Browse All Topics
68 topics with guidance, organized by stage of your case.
Understanding the Divorce Process
Overview of how Colorado divorce proceedings work: timeline, required steps, court involvement, and what to expect at each phase from filing through final decree.
Legal Separation vs. Divorce
Differences between legal separation and dissolution of marriage in Colorado, including effect on marital status, property rights, and when one may be preferable to the other.
Do I Need a Lawyer?
Guidance on when self-representation is feasible in Colorado family law proceedings, when an attorney is strongly advisable, and what resources exist for people who cannot afford full representation.
Financial Preparation Before Filing
Steps to gather, protect, and document financial information — bank accounts, debts, property, income — before or immediately after filing for divorce, including the effect of automatic temporary injunctions.
Safety Planning
Steps a person in a potentially dangerous relationship should take before, during, and after filing for divorce, including safety plans, protective orders, and domestic violence resources.
Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements
How a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement affects property division and maintenance in a Colorado divorce: enforceability requirements under the Colorado Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act, common grounds for challenging an agreement, and what to do if one exists.
Collaborative Divorce
The collaborative divorce process as an alternative to litigation in Colorado: how it works, the roles of collaborative attorneys and neutral professionals, the disqualification agreement, cost comparison with traditional litigation, and when it is and is not appropriate.
Filing and Court Forms
How to file a petition for dissolution or legal separation in Colorado: which forms to use (JDF series), where to file, filing fees, fee waivers, and what happens after the petition is filed.
Service of Process
Requirements and methods for serving the other party with divorce papers in Colorado, including personal service, service by mail, and publication when the other party cannot be located.
Temporary Orders
Court orders entered at the start of a case to maintain the status quo while the divorce is pending, covering parenting time, support, use of property, and payment of expenses.
Automatic Temporary Injunctions
The automatic restraining orders that take effect in Colorado when a divorce petition is filed, prohibiting either party from disposing of assets, removing children from the state, or canceling insurance.
Emergency and Protective Orders
Civil protection orders and emergency custody orders available in Colorado to protect a party or child from domestic violence, harassment, or imminent danger during or outside of divorce proceedings.
Default Divorce
What happens in a Colorado divorce when the other party does not respond to the petition: the default process, timelines, what evidence is required, limitations on what the court can order in a default, and how a default can be set aside.
Financial Disclosure
Colorado's mandatory financial disclosure requirements during divorce, including the Sworn Financial Statement (JDF 1111), supporting documents required, deadlines, and consequences of non-disclosure.
Mediation
Colorado's mediation requirement in family law cases: what mediation is, how to prepare, what to expect, costs, the mediator's role, and what happens if mediation fails to produce an agreement.
Parenting Education Requirement
Colorado's mandatory parenting education program for divorcing parents with minor children: what it covers, how to complete it, approved providers, and the deadline for compliance.
Expert Witnesses and Evaluators
Court-appointed and party-retained experts in Colorado family law cases, including Child and Family Investigators (CFIs), Parental Responsibility Evaluators (PREs), and Guardians ad Litem (GALs): their roles, how they are appointed, scope of their investigation, and weight of their reports.
Discovery
The formal exchange of information between parties in a divorce case, including interrogatories, requests for production of documents, depositions, and subpoenas to third parties.
The Child's Voice in Proceedings
How a child's preferences and experiences are conveyed to the court in Colorado family law proceedings: through a CFI or PRE report, in-camera interview with the judge, or a GAL; the weight given to a child's stated preferences based on age and maturity; and why children do not testify in open court in Colorado family law cases.
Property Division
How Colorado courts divide marital property and debts: the distinction between marital and separate property, the equitable distribution standard under CRS 14-10-113, valuation of assets, and how agreements are reached or decided at trial.
Debt Allocation
How marital debts are divided in a Colorado divorce, including mortgages, credit cards, student loans, and tax liabilities, and how to protect yourself if your spouse does not pay a debt assigned to them.
Retirement Accounts and QDROs
Division of retirement accounts — 401(k)s, pensions, IRAs — in a Colorado divorce, including how a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) works and the tax consequences of different division approaches.
Business Interests
Valuation and division of a closely held business, professional practice, or partnership interest in a Colorado divorce, including methods of business valuation and buyout options.
Creating the Parenting Plan
What must be included in a Colorado parenting plan under CRS 14-10-124, the best-interest factors courts consider when parents cannot agree, and how to structure a plan that works for children of different ages.
Tax Implications of Divorce
Tax consequences of divorce in Colorado, including filing status after separation, the dependency exemption for children, transfer of property, alimony tax treatment under current federal law, and capital gains on the marital home.
Insurance and Benefits Continuity
Health insurance, life insurance, and other benefits after divorce: COBRA continuation, requirement to maintain coverage for children, beneficiary designation changes, and Social Security benefits for long-term marriages.
The Final Hearing
What happens at the final divorce hearing or permanent orders hearing in Colorado: what to bring, how to present an agreement to the court, what happens if there is no agreement (contested hearing), and what the decree of dissolution means.
The Marital Home
Options for handling the family home in a Colorado divorce: sale and division of proceeds, buyout by one spouse, deferred sale (occupancy agreement), and refinancing requirements. Factors courts consider when neither party agrees, including impact on minor children and each party's ability to qualify for a mortgage.
College and Post-Secondary Education Support
Colorado's authority under CRS 14-10-115 to order parents to contribute to a child's post-secondary education expenses beyond the age of emancipation: what expenses qualify, the cap tied to University of Colorado tuition, how contributions are allocated between parents, and how to include or modify these provisions.
Digital Assets and Cryptocurrency
Identification, valuation, and division of digital assets in a Colorado divorce, including cryptocurrency, NFTs, stock options, restricted stock units, airline miles, and other intangible assets. Discovery strategies for locating undisclosed digital assets and tax consequences of transfers.
Name Change After Divorce
How to restore a former name or change your name through the Colorado divorce decree, what the decree must say to accomplish the name change, and the steps required after the decree to update identification, Social Security records, financial accounts, and other documents.
Understanding and Implementing Your Order
How to read and understand the terms of a Colorado divorce decree and parenting plan, which provisions are self-executing and which require follow-up steps, and common mistakes people make in the first months after the order is entered.
Missed or Modified Parenting Time
Issues arising from a parent missing scheduled parenting time, informally altering the court-ordered schedule, or seeking a formal modification of the parenting time order.
Transportation to Parenting Time
Disputes or failures around pick-up/drop-off logistics, responsibility for transportation costs, or travel arrangements for parenting time exchanges.
High-Conflict Communication
Patterns of hostile, harassing, or unproductive communication between co-parents that impair co-parenting and may harm the child.
School Attendance or Stability
Concerns about a child's school enrollment, attendance, performance, or continuity of educational placement across parenting households.
Housing Instability
A parent's inability to maintain safe, stable housing that is appropriate for the child during parenting time.
Employment Instability
A parent's unstable employment affecting their ability to meet financial obligations or provide consistent care for the child.
Mental Health
A parent's or child's mental health condition that may affect parenting capacity, child wellbeing, or the need for professional evaluation.
Decision-Making Disputes
Disagreements between parents over major decisions for the child — medical, educational, religious, or extracurricular — governed by the allocated decision-making responsibility in the parenting plan.
Child Support
Calculation, payment, modification, enforcement, or termination of court-ordered child support obligations under Colorado's income shares model.
Spousal Maintenance
Calculation, payment, modification, or termination of court-ordered spousal maintenance (alimony) under Colorado's statutory formula and advisory guidelines.
Supervised Parenting Time
Court-ordered supervision of parenting time in Colorado: when courts order supervision, who may serve as a supervisor, the use of supervised visitation exchange centers, costs, how to request a change from supervised to unsupervised parenting time, and what a parent must demonstrate to have supervision lifted.
New Partners and Household Members
How a parent's new romantic partner or other new household members affect co-parenting in Colorado: introduction of significant others to children, overnight guest provisions in parenting plans, obligations to disclose household members with criminal histories, and when a new partner's conduct becomes relevant to parenting time decisions.
International Travel with Children
Requirements and restrictions for taking a minor child outside the United States when there is a Colorado custody order: passport consent, notice to the other parent, travel provisions in the parenting plan, Hague Convention country considerations, and how to seek court permission when the other parent will not consent.
Domestic Violence and Safety
Allegations or evidence of domestic violence, abuse, coercive control, or other safety threats involving a party or child: how Colorado courts weigh safety concerns in parenting time decisions under CRS 14-10-124, what evidence courts consider, protective measures available during and after the case, and the relationship between criminal and civil proceedings.
Substance Use Concerns
Allegations or evidence of alcohol or drug use by a parent or household member that may affect child safety or parenting capacity.
Order Non-Compliance
A parent's failure to follow existing court orders other than parenting time, including contempt proceedings and enforcement mechanisms.
Contempt and Enforcement
The legal process for enforcing a court order when the other party is not complying, including filing a motion for contempt, what must be proven, available sanctions, and the critical rule that child support and parenting time enforcement are independent remedies.
Documenting Problems and Gathering Evidence
How to document violations of a court order, gather admissible evidence of misconduct, keep records of parenting time and communication, and prepare for a hearing on enforcement or modification.
Common Misconceptions About Family Law
Frequently held but incorrect beliefs about Colorado family law, such as the idea that one parent can withhold child support because the other is denying parenting time, or that courts automatically favor mothers in custody decisions.
Parental Alienation
Conduct by one parent that undermines or interferes with a child's relationship with the other parent in Colorado family law cases: how courts treat evidence of alienating behavior, the distinction between realistic estrangement and alienation, remedies available including therapeutic interventions and parenting time adjustments, and the evidentiary standards applied.
International Child Abduction
Legal remedies when a parent takes a child to another country in violation of a Colorado custody order: the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, how to file a return application, the role of the U.S. Central Authority, criminal remedies under the International Parental Kidnapping Crime Act, and preventive measures including passport restrictions.
Modification Standards: Which Applies to Your Case?
Overview of the distinct legal standards that govern different types of modification requests in Colorado, and how to identify which applies to your situation. Parenting time modifications are governed by C.R.S. 14-10-129, which authorizes the court to modify parenting time whenever modification would be in the best interests of the child — not a substantial change requirement. However, heightened standards apply in specific circumstances: if the proposed modification would restrict the other parent's parenting time, the moving party must show that the current parenting time endangers the child's physical health or significantly impairs the child's emotional development. Additional restrictions apply when the original order was entered within the past two years. Modifications to the allocation of parental responsibilities (decision-making authority) are governed separately by C.R.S. 14-10-131. Within two years of the original decree, modification is permitted only if the child's present environment endangers physical health or significantly impairs emotional development. After two years, the standard shifts to a threshold that still requires more than minor inconvenience before the court will consider a change. Modifications to child support and spousal maintenance are governed by C.R.S. 14-10-122 and do require a showing of substantial and continuing change in circumstances. For child support, a deviation of ten percent or more from the current order creates a rebuttable presumption that modification is appropriate. Identifying which statute and standard controls your specific request is the essential threshold question before filing any modification motion.
How to Modify a Court Order
The procedural steps to file a motion to modify a parenting plan, support order, maintenance order, or decision-making allocation in Colorado, including which forms to use, what to include in the motion, service requirements, and what happens at a modification hearing. The process varies somewhat depending on the type of modification sought: parenting time modifications (C.R.S. 14-10-129), decision-making modifications (C.R.S. 14-10-131), and financial order modifications (C.R.S. 14-10-122) each involve different pleading requirements and legal standards that must be addressed in the motion.
Relocation
A parent's intent to move in a way that would materially affect the existing parenting time schedule or the child's primary residence, including notice requirements, objection procedures, and the factors Colorado courts apply under CRS 14-10-129.
Emancipation and Termination of Support
When and how child support and other parental obligations end in Colorado: the age of emancipation, earlier emancipation by marriage or military service, college expense provisions, and how to terminate or modify support when a child is emancipated.
Cohabitation and Remarriage Effects
How the recipient spouse's remarriage or cohabitation affects spousal maintenance in Colorado: automatic termination upon remarriage under CRS 14-10-122, the cohabitation standard for modification, what evidence establishes cohabitation, and drafting considerations to address these scenarios in the original maintenance agreement.
Appealing a Family Court Decision
The process for appealing a Colorado family law court order to the Court of Appeals: strict filing deadlines, what can and cannot be appealed, the standard of review, staying enforcement of the order during appeal, costs and realistic expectations, and alternatives to appeal such as C.R.C.P. 59 motions.
Establishing Parentage
Legal establishment of a parent-child relationship outside of marriage in Colorado, including voluntary acknowledgment of paternity, genetic testing, and court proceedings to establish parentage as a prerequisite to parenting time and support orders.
Third-Party and Grandparent Rights
Rights of grandparents, stepparents, and other non-parent figures to seek parenting time or allocation of parental responsibilities in Colorado under CRS 14-10-123, and the constitutional limits on such claims.
Parenting Coordinators
The role of a parenting coordinator in high-conflict Colorado family law cases: appointment, authority, how decisions are made, cost allocation, and the difference between a parenting coordinator and a CFI or PRE.
Attorney Fees and Court Costs
How attorney fees and litigation costs are handled in Colorado family law cases: the court's authority to award fees under CRS 14-10-119 based on disparity of financial resources, fee awards as a sanction for bad-faith litigation, how to request fees, and how to respond to a fee request.
Self-Help Resources
Resources available to self-represented litigants in Colorado family law cases: Family Court Facilitators (FCF) at each courthouse, Colorado Legal Services, law school clinics, the Colorado Bar Association's lawyer referral service, online self-help forms, unbundled legal services (hiring an attorney for limited tasks), and court-provided resources.
Special Needs Children
Family law considerations for children with physical, developmental, or emotional disabilities: extended child support beyond emancipation for children unable to support themselves, allocation of extraordinary medical and therapy costs, decision-making about educational placements and IEPs, and modification standards when a child's needs change significantly.
Military Divorce
Special rules that apply when one or both parties are active duty, reserve, or retired military members in a Colorado divorce: the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) protections, division of military retirement under the Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act (USFSPA), Survivor Benefit Plan elections, TRICARE continuation, and the impact of deployment on parenting time proceedings.
Domestic Partnerships
Dissolution of a Colorado designated beneficiary agreement or domestic partnership: how dissolution differs from divorce, property rights of domestic partners, whether support obligations exist, and the process for legally ending the relationship.
LGBTQ+ Family Law Issues
Family law issues specific to LGBTQ+ individuals and families in Colorado: parental rights of non-biological or non-adoptive parents in same-sex relationships, second-parent adoption, surrogacy agreements, parentage presumptions for same-sex married couples, and enforcement of Colorado orders in states that may not recognize them.