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→Changing orders under the Divorce Act
<blockquote><tt>(6) In making a variation order, the court shall not take into consideration any conduct that under this Act could not have been considered in making the order in respect of which the variation order is sought.</tt></blockquote>
It is up to the applicant to first show that there has been a change in the "condition, means, needs or other circumstances of the child" under section 17(5) since the last order was made or the court won't change the original order. In the 1996 case of [https://canlii.ca/t/1fr99 Gordon v Goertz], the Supreme Court of Canada talked about summarized the test to vary orders for custody under the old ''Divorce Act'':
<blockquote>[10] Before the court can consider the merits of the application for variation, it must be satisfied there has been a material change in the circumstances of the child since the last custody order was made. Section 17(5) provides that the court shall not vary a custody or access order absent a change in the "condition, means, needs or other circumstances of the child". Accordingly, if the applicant is unable to show the existence of a material change, the inquiry can go no farther.</blockquote>
<blockquote>[13] It follows that before entering on the merits of an application to vary a custody order the judge must be satisfied of: (1) a change in the condition, means, needs or circumstances of the child and/or the ability of the parents to meet the needs of the child; (2) which materially affects the child; and (3) which was either not foreseen or could not have been reasonably contemplated by the judge who made the initial order.</blockquote>
The same test applies to applications to change parenting orders and contact orders under the new ''Divorce Act''. (Under the old ''Divorce Act'', the law that was in place before the changes to the ''Divorce Act'' took effect on 1 March 2021, "decision-making responsibility" was known as ''custody'' and "parenting time" and "contact" were known as ''access''. Older that use the terms "custody" and "access" are still good and don't need to be updated to the new language. If you have an older order that says you have custody, you now have decision-making responsibility for your children. If you are or were married to your ex and have an order that says you have access, you now have parenting time.)
===Changing orders, awards and agreements under the ''Family Law Act''===