GLASTONBURY, CONNECTICUT · FAMILY LAW + FAMILY-VIOLENCE DEFENSE
Connecticut applies two different tests here, and knowing which one your request falls under changes how you approach it.
A request to change custody — decision-making authority, or which parent the children primarily live with — requires showing a material change in circumstances affecting the child since the last order. Once that threshold is met, the court decides what serves the child’s best interests under the factors in C.G.S. §46b-56.
Courts weigh stability heavily. A child doing well under the current arrangement is not moved because the other parent’s circumstances have improved. What moves a court is evidence that the arrangement is no longer working for the child, or that something has shifted that the original order did not contemplate.
This is different, and it is a point most pages on this subject get wrong.
A motion seeking to modify visitation or parenting time only does not require a threshold finding of changed circumstances. The court is guided directly by the child’s best interests.
That makes schedule adjustments considerably more accessible than custody changes — which matters, because most families’ actual problem is a schedule that no longer fits rather than a custody arrangement that needs reversing.
One caution: a request framed as a schedule change that would effectively shift where a child primarily lives is likely to be treated as a custody modification.
A parent relocating. A significant change in a parent’s work, availability, or living situation. A material change in the child’s needs, including medical or educational. A sustained pattern of one parent not following the order. Circumstances raising safety concerns.
A new partner. A disagreement about schooling or activities. The children being older. Dissatisfaction with an arrangement that has not otherwise changed. A single incident.
Courts notice which parent is generating litigation. A motion that looks like a continuation of a conflict rather than a response to a genuine change can cost more than it gains — including on the best-interest factor about each parent’s willingness to support the child’s relationship with the other.
What goes into a Connecticut parenting plan, how schedules are built, and why vague language causes problems years later.
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Connecticut’s relocation standard depends on whether your case is finished. What §46b-56d requires after judgment, and what applies before it.
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How to change a Connecticut custody, child support, or alimony order after judgment — the substantial change standard, and why filing early matters.
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Every case starts with a conversation about what you’re facing and what it would take to handle it.
