equal plan because there's problems with the original plan that they have?

Randi Burggraff:

Do I have situations where a parent has, you know, limited parenting time, whether it's unsupervised, not overnight, or supervised time or every other weekend, and they're looking to increase that? And so I'm really having a detailed conversation with my client about what, what things have happened, what has happened in the year one, two, three, four years that warrant the ability to modify. For example, let's say, you have this unsupervised parenting time and there was a very specific, sorry, rather like the supervised parenting time or unsupervised, not overnight. There was a very specific reason as to why have those things changed. Have you done let's say it was, you know, a substance abuse issue? Have you been sober for a period of time? Have you taken classes, gone to therapy? Is the other parent allowing you, you know, unsupervised or overnight contact, you know? Or those the circumstances that have changed.

Randi Burggraff:

Do you have an equal plan that is like a two, two, three plan and that was, you know, agreed upon when kids were three and five, but now they're teenagers and you know it's too hard because they're in sports and we've got the equipment that's moving. There's a lot of conflict as a result of the plan. Kids are forgetting where they're supposed to be going. There's too much interaction and exchange and maybe a different plan would be appropriate. And so I'm really diving into my client about, like, what they're looking to modify and having that conversation to decide, you know, whether or not it's worth incurring the cost you know, to look for that modification.

Launi Sheldon:

All right, great, Thank you. Now the same question about child support. How do you address child support when somebody comes in and says, hey, I want to modify my child support.

Randi Burggraff:

I feel like that one's easier. I say easier because I think child support modifications are more frequent and they're a little bit easier to do. But to me it's more of a monetary reason. Why are you looking to do it? Is somebody's income increasing, decreasing, Are we removing a child from the worksheet because they've emancipated and then I'm running child support worksheets for them during that consultation while we're having the conversation, because I want the client to see what the increase or decrease could be.

Randi Burggraff:

So if I have a $500 child support award, let's say that my client is capable of meeting the burden required by the court in terms of the continuing change of circumstances that's happening and they're looking to increase the amount or they're looking to decrease it. Maybe it's just $100 either way. I then want to have the conversation to say, okay, look, you have a case, you have an ability to modify your meeting that change. But is it financially worth it to you? If you're looking to only decrease your obligation by $100, but I charge this as my regular rate is it worth you incurring the cost in order to do that? And then it goes the reverse way. If you're looking to increase it but it is only by $100 to $300,. Is that worth it from a financial standpoint? Because, while the modification of child support is, I think, quite a bit easier than that of parenting time or decision making, to me the cost-benefit analysis is quite a bit different, because you are really just talking about dollars at that point.

Launi Sheldon:

And so, michael, question for you Is there any advice that you can give someone for making a pleading, when we're creating their pleading, when asking for the modification that you would like in the event of an appeal? Possibly?

Michael Dinn:

Absolutely, and I think that this goes with what Randy was talking about as far as building up the case, if you will, through the consultation and meetings with your client is just to be specific as possible. All of these pleadings that we're talking about here today modification of parenting time, child support, even spousal maintenance they're going to require some detailed facts to pass muster, beyond the court's analysis of is there a change in circumstances happening here that warrants a modification of some previous order? And that's the question. So be specific as possible. Demonstrate what changes happened. Why should the order be modified?

Michael Dinn:

How is this affecting we're talking about parenting time? How is the change affecting the child? How is the orders no longer effective or logistically impossible? Maybe somebody's moved? There's so many different changes that can happen in a family law context. It's just really important to be specific in as detailed as possible when you're writing that initial pleading, so the court can understand the case and also, from a practical standpoint, so you can survive a motion to dismiss, because those are really common in this realm of practice. There's a lot of times when one will submit a petition to modify whether it's parenting time or spousal maintenance. It's oftentimes met with a motion to dismiss for failure to stay to claim relating to the change in circumstances.

Launi Sheldon:

Great. Thank you for that. All right, so here's the one that I wanted to talk to you about. Is there ever a reason and I know Arizona law if the court's making the order, spousal maintenance is modifiable, but is there ever a way that spousal maintenance is non-modifiable?

Michael Dinn:

Yes, there is, and the way is it's technically through 25, 317g and that's Arizona revised statutes. It states, along with ARS 20, I believe it's 25, 327, that if parties agree that an award of maintenance shall be non-modifiable, then the court at that point loses jurisdiction to modify such an award.

Launi Sheldon:

Okay so, and, and you know, I guess there's probably good reasons and bad reasons for both, right? I mean, I think that I think entering into a a non modifiable Spousal maintenance claim can be dangerous For one of the parties for sure, right? Actually, maybe both of the parties right because you can't.

Randi Burggraff:

I mean if, if Mediation, the two parties agree for it to be a non modifiable award, the party receiving this spousal maintenance is not eligible to Increase you know that award, whether by duration or dollar amount, and the party paying it is, you know, saying, not eligible to, you know request the court to modify, to decrease that obligation, whether by duration or dollar amount, you are, you are stuck with the order. Regardless of what you know, circumstances happen where you know where you may have been successful on a modification had it been a modifiable order. So, absolutely, it's important to take into consideration the pros and cons of modification of that type of agreement and maybe even considering if there are concerns that modification may be appropriate, considering including that as part of your agreement if those circumstances may be applicable, like health issues you know things of that nature one other point on that is that if you're the one that's seeking, or if your client is the one that's seeking the Non-modifiable award and everybody agrees to it and you're drafting the agreement, be clear about what that agreement is.

Michael Dinn:

It's non modifiable. Don't leave any ambiguity in there, such as Language like until further order of the court, because when you start putting extra things in like that, it leaves open the interpretation that the parties intended to do something different to that. The court continue to exercise jurisdiction over the matter.

Launi Sheldon:

Okay, well, thank you both very much. We just had done a CLE on this, on modifications on how to file the petitions, so if you're interested in that, come to learnlawforallcom. And thank you both very much. I appreciate you being here.

Randi Burggraff:

Thank you for having us.