For many Colorado families, child support functions as a source of income to meet the needs of the child. Colorado bases child support on the belief that parents should allocate the same amount of funds towards raising the child as if the child still lived in an intact household. To calculate child support, courts factor in the incomes of both parents and the time with the child allocated to each parent. When incomes or custody changes, parents may wish to…

Just because a child support order is in place doesn’t mean it can never change. In fact, child support orders are often modified for a variety of reasons, including instances in which there is a significant change in parental responsibility time or the incomes of either parent noticeably increase or decrease. This means that a child-support modification may be warranted when one of the parents gets a raise or a new, better-paying job. However, must this parent inform the other…

While the law in many states says that child support should end around a child’s 18th birthday, Colorado is different. In fact, under Colorado law, child support obligations typically continue at least until the child turns 19-years-old, which is the general age of emancipation in Colorado. However, it is important to note that there are several exceptions to this rule – meaning child support may end earlier or last even longer, depending on the circumstances. Extending or Shorting Child Support…