How to Modify a Custody, Visitation or Support Order in New York

Changing a custody or visitation order

To change an existing New York custody or visitation order, you file a petition to modify it. CourtHelp explains that a custody or visitation order may be changed if the court decides that things have changed and that changing the order would be best for the child.

The statewide form is General Form GF-40, Petition for Modification of Order of Custody or Visitation, Family or Supreme Court, revision 1/2026. It is filed in Family Court and works for orders made by either the Family Court or the Supreme Court. If the order was made by a court outside New York or a tribal court, the form directs you to Form UCCJEA-9 instead.

What GF-40 asks

• Your relationship to the children and the children's names
• The court, county and index or docket number of the original case
• The date and terms of the judgment or order, with a true copy attached
• For a Supreme Court order, a statement that the Supreme Court has not retained exclusive jurisdiction to modify it
• The change of circumstances since the order was entered (paragraph 9)
• How the order should be modified because of that change (paragraph 10)
• Any previous application for the same relief

Like the other statewide petitions, GF-40 ends with a verification you sign affirming under the penalties of perjury that the statements are true.

See GF-40 paragraph by paragraph, with the printed form beside it.

Orders that came from a Supreme Court divorce

Family Court Act § 652(b) lets the Family Court determine an application to modify a Supreme Court custody or visitation order "upon a showing that there has been a subsequent change of circumstances and modification is required," unless the Supreme Court's order or judgment provides that it may be modified only in the Supreme Court.

If the change is a move

A move can be part of a request to change an existing order. In Matter of Tropea v Tropea, the parent asked the court for changes in the visitation arrangements and permission to relocate with the children. The standard comes from that Court of Appeals decision. Read the relocation guide.

Changing a child support order

Family Court Act § 451(3) sets out when a child support order may be modified:

• On a showing of a substantial change in circumstances. This applies even to an order that incorporates, without merging, an agreement or stipulation of the parties.
• Unless the parties specifically opted out in a validly executed agreement or stipulation, when three years have passed since the order was entered, last modified or adjusted.
• Unless the parties opted out, when either party's gross income has changed by fifteen percent or more since the order was entered, last modified or adjusted.

For the fifteen percent ground, the statute says a reduction in income is not a ground for modification unless it was involuntary and the party made diligent attempts to find work matching their education, ability and experience. For the substantial change ground, it says incarceration is not treated as voluntary unemployment and does not bar a finding of a substantial change in circumstances.

CourtHelp points to the free Support Modification and Enforcement/Violation DIY Form program for asking the Family Court to change an existing support order.