Colorado considers a parent’s duty to support their children as a legal obligation. This obligation applies after parents divorce or between non-married parents who share a child, once paternity has been legally established for the child. In Colorado, both parents must contribute equally to their child’s financial support either through custody time, financial contributions, or both. Unlike spousal support (alimony), where the judge has discretion as to whether or not the court awards spousal support after a divorce, child support…

Navigating a divorce in Colorado feels overwhelming when dealing with the legal complexities involved as well as the emotional aspects of ending a marriage. In Colorado, divorcing spouses must fairly and equitably divide their marital assets and debts during the divorce process as well as make determinations for child custody and support. Reaching mutually acceptable terms on all aspects of the divorce is the most challenging part of a Colorado divorce. Drafting a divorce agreement with fair terms that both…

When divorcing couples in Colorado have children, the court must determine each parent’s responsibility to contribute toward the children’s expenses, based on their parenting time schedule or custody and visitation arrangement. Child support is an amount of monetary support one parent must pay the other to contribute toward the expenses of raising children. The state uses guidelines to arrive at a presumptive amount of child support based on the number of children, the amount of time that each parent has…

Colorado family courts always place the best interests of a child as their highest priority. With that in mind, judges give careful consideration to child support orders and issue them to prevent children from suffering a significant change in their lifestyles and to keep one parent from bearing the brunt of the burden of providing for the children of a marriage or partnership. For this reason, it’s challenging to fight a court order for back child support. When circumstances drastically…

Colorado family courts work on the principle that all decisions made are in the best interests of the child, including child support orders. Typically, the courts decide and enforce matters of child support within the state, but what happens when a parent with a child support order moves out of the jurisdiction and into another state, muddying the court’s ability to enforce payments? Whether the parent moves due to a legitimate work opportunity, to fulfill family obligations, or they move…