Colorado Family Law Laws

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

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

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

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

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

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, 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

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