Colorado Family Law Laws

In the State of Colorado, an affair really doesn’t have an affect on alimony. Or the fancy term that we use in the law is maintenance. Colorado is a no-fault state so the judge or magistrate is not really looking to whether or not somebody had an affair to determine how maintenance will be determined.

And as a matter of fact, these issues need to be determined without any reference to fault. So the affair doesn’t play a role in that. In child custody, you could have some influence on that issue. If you have a parent that has had an affair and now has brought that other person around the children. And that person starts to act as though they’re parent to the child or children, that can have an affect on how child custody is determined at the end of the day. But overall, the mere fact that somebody had an affair, generally doesn’t play a role in how custody is determined.

By: Scott Goldman

I’m Scott Goldman. I run Goldman Law here in the state of Colorado, more closely in the Denver metropolitan area, in the Front Range of course. Our main focus of practice is the area of family law which is inclusive of divorce, child custody, modification or orders, dependency, neglect proceedings, adoptions. So it’s a fairly big gamut that family law runs.

Our approach to law at Goldman Law is pretty unique in the sense that it’s a business-like approach. We really focus on customer service because at the end of the day we want our clients to be happy and have a resolution to their case that they’ve been involved in. One that will give them a peace of mind at the end of the day, knowing that they had the right voice put forth for them. We’re also not going to go into a case simply to make a fight out of something that doesn’t need to be fought. And you’ll have a lot of lawyers that will come in and just drag cases out and make fights where they don’t need to do so, and it ends up costing the client more and more and more at the end of the day.

So our approach is to either get to a settlement that is good for the client and one that they can live with on a long-term basis. Or look at the areas where we’re not going to settle and reserve those for trial and prepare the proper way for trial. But either way, our approach is always to have the client involved in their case. So this way, they have a peace of mind about what’s going on, and we’re not constantly in the driver’s seat.

How we are perceived by our clients is important to us. I think that we want to be perceived as professional, ethical, and really giving them a service that they came in to sign up for. Often times, it’s very difficult to understand that there are weak positions within a divorce or a child custody matter. And on the professional note, giving clients the advice that they don’t necessarily want to hear is what that’s all about.

Being ethical is very, very important for us too because we work hard to do things the right way and by the book for our clients. And ultimately, that makes it less costly for the clients too when you do things right. So we want to be perceived as the law firm that they came to that made a difference in their lives. And ultimately, at the time of a hearing, we always tell our clients there’s no guarantees of an outcome. No matter how good of a lawyer you are, you can never predict what a judge is going to do. But you can bet that we go into court, we’re going to put our best voice forward for that client and do the case the right way.

Trust and hiring us really go hand in hand, the two issues. I think on the trust side of things, a client is going to have constant communication about what’s going on in their case. And they can be confident knowing that we are here to educate them and give them an opinion about their case that they may otherwise not want to hear. And a lot of trust has to deal with telling people the hard facts about their case and allowing them to make an educated decision about that. On the side of hiring us, we’re going to give our clients the voice that they need and do a thorough job for them at the end of the day as divorce and child custody matters are very tough matters to deal with. At the end of the day, the client is looking for a voice and looking for a job to be done and that’s what we’re here to do.

By: Scott Goldman

Hi, Bill Moller, owner of the Moller Law Group. I want to take just a moment to introduce myself and talk briefly about our law firm here. I’m a retired Army officer. I spent (21) years leading soldiers. I know what it takes to lead from the front. I know what it means to take a stand on a tough position, and I know what it means to be honorable and to have integrity. I think my Army experience has prepared me well to be an attorney. I’m not intimidated easily by others, and I know how to take a stand when others think that it might be easier to give way. At the same time, I’m not a bull dog. What do I mean by that? I don’t senselessly grab hold of an issue and just fight or gnaw on it for no purpose or to no end. I take a more pragmatic approach. I analyze your case. I weigh the pros and cons of it, and I try to give you the best advice I can, telling you the strengths of your case as well as the weaknesses. If your case is weak, I’m going to tell you. If it’s strong, I’ll tell you that as well. When you come see us, you’re going to know what we think the likely outcome is going to be.

The other attorneys here in our office are the same way. We don’t needlessly fight over issues, because ultimately it’s you paying the bill. What we do try to do, though, is represent your interests and obtain the results you want. After all, this is your case, so we want you involved every step of the way so we can help you make key decisions that will get the outcome you’re really searching for.

By: William Moller

In the state of Colorado, a parenting plan is the document that the court ultimately will make an order of the court that determines when each parent will have their parenting time, what decision making looks like, what child support looks like, whether or not one parent can take the child tax credits in one year and all sorts of things regarding the child and children.

It’s very important to have a parenting plan because when there is a breakdown in the communication between the parents in the future, they have something to rely on, they have something that they can go and enforce in the court. It also gives the children a sense of stability.

The children may not be and should not be made aware of the parenting plan, however, when the parents are not fighting over issues and rely simply on a document that either they entered into through an agreement process or by a court order then the children really have – at that point – a worry-free life until something is modified in the court and a parenting plan is very important in that respect.

By: Scott Goldman

Mediation can often save the client money. The mediator has their hourly fee, of course the attorneys do as well. But mediation can last (4) hours, it can last (2) hours, it can last the whole day. And the nice thing about mediation is that you’re not spending time preparing witnesses, preparing trial exhibits, preparing for a trial.

Really where the bulk of the costs come in are preparing for trial. To the extent that you can settle things out in mediation. And understanding that there’s still preparation for mediation. You will save yourselves a lot of money by going through that process and coming out of it successfully.

By: Scott Goldman

Hi. My name is Bill Moller. I’m the owner of The Moller Law Group. And I just want to take a moment to talk to you about what our firm believes in. I’m an avid backpacker. On a sunny day, if I can get out of here, I’ll be up in the mountains hiking, usually with my dog Hover. Sometimes I take even more extended trips up in the high country.

One of the things that I always take with me is a compass. The reason I take a compass is so I can get back to where I begun. I’m kind of old school. I don’t use a GPS. But our motto here at the Moller Law Group, is to help you map a route through life’s journey. Now that may sound like a silly slogan. But it’s what we really believe.

Sometimes you have problems that you just need an attorney for. And so if you come to see us, we’re going to help you find a way through your difficulty – to the clear fields beyond. And if we can do that for you, give us a call. Thanks.

By: William Moller

In Colorado, when a parent wants to move out of the state, there’s a couple of different issues that arise as far as visitation is concerned and custody is concerned. The first thing to be aware of is that the state of Colorado, and really any state in the union, cannot force an adult to stay where they’re at. They’re free to move at any time that they want to move. The question is whether or not the children will be allowed to go with you.

Of course the court is looking at what’s in the best interest of the child or children. There’s a number of different steps that have to be taken to procure relocation if it’s after your divorce has been finalized, or after your custody matter has been finalized. It works a bit differently if it’s the initial case. These are all issues that are discussed in a consultation. But if the non-custodial parent objects to the substantially changing geographical ties with the parent, that’s a big consideration for the court to look to. You look to the children as well and their community, their friends that they would be leaving. There’s a whole host of factors that go into a relocation matter. It’s a very uphill battle even if you’re in the initial case in the first place.

In order to effectuate a good relocation case, you need to have good facts behind it, not just “I think I can get a job” or “I think it will be better to live out there.” Courts really want to know the reasons for moving out there. If you have family out there, if you already have a great paying job, if you are forced to move for work– these are reasons to set forth before the court. But they’re not guarantees that a court would look to, or a court would grant your wish to relocate with the children. So it can have a fairly big effect on how that visitation is ultimately decided.

By: Scott Goldman

Child support is often one of the biggest issues in a divorce. Child support is determined after there is an initial determination of whether or not there should be maintenance, because maintenance becomes income to the party receiving child support and it actually reduces the income of the party paying child support. Then there is a statutory calculation made for child support when there is things that you plug into the calculation, like is one of the parties paying health insurance? Is one of the parties paying daycare, either because they’re going to school or because they’re working? And those things all factor into the child support amount.

Child support can sometimes be calculated by individuals on their own without the help of an attorney, but if you have daycare issues or you have one of the parties going to school, or you have one of the parties paying medical, typically you’d be better off with an attorney assisting you. And we work very hard when we’re helping with people to make sure that that child support calculation is done correctly.

By: Ray Chamberland

Mediators do not tell people their legal rights, that’s why you have your legal representative, your lawyer, there with you to tell you what your legal rights are. A mediator hopefully has experience in the area of law that you’re mediating. Here obviously we’re talking about family law issues.

But sometimes the mediator doesn’t have that experience at all, and they’re there to facilitate a settlement. So to that extent the mediator not only is barred from telling you what your legal rights. But they also cannot be called in to court at a later date to talk about what the settlement discussions were about. That’s barred not only by Colorado statute, but by the Colorado “Rules of Evidence” as well.

By: Scott Goldman