Colorado Family Law Laws

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

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

Winning full custody of your child or children is a very difficult thing to do in the state of Colorado. The courts look at the issue from what’s in the best interest of the child or children. From the start, it should be in the best interest of the child or children to have both parents involved in their lives.

However, when you look at other issues that come into play– maybe one parent is moving out of the state of Colorado and can’t have a true parenting plan that wouldn’t necessarily allow them to have 50-50 parenting time. That would allow one parent, should the children remain in Colorado, to have a majority of the parenting time. But to completely eviscerate the other parent’s rights as far as parenting time is concerned really need to show the court that the other parent is an unfit parent and that they endanger the children either physically or emotionally to the point where sole custody is the only option left.

By: Scott Goldman

One of the most difficult questions to answer for anybody is how much does a divorce cost, and then how long does it take? In the State of Colorado, there’s tons of different factors that go into a divorce. And a lot of the issue with cost is where are we going to settle and where are we going to fight? What we can never control is the fight that the other side is going to bring up. And we also can’t force the other side to settle. And if they’re not going to settle, and we have to introduce other factors into the divorce, that necessarily drives the cost up.

From that standpoint, it’s very difficult to tell somebody what their divorce will cost. As far as how long it takes, in the State of Colorado, earliest that somebody can be divorced or that two parties can be divorced is the 91st day after the respondent is served with the paperwork. Or the 91st day after both parties file together. The issue though is that courts are constantly backed up with litigants going into court and fighting about custody and things like that. Depending on the jurisdiction you’re in, your divorce could take a year and a half. It could take eight months. Count on the case taking longer than the 91st day when there are genuine fights about anything within your case.

By: Scott Goldman

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

One question I commonly get is from the people who’ve just been served with divorce papers. And the question typically is, I’ve just been served with divorce papers, should I sign the documents that my spouse’s attorney sent me? And the short answer is, no, don’t do it.

Talk to an attorney first. If your spouse already has an attorney it doesn’t matter how amicable things seem like they’re going to be, you’re better off seeking your own counsel. You’re not going to know all of the details of the divorce, and you may not be familiar with what rights you may be signing away. So in order to protect your rights, my advice is, Call an attorney. If you want to call me we can discuss the situation, I can listen to what the other attorney is proposing and if it’s fair and equitable I may be able to suggest to you, Sure, go ahead and sign it.

By: Ray Chamberland

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 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

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