Ongoing — relevant throughout
Relevant Throughout
Some topics don't belong to a single stage — they can become relevant at any point during or after your case. Browse these if your situation involves circumstances that weren't covered by the stage-specific topics, or if you're looking for ongoing resources.
What happens in this stage
- 1Get oriented on legal resources and what's available if you can't afford a lawyer
- 2Understand parentage if you were not married when your children were born
- 3Navigate issues specific to non-traditional family structures
- 4Use a parenting coordinator to manage ongoing high-conflict co-parenting
- 5Address special needs, military service, or other circumstances that affect standard rules
⚡ Key insight
Family Court Facilitators — available at every Colorado courthouse — can help self-represented litigants understand forms and procedures at no charge. They cannot give legal advice, but they can save you significant time and confusion navigating the court system.
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.
Legal help and resources
Whether and how to get legal help, and what's available at little or no cost if you can't afford a lawyer.
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.
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.
Parentage and family structure
Legal issues involving unmarried parents, non-biological parents, and non-traditional family forms.
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.
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.
Ongoing co-parenting support
Professional tools for managing high-conflict co-parenting situations that persist after the decree.
Special circumstances
Additional rules and considerations for families with particular needs or situations.
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.