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Modify Primary Residential Responsibility - No Agreement

IMPORTANT: ND Legal Self Help Center staff and court employees are not allowed to give legal advice and cannot help you complete these forms. If you are unsure how to proceed, you should consult an attorney.

To protect your rights, carefully read this information and any instructions to which you are referred.

You may use these forms only if:

  1. You have a North Dakota State District Court judgment that established residential responsibility (custody) and parenting time (visitation); and
  2. You want the North Dakota State District Court to modify the judgment so that:
    • A judgment that currently awards shared or equal residential responsibility is modified to award one parent primary residential responsibility, or
    • A judgment that currently awards one parent primary residential responsibility is modified to award primary residential responsibility to the other parent; and
  3. One of the following applies to your situation:
    • It has been 2 years or more since the original judgment or the most recently amended judgment; or
    • Your current parenting plan allows for modification before two years have passed when an event or circumstance occurs, and the parent making the motion to modify says that the event or circumstance has occurred.

Moving Party Forms (for a parent making the motion): Instructions Read before completing any forms

  1. Notice of Motion
  2. Motion
  3. Brief in Support of Motion
  4. Affidavit in Support of Motion
  5. Affidavit (Others in Support)
  6. Confidential Information Form
  7. Affidavit of Service by Mail

Opposing Party Forms (for a parent who did not make the motion): Instructions Read before completing any forms

  1. Brief in Support of Answer to Motion
  2. Affidavit in Support of Answer to Motion
  3. Affidavit (Others in Support)
  4. Confidential Information Form
  5. Affidavit of Service by Mail

Forms if an evidentiary hearing is granted:

If this packet of forms does not suit your circumstances:

If you want to modify which parent has primary residential responsibility and less than 2 years have passed since the most recent judgment, or an earlier timeframe is not included in your parenting plan, neither the ND court system nor the ND Legal Self Help Center has a packet of forms for you to use.

You may still bring a motion to modify primary residential responsibility. You will need to create all of your own legal documents, or retain a lawyer to create the legal documents for you.

As a starting point for your research, a Primary Residential Responsibility Research Guide is available here.

If you want to modify residential responsibility that DOES NOT result in one parent with primary residential responsibility, neither the ND court system nor the ND Legal Self Help Center has a packet of forms for you to use.

  • You may still bring a motion to modify residential responsibility. You will need to create all of your own legal documents, or retain a lawyer to create the legal documents for you.
  • As a starting point for your research, a general guide to making a motion is a civil action is available here.

The information provided on and obtained from this site does not constitute the official record of the Court. This information is provided as a service to the general public. Any user of this information is hereby advised that it is being provided "as is". The information provided may be subject to errors or omissions. Visitors to this site agree that the Court is not liable for errors or omissions of any of the information provided.

If you have a question relating to a case that is already filed please contact the clerk of court for the county.