Colorado Family Law Laws

An uncontested divorce is the best kind of divorce, to be honest with you. It means that there’s nothing that you’re fighting over, that you have to court for, and have a judge make a determination on. In other words, you’ve gone through your divorce process, but you and your spouse have been able to reach agreement on all of the important factors in your divorce. That includes your parenting plan, all of the issues surrounding how you’re going to deal with the children, all of the issues surrounding child support, maintenance, if that’s important in the case. And you’re able then to go to court with your final agreements and the judge essentially is going to just agree to what you’ve agreed to, unless there is something completely onerous or wrong with it.

In most cases, the judge will rubber stamp what you’ve agreed to. You may or may not have to go in and see the judge for a final hearing, that depends on whether or not you have attorneys, and whether there are child issues involved. But in most cases you’ll be able to avoid going to court altogether and your divorce agreement will become an order of the court just as written. And that would be an uncontested divorce. A contested divorce means that there’s something that you’re going to have to have the judge decide, and you’re going to have to go to court to have the judge decide that. And that the distinction between the two.

By: Leslie Matthews

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

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

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

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

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

If you’ve decided that you’re going to get divorced, the very first issue you ought to ask yourself is whether or not you need an attorney, or can you handle it yourself. If you have limited assets, you’ve been married for a very short period of time, and there is no children involved, you may be able to get a divorce without the help of an attorney.

One of the things I do when I’m talking to people, is to help them with that analysis and decide whether they even an attorney or not. The problem with doing it yourself, even under the circumstances I’ve described, is there is a great deal of paperwork, it must be completed properly, there has to be a fair exchange of financial information, and then you are going to have to make at least a couple of appearances in court.

Many people are intimidated by that, and even if they have limited assets in the divorce and it’s been a short term marriage without children, they prefer to have the help of a professional who does it every day. But that’s a decision each individual’s going to have to make.

By: Ray Chamberland

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

Bill Moller here. Owner of the Moller Law Group. I want to take a moment now, just to talk about one of the areas that we practice in here at the Moller Law Group. We specialize in family law. What is family law? Family law is a pretty broad subject area, but essentially we handle divorce, child custody situations, child support, abandonment and things like that. If you need help, come see us.

Now, when you do, know that you’re going to get honest advice and sometimes you’re going to hear things that you might not want to hear. That’s because we have experience here at the Moller Law Group because you never really know what a court will do in a situation like yours because we’ve probably encountered it before. Now, every problem is unique and everyone has a different set of challenges, but because of the experience we have, we can help you map a route for your problem.

But, you do need to understand, in a divorce or a child custody battle, not everyone’s going to get everything they want. In fact, both parents are probably going to have to sacrifice a little bit. Here at the Moller Law Group, we’re candid, we’re fair, we’re honest and we also do a good job.

By: William Moller