Post-Decree Matters

Do you need enforcement, modification or implementation?

Start with the relief you actually need. Enforcement asks the court to require compliance with an existing obligation. Modification asks to change an obligation under the applicable legal standard. Implementation completes steps such as a retirement order or property transfer already contemplated by the judgment.

Property provisions generally cannot be modified simply because a deal later looks unfavorable. Section 510 permits reopening only when the applicable legal grounds exist. A new income level does not ordinarily provide a reason to renegotiate a final property division.

Bring the complete judgment and incorporated agreements, later orders, a payment or event timeline, communications and the specific missing document or unpaid item. Fees may be available under the applicable statute; Section 508(b) requires reasonable fees and costs in qualifying enforcement proceedings when noncompliance lacked compelling cause or justification. That finding matters.

Source: 750 ILCS 5/508(b), 510 and 511. Legal sources checked September 27, 2026.

Can support change after a job loss or income increase?

A substantial change in circumstances can support a modification request, but the actual financial change, the existing order and the applicable statute control. Child support also has specific alternative statutory routes, including a limited administrative-enforcement review provision; there is no universal rule that any 20% income change automatically changes an order.

Maintenance can involve additional factors and contractual limits on modification. Continue addressing the existing obligation through the proper process rather than choosing a new amount informally. Under Section 510, modification generally affects installments accruing after due notice of the filed motion. Delay can therefore matter even when the underlying change is real.

Source: 750 ILCS 5/502(f) and 510(a), (a-5). Legal sources checked September 27, 2026.

Must you wait two years to change a parenting order?

Parenting time may be modified without a two-year wait. In Reynolds v. Reynolds, 2026 IL 132627, the Illinois Supreme Court held that a parenting-time-only request uses §610.5(a): changed circumstances that necessitate modification to serve the child’s best interests, not subsection (c)’s substantial-change standard. Decision-making changes, restrictions and the statutory exceptions have separate rules. Review the existing order and the precise change requested. Read Reynolds, 2026 IL 132627, ¶¶ 38–44. Source checked September 28, 2026.

Not for every type of change. Section 610.5 generally limits motions to modify decision-making within two years, subject to statutory exceptions, including the specified endangerment procedure, stipulation and Section 603.10. Parenting time has a separate provision allowing modification at any time upon the required changed circumstances and best-interests showing.

The statute’s general modification framework and its exceptions still need to be applied. Minor modifications, agreed changes and certain established arrangements may be treated differently. Identify whether the requested change concerns significant decisions, the schedule, a safety restriction or relocation; calling all of them “custody changes” obscures the applicable standard.

Source: 750 ILCS 5/610.5 and 603.10. Legal sources checked September 27, 2026.

Read the September 24, 2026 Reynolds decision and its limits. Identify whether the requested change concerns parenting time, decision-making or a restriction before choosing the standard.