How to Change a Family Court Order in Ontario

What Does It Mean to "Change" an Order?

A final family court order — covering parenting time, decision-making responsibility, support, or another issue — is not simply a one-time snapshot that disappears once the case ends. It generally continues to apply, and remains enforceable, unless and until it is formally changed. "Changing" an order (sometimes called varying it) means asking a court to update its terms to reflect circumstances that have genuinely shifted since it was made.

This is different from appealing an order. An appeal generally argues that the original decision was wrong based on the law or evidence available at the time. Changing an order instead generally accepts that the original order was fine when it was made, but argues that something significant has happened since then that justifies updating it going forward. See family court orders for background on what a final order generally is, and getting started in family court for the broader court process this fits into.

The Material Change in Circumstances Test

Ontario courts do not generally allow a final order to be reopened simply because one party is unhappy with it, has reconsidered, or wants a better deal. Under well-established Canadian family law principles — including provisions of the federal Divorce Act governing variation of support, and the broader body of case law applying similar reasoning to parenting matters — a party asking to change a final order generally needs to show a material change in circumstances since the order was made.

In general terms, a material change means something significant that was not already known or accounted for when the existing order was made — not a minor, temporary, or foreseeable shift. Commonly discussed examples include:

• A substantial, lasting change in either party's income or employment
• A meaningful change in a child's needs, health, or living situation
• A genuine change in the parenting arrangement actually being followed, compared with what the order describes
• A parent's relocation to a different city, province, or country

The party asking for the change generally carries the burden of showing that a material change has actually occurred — a court is generally not expected to take that assertion at face value. Whether your own situation meets this test depends heavily on the specific facts and on what the original order was actually based on, so this is often a good point to get professional input before filing anything.

Changing on Consent vs. Contested

How much process a change requires depends largely on whether the other party agrees.

Where both parties agree that a change is warranted and agree on the new terms, the change can generally be brought before the court as a consent motion to change. Because there is no dispute for a judge to resolve, this path is generally simpler, faster, and less costly than a contested motion, and it often does not require either party to personally attend court.

Where the parties do not agree — either about whether a material change has occurred, or about what the new terms should be — either side can still ask the court to decide through a contested motion to change. This generally follows Ontario's regular motion process: materials are filed and served, the other party has an opportunity to respond, and a judge ultimately decides based on the evidence, sometimes after a conference or hearing. See motions in family court for the general procedure that a contested motion to change generally follows.

Preparing a Motion to Change

Whether on consent or contested, a motion to change generally needs to be supported by materials that clearly explain two things: what has genuinely changed since the existing order was made, and precisely what change you are asking the court to make. This is typically done through sworn, affidavit-style evidence rather than an informal letter or summary, since the court needs to be able to rely on what is being said.

Ontario's Family Law Rules set out the specific forms generally used for this process — commonly including a form for the motion to change itself, a form summarizing what has changed, and, where support is at issue, a current financial statement disclosing income, expenses, assets, and debts. Because required forms and local court practices can be updated, it is generally worth confirming the current versions directly with the court or the official sources below before filing, rather than relying on an older template.

Filing and Serving

A motion to change is generally filed with the court that made the original order. Depending on your situation — for example, if you or the children have since moved to a different area — it may also be possible, or necessary, to file with a different court that otherwise has jurisdiction over the case. If you are unsure which court applies, confirming this before filing is generally worthwhile, since filing in the wrong location can cause delay.

Once filed, the motion to change generally must be formally served on the other party — meaning the documents are delivered to them in a way that satisfies the court's rules, typically by someone other than yourself. The other party generally then has a set period of time to respond before the matter proceeds further. If a party cannot be located for service, the court generally has procedures for alternative arrangements, but these generally require showing what efforts were already made.

Throughout this process, the existing order generally remains fully in force and enforceable — filing a motion to change does not, on its own, pause or suspend the current terms while the request is pending.

What's Easiest to Change: Parenting, Support & Property Compared

Not every type of term in a final order is equally easy to reopen. As a general pattern across Ontario family law:

• Parenting time and decision-making responsibility are generally the most readily changeable terms, because a child's best interests can generally always be revisited by a court as circumstances evolve — childhood itself is not static, and courts generally recognize that arrangements suited to a toddler may not suit a teenager.
• Support (child or spousal) is generally changeable once a genuine material change in circumstances is shown, most often tied to income, needs, or the parenting arrangement, but it is not revisited automatically or without that showing.
• Property terms in a final order — such as an equalization payment — are generally much harder to reopen once made. Ontario's property regime is generally built around achieving finality, and reopening a final property division generally requires more than a simple change of heart or a later change in an asset's value; it typically calls for something specific and exceptional, such as a genuine flaw in how the original order was reached. This is a general pattern, not a fixed rule, and the exact grounds for reopening a property order are a matter for professional advice.

In short: the type of term you are trying to change matters just as much as the process itself when it comes to your realistic chances.

Changing a Support Order Specifically

This page focuses on the general mechanics of bringing a motion to change for any type of order. If support is specifically what you are trying to change, our companion page on changing a child or spousal support order goes deeper into what actually tends to count as a material change for support — for example, how income changes, a child turning 18, or a parent's remarriage are generally treated — along with the option to change support by mutual agreement without going back to court at all where support was only ever set out in a private agreement.

Changing an Order vs. Enforcing One

It's easy to conflate these two, but they solve different problems. Changing an order asks a court to update what the order says going forward, because circumstances have genuinely shifted. Enforcing an order instead addresses what happens when an existing, unchanged order isn't being followed — for example, missed support payments or denied parenting time.

The two can come up in the same relationship without being interchangeable: a party who believes support should be lower because their income dropped generally still needs to bring a motion to change rather than simply paying less, and a party who isn't receiving court-ordered parenting time generally needs to pursue enforcement rather than assuming the order no longer applies. For a closer look at how enforcement generally works in Ontario — including the Family Responsibility Office's role in support enforcement — see enforcing a family court order, and for a broader overview that touches on both sides of this at once, see changing or enforcing a family court order.

Frequently Asked Questions