Colorado Family Law Laws

What is child custody based on in Colorado? Child custody is based on a standard – a legal standard – called “What is in the best interest of the children“? And Child custody includes two pieces. It includes parenting time and it includes decision-making. And also, of course, there’s child support that needs to be dealt with. So how is that determined? Essentially, you’ll either agree to those things, in other words, you’ll have the children, let’s just say, 50% of the time – 50% of the overnights a year. Your ex-spouse will also have the children 50% of the time, or 50% of the overnights for the year.

Or certainly we have clients where they take a stand that for reasons of stability or reasons where someone has a job that requires them to travel all the time, that they have less child custody. So the parenting time might most of the time with one parent – the primary parent – and then the other parent might have every other weekend per se with the children. Child custody is either going to be determined, like I said, by you and your spouse or it’s going to be determined by the court if you can’t come to an agreement on that. The court is going to look at what’s in the best interest of the children. The court’s not – I know this is hard – but the court’s not interested at all in you or your spouse. They’re not. That’s not their charge. Their charge is what’s in the best interest of the children.

So it behooves you when you’re sitting down and maybe talking about a child custody issue in the case of a divorce, what is in the best interest of the children in terms of parenting time? What is in the best interest of the children in terms of decision-making? In other words, should decisions all be made by both of you together – joint decision making – or are there some decisions that one or the other of you should make because you can see down the line that there may be real problems associated with trying to come to agreement.

Mostly I see this in the area of wanting the children to go to therapy. One parent believes in therapy, the other parent doesn’t. Or medical issues. We’ve seen children with attention deficit syndrome. One parent believes in medication, the other parent doesn’t. So you can see down the line that there might be issues regarding decision-making.

One of the exceptions to joint decision-making that the court will impose has to do with domestic abuse. If there is domestic abuse in your relationship, then the court will not allow joint decision-making because there’s an imbalance of power between the two parties.  So you can see, there’s some complexities here. But the decision the court will make will always be based on that standard – the best interest of the children – and it will be the judge’s opinion about what’s in the best interest of the children.

So if you can’t come to an agreement, you’re essentially handing that, let’s just say subjective decision to someone else, and hopefully the judge will make a good decision on that for you if you can’t do that yourselves.

By: Leslie Matthews

Some people ask us whether or not you need to file for divorce before going to mediation. The truth of the matter is that you’re actually better off filing for divorce before you go to mediation even though there is no requirement that you do so.

Once you file for the divorce, there’s a whole bunch of requirements that are put in place in terms of exchanging financial documents so you should know exactly what it is you’re settling on. If that’s the goal of mediation, to settle on your case, then you need to be fully informed of the issues before you. You may not otherwise have the proper documentation before filing for divorce because there’s nothing in place that requires the other party to make disclosures to you about what you are trying to mediate.

While you don’t need to mediate prior to filing for divorce, it’s a good idea that you file for divorce and then go to mediation so you can ensure that you’re given the proper documentation and education on what it is you’re trying to settle.

By: Scott Goldman

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

Mediation in the State of Colorado, whether it’s for a divorce case or a child custody case is ordered by the courts, nine times out of ten. And mediation is an alternative way for the parties to resolve their case. Being in full control of that agreement and not risking whether or not a judge or magistrate would go against what you ultimately think should happen.

Mediation can be effective, but it’s only as effective as you allow it to be. And so if you’re not in mediation with realistic expectations about your case. And with the mindset that you want to settle your case, then mediation frankly will not be effective. In order for mediation to be effective, also, both parties need to want to settle the case, and want to make realistic decisions about the outcome of the case that they would also get– that they would also be likely to get in a court setting as well.

If you go in to mediation, thinking that you’re going to get $10,000 worth of alimony a month, and the facts only support of $2,000 alimony rate. Or if you think you’re going to go into mediation and get full custody when the facts support a different custody outcome. Then those are the expectations I’m talking about, that would make mediation ineffective. So it’s very important to listen to your lawyer and make decisions about a realistic outcome so that mediation can be effective. And so you can settle your case with a better piece of mind.

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

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

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, child support can be modified when there’s a substantial and continuing change in circumstances. The first thing that is looked to is whether or not the amount of child support that’s currently being paid will change by greater than 10%. If somebody for example is paying $500 a month and they’re trying to reduce their child support, then their burden would be to show that the child support would go down by $50. And of course on the other hand, if the person who’s receiving child support is trying to increase the amount of child support that’s being paid at the end of the day. Then they would have to show that, that amount would go up by $50 for a $500 amount example.

As far as terminating child support, generally speaking, child support will terminate once the child turns the age of 19. However, if you have multiple children, at that time you should look at modifying your child support as well. Because once the first child turns 19, it does not automatically recalculate itself for when that particular event happens, and then base itself off of the remaining children. So you should file a motion to modify child support at that time.

Some other issues that you look at when modifying child support is the date at which child support would be modified back to. Generally speaking, child support is modified back to the date that you filed your motion to modify child support. However, if you can show that there was a mutually agreed upon exchange in parenting. Meaning, maybe you had a child for four overnights a week and now for the past year or two or whatever it is, that child has been living primarily with the other parent. You can go into the court and argue that there was a mutually agreed upon exchange. And so from the date that, that child started to live with you or the other parent, the modification should go back to that date. Which could be a lot earlier in time than the date in which you file your motion.

By: Scott Goldman

In El Paso County following a temporary orders hearing, and before you can have a permanent orders hearing, you’re required to have mediation. We do have an Office of Dispute Resolution who provides mediation services for the county, and you’re entitled to use them for your mediation, or you can hire a private mediator. If you have an attorney it will be their decision as to whether or not you use private mediation or you use the county folks.

A mediator is a paid individual, typically an attorney who’s very familiar, in our case with family law, and they would try to assist you. If you’re using an Office of Dispute Resolution for example, they have a two-hour mediation where you each pay a fixed fee for the two hours, and you and your attorney would be in one room, the other party and their attorney if they have one, would be in the other room and the mediator would sort of do shuttle diplomacy going back and forth between the two, trying to resolve any remaining case issues that have not been settled so far.

If you can reach a mediation, a mediated agreement, you can write it up, file it with the court and you may not even have to go to court after that for a final orders hearing. So mediation can be a powerful tool to help you resolve remaining issues in divorce cases.

By: Ray Chamberland