Under TX family law procedure is there a way to change child support payments and custody without going back to court

SInce so many cases are overseen by the office of the attorney general, I would suggest you find a good local attorney who can prepare an agreed modification of not only possession and access and custody but also o9f the child support. This should not take the attorney more than three hours plus filing fees, if done without revisions and signed withour court appearance by both of you.. the attorney can then simply enter the order at court at his/her convenience.. good luck

Nice question. Simple answer. No.

It seems so simple — right? The reality is that if there is already a court order forcing child support in a specific dollar amount then that’s the way it is.

There are a few mechanics to understand here — the judge will be looking after the best interest of the child and that means that someone needs to pay child support. The judge is also bound by the fact that each state already has guidelines for how to determine how much a parent needs to pay for child support (and each state is different) however, once the child support is set to a specific figure — then you are stuck there (because it a judges order) and making personal changes to it is a violation of that rule. The parent (and possibly both parents) can be found in contempt for making an agreement outside of that order.
What the attorney does not tell you — is that each state receives money from the federal government for the collection of child support. So, the more the state collects the more money they get form the fed. This generally means that child support is set to a guideline amount which is specified in state statute. Getting a lower amount is about as easy as raising the dead. The judge can waver from these guidelines, but must specify reasons why and they generally try not to do that.

So, in summary — if there is already an order and no other radical financial /medical or employment issues are at hand — then the guidelines apply and your stuck.

You should look to review the child support obligation every so often — maybe every year or two years to make sure it still applies — but that requires heading back to the judge — since he ‘s the only one that can change it.

This answer is just information and is not advice.

The answer is, theoretically, yes. The problem is that the agreement must be drawn properly. They can do a Rule 11 agreement. It would need to be written, signed by both and filed with the court. In Texas, orders may not be enforceable by contempt if they are not properly drawn up. Even trained and experienced lawyers sometimes have trouble properly drawing orders.

Your boyfriend can save money by reaching an agreement and then hiring a local attorney (who does family law) to draw up the Rule 11 agreement, get it signed and then file it. Hiring the attorney costs a little, but could save a lot of money down the line by avoiding having an ineffective Rule 11 agreement.

Two things...

Boyfriend is treading on thin ice; he's under a court order to pay child support. He can be found in contempt and jailed for violating that order just because it seems right for him to do.

Court orders have to be changed by the Court. You can (and people do) agree between yourselves to change things up, and then you might act on that for a while. Then one of you can change his/her mind and drag the other into court for violating the orders of the court. It puts the "other" into a nutcracker.

Getting an agreed motion to modify ratified by the Court should not be expensive, and some big Texas cities have legal aide organizations that can get this done for you at minimal cost, including law school family law clinics.