Varying or cancelling a court order

Hello! I would be completely happy to help you with this.

The short answer:

Yes, you can apply to vary or cancel a court order if your circumstances have changed, but how easy it is to do will depend entirely on what type of order you have. The courts deal with family matters very differently from civil debts or property disputes.

It would be helpful to break this down by the most common types of orders.

Family court orders:

If you have a child arrangements order, the court understands that a family's circumstances will change as children grow up or if parents move house or change jobs. You can apply to vary these orders if the current setup is no longer in the best interests of the children. However, the courts usually expect you to try mediation first before applying.

For financial orders made during a divorce, the rules are stricter. Ongoing payments, such as spousal maintenance or child maintenance, can usually be varied upwards or downwards if someone loses their job, gets a promotion, or retires. However, a clean break order, a lump sum payment, or a property transfer order is almost always final. The court will only change these capital orders in extremely rare and exceptional circumstances, such as a major, unforeseeable event happening within a few months of the order being made.

Civil court orders and debts:

If a County Court Judgment or another civil order has been made against you to pay a debt, and you can no longer afford the payments because your financial circumstances have worsened, you can apply to vary the order. You can ask the court to let you pay by smaller monthly instalments. You do this by filling out a specific form detailing your income and outgoings.

Cancelling an order is known in the civil courts as setting it aside. You cannot usually ask the court to set aside a judgment simply because your circumstances have changed. To set aside a civil judgment, you generally have to show that there was a good reason you did not defend the claim in the first place, such as the court papers being sent to an old address, and that you actually have a genuine legal defence to the claim.

Key things I would need to know:

To give you the most accurate steer, it would be helpful to know a little more about your situation. I would need to know what type of court order you are dealing with, when the court made the order, and exactly what has changed in your life since then. It is also helpful to know if the other party is likely to agree to the changes you want to make.

Practical next steps:

1. Look at the original order. Check exactly what it says and whether there are any looming deadlines you need to meet.

2. Talk to the other side. If it is safe and appropriate to do so, see if you can reach an agreement with the other person or company. If they agree that the circumstances have changed and are happy with your proposed solution, you can often write out your agreement and send it to the court to be approved by consent. This saves everyone a lot of time, stress, and money.

3. Consider mediation. If you cannot reach an agreement directly, an independent mediator might help bridge the gap, particularly in family disputes where the court will expect you to have tried mediation anyway.

4. Gather your evidence. If you do need to ask the court to change the order, you will need proof of your change in circumstances. This might be a P45, recent payslips, medical records, or a letter from an employer.

5. Make a formal application. If agreement or mediation fails, you will need to fill in the relevant application form for your type of case, pay a court fee, and submit your evidence. A judge will then review the matter and decide whether it is fair to change the order.

Please just let me know if you would like to share a few more details about the specific order you are wrestling with, and we can look at the exact rules that apply to you.