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
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
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
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
When I’m working with people on developing parenting plans, what we do is sit down together, you and I, and we work out what is the plan that serves you the best. Now we will have to try to convince the court that that’s in the best interest of the children, but you and I would sit down together and figure out a plan that you think serves your children’s best interest and that’s what we propose to the court. And we would propose that during settlement conferences, we’d propose that during mediation sessions, if we had temporary orders hearing that would be the plan, and that’s the plan we put forth at final orders.
Now oftentimes when we’re working on these plans, if we set a temporary plan we recognize somewhere along the way it just didn’t work, it’s not best for the kids. They’re not happy, their schoolwork is suffering, and we need to do something different. And sometimes that means the children are with you more often, sometimes it means we have to consider whether the other parent should have more time. But the complexities of that are the reason that I often suggest to folks, When you’re dealing with issues involving children and parenting you need professionals to help you.
By: Ray Chamberland
When I’m working with people on developing parenting plans, what we do is sit down together, you and I, and we work out what is the plan that serves you the best. Now we will have to try to convince the court that that’s in the best interest of the children, but you and I would sit down together and figure out a plan that you think serves your children’s best interest and that’s what we propose to the court. And we would propose that during settlement conferences, we’d propose that during mediation sessions, if we had temporary orders hearing that would be the plan, and that’s the plan we put forth at final orders.
Now oftentimes when we’re working on these plans, if we set a temporary plan we recognize somewhere along the way it just didn’t work, it’s not best for the kids. They’re not happy, their schoolwork is suffering, and we need to do something different. And sometimes that means the children are with you more often, sometimes it means we have to consider whether the other parent should have more time. But the complexities of that are the reason that I often suggest to folks, When you’re dealing with issues involving children and parenting you need professionals to help you.
By: Ray Chamberland
What is divorce in Colorado? Well Colorado divorce is a process. It’s a series of steps that will help folks and their marriage. In fact, we don’t even call divorce, divorce in Colorado. We call it a dissolution of marriage. In a dissolution of marriage, what the court will do is go through five basic areas and help people get divorced.
Although at times it may not seem like it’s helpful, it’s really getting the job done for you if all the steps are followed and followed correctly. First step is to do an initial status conference, at least in El Paso County. Some of the other counties may do things slightly differently. But it’s an initial meeting with the court where deadlines are set and times are set for exchange of information and determination whether or not it’s going to need any experts in the case.
The next step would be a settlement conference. Generally, that’s if both parties have an attorney, it’s the attorneys and the parties. If only one party has an attorney, obviously there could be three of you attempting to settle, or just the two of you if you don’t have attorneys. At a settlement conference, if you can reach agreement on all issues then you can write it up, submit it to the court, and often only have to go to court maybe one more time. If you’re not successful at a settlement conference, we often have what’s called a temporary orders hearing.
At a temporary orders hearing, each side presents its case for how assets should be divided, how parenting times should be arranged if there’s kids involved, and who’s going to be paying for what debts and perhaps who’s going to be living in the marital home if there is one. That is all for temporary purposes. That lasts from the time of the temporary orders hearing up until you have a final orders hearing.
Before you can have a final orders hearing, you’d be required in most instances to have mediation. Mediation is with a paid mediator who assists the couples in trying to reach agreements. If you can reach agreement on everything or on some things, again, you write them up, submit them to the court, and those issues are resolved.
Any remaining issues, which could be all of them, go to court for a final orders hearing. That’s a fully contested hearing often where both sides take very adverse positions and eventually the judge decides all the issues. In a nutshell, that’s divorce in Colorado.
By: Ray Chamberland
What is divorce in Colorado? Well Colorado divorce is a process. It’s a series of steps that will help folks and their marriage. In fact, we don’t even call divorce, divorce in Colorado. We call it a dissolution of marriage. In a dissolution of marriage, what the court will do is go through five basic areas and help people get divorced.
Although at times it may not seem like it’s helpful, it’s really getting the job done for you if all the steps are followed and followed correctly. First step is to do an initial status conference, at least in El Paso County. Some of the other counties may do things slightly differently. But it’s an initial meeting with the court where deadlines are set and times are set for exchange of information and determination whether or not it’s going to need any experts in the case.
The next step would be a settlement conference. Generally, that’s if both parties have an attorney, it’s the attorneys and the parties. If only one party has an attorney, obviously there could be three of you attempting to settle, or just the two of you if you don’t have attorneys. At a settlement conference, if you can reach agreement on all issues then you can write it up, submit it to the court, and often only have to go to court maybe one more time. If you’re not successful at a settlement conference, we often have what’s called a temporary orders hearing.
At a temporary orders hearing, each side presents its case for how assets should be divided, how parenting times should be arranged if there’s kids involved, and who’s going to be paying for what debts and perhaps who’s going to be living in the marital home if there is one. That is all for temporary purposes. That lasts from the time of the temporary orders hearing up until you have a final orders hearing.
Before you can have a final orders hearing, you’d be required in most instances to have mediation. Mediation is with a paid mediator who assists the couples in trying to reach agreements. If you can reach agreement on everything or on some things, again, you write them up, submit them to the court, and those issues are resolved.
Any remaining issues, which could be all of them, go to court for a final orders hearing. That’s a fully contested hearing often where both sides take very adverse positions and eventually the judge decides all the issues. In a nutshell, that’s divorce in Colorado.
By: Ray Chamberland
When you get divorced, you have a number of pieces of paper that need to be sent in to the court. A divorce decree is all of that final paperwork put together that’s made an order of the court. So, that final paperwork would include your parenting plan, it would include your separation agreement, it would include any other orders of the court, and that package, all put together, is your divorce decree.
Now what you can do once you have your divorce decree is you can enforce it, so it becomes as I said an order of the court, meaning that if somebody doesn’t do what they’re supposed to do based on that paperwork, you can go to the court with a contempt motion or an order to enforce and it actually is a court order. So when you’re at the end of the divorce you have a divorce decree, you have your legal rights essentially handled.
By: Leslie Matthews
When you get divorced, you have a number of pieces of paper that need to be sent in to the court. A divorce decree is all of that final paperwork put together that’s made an order of the court. So, that final paperwork would include your parenting plan, it would include your separation agreement, it would include any other orders of the court, and that package, all put together, is your divorce decree.
Now what you can do once you have your divorce decree is you can enforce it, so it becomes as I said an order of the court, meaning that if somebody doesn’t do what they’re supposed to do based on that paperwork, you can go to the court with a contempt motion or an order to enforce and it actually is a court order. So when you’re at the end of the divorce you have a divorce decree, you have your legal rights essentially handled.
By: Leslie Matthews
What is alimony based on in Colorado? Alimony, we actually don’t use that word here in Colorado. It’s the same thing, but we use the word maintenance. The reason we use the word maintenance is because it’s need-based here in Colorado. It’s not as if you just should have maintenance/alimony because someone’s at fault or someone’s been bad and they need to be punished.
Here in Colorado, regardless of how bad the other party is, you’re not going to be able to get alimony or maintenance unless you fulfill on what we now have as a formula or such. So here in Colorado, we have a formula. It went into effect at the beginning of 2014. It is a new formula. It doesn’t go into effect unless you’ve had at least three years of marriage.ย If you are under three years of marriage, then the formula doesn’t apply. You might be able to get short term, temporary maintenance/alimony to tide you over until you get a job. But the formula itself won’t come into effect unless you’ve married a relatively significant period of time – three years. Once you hit that three year mark, the formula comes into effect and, whereas historically, we used to argue about maintenance all the time, now there’s less argument about it because judges like formulas.
Formulas make things easier. The maintenance formula itself has some complexities to it that are beyond this video, however suffice it to say, a thumbnail if you wanted to use it would be that the spouse that needed maintenance would probably get 40% of the other spouse’s salary minus – I don’t know if you can stick with it – minus 50% of the salary that the spouse who has less income already makes, and then the only question at that point is the period of time that you’d get the maintenance. It’s between a third of your marriage to half of your marriage, depending on how long you’ve been married. So the longer you’ve been married, the closer you’re going to get to the halfway point for the number of years that you would get maintenance.
For instance, if you’ve been married for (20) years, you’ll probably get maintenance for (10) years. And if you are a stay at home mother, let’s say, and you haven’t worked in years and years and years and you’re in your 50s, chances are you’ll get 40% of your spouses salary for that ten years. Now you can’t– I’m not promising that’s exactly right because like I said, there are many complexities to the statute and you’d have to come in a really sit down with me and really look for me to come up with what that maintenance formula will look like. So don’t take it as gospel. I’m just saying, that’s kind of a thumbnail sketch of how we do maintenance currently here in Colorado.
By: Leslie Matthews
What is alimony based on in Colorado? Alimony, we actually don’t use that word here in Colorado. It’s the same thing, but we use the word maintenance. The reason we use the word maintenance is because it’s need-based here in Colorado. It’s not as if you just should have maintenance/alimony because someone’s at fault or someone’s been bad and they need to be punished.
Here in Colorado, regardless of how bad the other party is, you’re not going to be able to get alimony or maintenance unless you fulfill on what we now have as a formula or such. So here in Colorado, we have a formula. It went into effect at the beginning of 2014. It is a new formula. It doesn’t go into effect unless you’ve had at least three years of marriage.ย If you are under three years of marriage, then the formula doesn’t apply. You might be able to get short term, temporary maintenance/alimony to tide you over until you get a job. But the formula itself won’t come into effect unless you’ve married a relatively significant period of time – three years. Once you hit that three year mark, the formula comes into effect and, whereas historically, we used to argue about maintenance all the time, now there’s less argument about it because judges like formulas.
Formulas make things easier. The maintenance formula itself has some complexities to it that are beyond this video, however suffice it to say, a thumbnail if you wanted to use it would be that the spouse that needed maintenance would probably get 40% of the other spouse’s salary minus – I don’t know if you can stick with it – minus 50% of the salary that the spouse who has less income already makes, and then the only question at that point is the period of time that you’d get the maintenance. It’s between a third of your marriage to half of your marriage, depending on how long you’ve been married. So the longer you’ve been married, the closer you’re going to get to the halfway point for the number of years that you would get maintenance.
For instance, if you’ve been married for (20) years, you’ll probably get maintenance for (10) years. And if you are a stay at home mother, let’s say, and you haven’t worked in years and years and years and you’re in your 50s, chances are you’ll get 40% of your spouses salary for that ten years. Now you can’t– I’m not promising that’s exactly right because like I said, there are many complexities to the statute and you’d have to come in a really sit down with me and really look for me to come up with what that maintenance formula will look like. So don’t take it as gospel. I’m just saying, that’s kind of a thumbnail sketch of how we do maintenance currently here in Colorado.
By: Leslie Matthews
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
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
Hi. My name is Bill Moller and I love to backpack. Before I start any trip, however, I research about the area in which I’ll be walking. I turn to other, more experienced people, who know the area, to help me map my route.
Life can be the same way, often we are confronted with unknown territory and need someone more experienced to help us know which way to go. If you are confronted with divorce, bankruptcy, the death of a loved one, or starting a new business, or need to plan for your future, I can help.
My name is Bill Moller, and I’m an attorney in Colorado. I am here to help provide you the information you need and walk beside you through some possibly difficult paths that may come your way. Please feel free to call me at (719) 687-2328, and I can help you map a route for your journey through the legal maze.
By: William Moller
Hi. My name is Bill Moller and I love to backpack. Before I start any trip, however, I research about the area in which I’ll be walking. I turn to other, more experienced people, who know the area, to help me map my route.
Life can be the same way, often we are confronted with unknown territory and need someone more experienced to help us know which way to go. If you are confronted with divorce, bankruptcy, the death of a loved one, or starting a new business, or need to plan for your future, I can help.
My name is Bill Moller, and I’m an attorney in Colorado. I am here to help provide you the information you need and walk beside you through some possibly difficult paths that may come your way. Please feel free to call me at (719) 687-2328, and I can help you map a route for your journey through the legal maze.
By: William Moller
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
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
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