What is a motion to change and when can it be used instead of starting a fresh application?

A motion to change is the standard process for asking a court to vary an existing final family court order or a filed agreement dealing with support, parenting time, or decision-making responsibility, rather than starting an entirely new case from scratch. It's used specifically when there's already a final order or agreement in place and something has genuinely changed since then — for example, a significant shift in income, a parent relocating, or a child's needs changing — rather than simply because one party now disagrees with the existing terms.

Bringing a motion to change is generally faster and less involved than starting a fresh application, since it builds on the existing court file rather than requiring the whole case to be relitigated from the beginning. The person bringing it needs to show the court both what has changed and why that change justifies varying the order, supported by updated financial and other relevant disclosure. If there's no existing final order — for instance, the issue has never been decided by a court — a fresh application, not a motion to change, is the correct starting point. Getting the right process moving matters, since starting the wrong one can waste time and money.