How to modify child support or spousal support in North Dakota

Sources last checked: 4 November 2026. Information only, not legal advice. The Cusp is not a law firm.

North Dakota divorce kit How child support is calculated Spousal support in North Dakota Legal aid in North Dakota After your divorce

The short version

North Dakota’s statute uses the term spousal support. Child support and spousal support are changed in different ways. The state child support agency says child support “does not change automatically” and that “only a court can change the amount”. Under N.D.C.C. 14-09-08.4(4), if the child support obligation was entered at least one year before you file, the court must amend it to match the guidelines “whether or not a material change of circumstances has taken place”, unless the guideline presumption is rebutted. Within one year of the entry, you must also show a material change of circumstances. Spousal support is covered by N.D.C.C. 14-05-24.1: rehabilitative and general term support can be modified on a material change in circumstances, but lump sum spousal support cannot be modified. The North Dakota courts publish an instruction packet for asking the court to review child support after income changes. We found no court form for modifying spousal support.

What must be shown

Child support

One year or more since the order: section 14-09-08.4(4) says the court “shall order the amendment” of the amount to conform to the guidelines, with no material change needed, unless the presumption that the guideline amount is correct is rebutted.
Less than one year since the order: the party seeking amendment “must also show a material change of circumstances”. Section 14-09-08.4(5) says three things count as a material change of circumstances: a child’s eligibility for benefits under programs it lists (or a substantially similar state or tribal program), the availability of health insurance at reasonable cost to the child, and the need to provide for the child’s health care needs.
Guideline amount: section 14-09-09.7 tells the Department of Health and Human Services to set the child support guidelines, and says there is a rebuttable presumption that the guideline amount is the correct amount. It may be rebutted if a “preponderance of the evidence in a contested matter” shows the guideline amount is not correct, and the court must make a written or specific finding if it decides the presumption is rebutted.
Agency review: section 14-09-08.4 says the child support agency must review orders it enforces at least every 36 months, unless exceptions in that section apply. If the amount is “less than eighty-five percent or more than one hundred fifteen percent” of the guideline amount, the agency “shall seek an amendment”. Under section 14-09-08.7, if the agency decides not to seek an amendment, either parent may still ask the court for one at any time before the support order ends.
Support after 18: section 14-09-08.2 says an order for support until majority continues until the end of the month the child graduates from high school or turns nineteen, whichever comes first, if the child is enrolled and attending high school, turns eighteen before the expected graduation date, and lives with the person owed support. The same section says an order may continue support after eighteen if the parties agree or the court finds it appropriate.

Spousal support

What counts as a material change: section 14-05-24.1(1) defines it as a change that substantially affects the financial abilities or needs of the parties and which was “not contemplated by the parties at the time of the original award”.
Which awards can be modified: if a material change occurs during the rehabilitative period, rehabilitative support may be modified. If a material change occurs, general term support may be modified. Once judgment is filed, the court “may not order a modification of lump sum spousal support”.
Your own agreement matters: the parties “may expressly preclude or limit the modification of spousal support” by a written agreement that is part of the divorce judgment. Read your own judgment.
Limited period: section 14-05-24.1(2) says the court “may not award permanent spousal support”.
Ending support: unless the parties agreed otherwise in writing, spousal support is “terminated upon the remarriage or death of the spouse receiving support”, and the recipient must give the payor notice of a remarriage. On a court order based on a preponderance of the evidence of “habitually cohabiting with another individual in a relationship analogous to a marriage” for one year or more, the court shall terminate support unless the parties agreed otherwise in writing. There is also a rebuttable presumption that support ends when the payor reaches full retirement age for Social Security purposes.

Forms and steps

Child support: ask the state agency for a review

Either parent may request a review by sending the agency’s Request for a Review form. The form says to return it to Child Support, PO Box 7190, Bismarck, ND 58507-7190, with a separate request for each order.
If you pay support, or you and the other parent have split or equal residential responsibility, the form says you must also send a Financial Declaration and the documents it lists, or the request “will not be considered”. The agency page also lists a Contact Information form for you to return.
The agency says that, for a case receiving Full Services, either parent can ask for a review every 18 months, counted from the date the order was entered, last reviewed or last changed. It says a request will be denied if 12 months or less are left on the order, or if a court action to establish or change primary residential responsibility is in progress.
If the order is less than 18 months old and does not meet one of the agency’s listed exceptions, the agency says either parent may file a motion directly with the court.
When the review is complete, both parents receive the proposed amount, and each can agree or disagree. The agency says a court must approve the final order.

Child support: file a motion with the court

The Legal Self Help Center page and instructions apply only if you have a North Dakota state district court order setting or reserving child support and you want it changed because of financial changes. They cannot be used to ask for a change in parenting time or residential responsibility. The Center says its forms “aren’t official court forms” and courts are not required to accept them. Its forms are linked from the court’s Amend/Review Child Support page.
Forms listed in the instructions (July 2026 revision): Notice of Motion, Motion, Brief in Support, Declaration in Support, a Confidential Information Form, a Financial Declaration with Data Sheets, and a Declaration of Service by Mail. The instructions say the person receiving support serves a blank Financial Declaration on the person paying, and the person paying completes it.
Calculate first: the instructions warn that without the child support calculations the judge or judicial referee will either require them before deciding or dismiss the motion. They point to the guidelines calculator that the Department of Health and Human Services provides.
Serve: the instructions say to serve copies on the other party, but not the Confidential Information Form. For service by mail, the person mailing must be at least 18, and service is complete when mailed. A Declaration of Service by Mail is the proof. If the State of North Dakota is a real party in interest, which the instructions limit to listed situations such as a child receiving assistance through state programs, it is served too.
File: take or mail the originals to the Clerk of Court in the county where your child support order is filed.
Answer and hearing: the other party has 17 days after service by mail to answer. A request for an evidentiary hearing is due 7 days after the answer deadline. If the judge or judicial referee does not grant the motion, the amount in your current order stays the same.

Spousal support

We found no North Dakota court form or instruction page for modifying spousal support. The statute above is what we can report. See “What we could not confirm” below.

Before you file

The Center says its staff and court employees “can’t help you fill out the form(s)”, and that people who represent themselves are held to the same responsibilities as a lawyer. See legal aid in North Dakota for free or low-cost help, or the North Dakota divorce kit for the wider process.
Gather a copy of your current order or judgment and proof of the financial change, such as wages and other earnings information. The instructions say these are the minimum.
Fee: the court’s child support instructions say “Pay the $160 filing fee” and that you may ask in writing to waive it, with fee waiver forms at ndcourts.gov/legal-self-help/fee-waiver. We read no fee for a spousal support motion.
Child support amounts follow the guidelines. See how child support is calculated in North Dakota and spousal support in North Dakota. For other changes after a divorce, see After your divorce.

What we could not confirm

A court form for modifying spousal support. The court pages we read list child support, custody and visitation modification packets, and none for spousal support.
Whether a change can reach back before you file. We found no sentence on this in the statute sections we read, so we say nothing about it.
How judges apply “material change”. We did not read any court opinion in full from the court, so we do not say how the term is applied beyond the statute’s own wording.
The child support guidelines themselves. The North Dakota Administrative Code chapter on guidelines and the Department’s guidelines page were not read, so we give no amounts or deviation rules.
The agency’s 18-month rule compared with the statute. The statute sets a 36-month review for orders the agency enforces, while the agency page describes 18 months for requests. We did not find a source that explains how the two fit together.
The text of the court’s forms. We read the instructions and the agency’s request form, not the filled-in forms packet.
Court rules. The instructions refer to the North Dakota Rules of Civil Procedure and Rules of Court. We did not read them, so we do not state other deadlines, hearing rules or local practice.
Fees for spousal support motions. Only the child support packet fee is stated in a source we read.
The agency’s separate child support website. We read pages on hhs.nd.gov only.

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