Stage 5 of 7
Life Under the Order
The divorce is final — now comes the reality of living under your court orders. This stage covers the day-to-day of co-parenting, managing support obligations, and navigating the ordinary (and sometimes not-so-ordinary) challenges that arise in the months and years after a decree is entered.
What happens in this stage
- 1Understand exactly what your decree and parenting plan require of each party
- 2Manage parenting time exchanges, including when schedules flex for illness or activities
- 3Make regular child support and maintenance payments on time
- 4Navigate shared decision-making on school, medical, and extracurricular issues
- 5Handle unexpected changes — job loss, illness, new relationships, relocation plans
Where you are
⚡ Key insight
Read your parenting plan carefully before problems arise, not after. Many disputes happen because parents didn't realize what their order says about holiday schedules, how to handle school decisions, or what 'right of first refusal' means. Know your document.
Don't need a lawyer for everything — just for the hard parts
Unbundled legal services let you hire an attorney for specific tasks only, rather than full representation. You handle the straightforward parts yourself; an attorney handles the pieces where expertise matters most.
No ongoing commitment. Targeted help for specific tasks.
Your financial obligations
Understanding and meeting the support and financial terms of your decree from day one.
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.
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.
Parenting time
The day-to-day realities of managing a shared custody arrangement — schedules, transitions, and contested decisions.
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.
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.
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.
Co-parenting dynamics
Communication patterns and household changes that affect how co-parenting works in practice.
High-Conflict Communication
Patterns of hostile, harassing, or unproductive communication between co-parents that impair co-parenting and may harm the child.
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.
School Attendance or Stability
Concerns about a child's school enrollment, attendance, performance, or continuity of educational placement across parenting households.
When circumstances are difficult
Handling situations that strain a parent's ability to meet their obligations or provide stable care.
Mental Health
A parent's or child's mental health condition that may affect parenting capacity, child wellbeing, or the need for professional evaluation.
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.
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.