Amendments to a divorce agreement or judgment/decree

Hurricane Katrina continues to touch us all. I have completly lost touch with several of my clients who live in the Mississippi and New Orleans areas. I can't even reach them on their cellphones. The messages says something like, "Due to the hurricane in this area, service is not available for this customer." Pretty scary. I'll continue to pray for them.

On to today's question: "My ex-wife wants to change a provision in our agreement. Can we do this or do we have to go back to court?"

It depends on the change. You can't change child support amounts without having your amended agreement go back to the judge, but you can change most anything else. It's always best to have your amendment reviewed by and signed by the judge, but it's your life, and most judges would rather have you run your life rather than them running your life.

Just remember to put your change in writing signed by both parties. Otherwise, the other person may claim the change was never made.