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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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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