Colorado’s family courts make all decisions in the child’s best interests. This standard is especially important in child custody cases. The court begins with the presumption that continued close contact with both parents is in the child’s best interests, unless one parent presents compelling evidence to the contrary.
Under this standard, many divorced spouses or unmarried co-parents share joint physical custody of their children with equal, or near-equal, parenting time. A common question from parents with joint custody is who pays child support? Reach out to our award-winning child support lawyers in Denver, CO to discuss your case at Ciancio Ciancio Brown.
Family courts in Colorado seek to keep a child’s standard of living similar in both parents’ homes when parents divorce or are unmarried, and to keep this living standard nearly equal to the lifestyle they experienced during the marriage.
Colorado uses the Income Shares Model for calculating child support. Under this model, the state’s formula considers the following:
While previously, only a parent with the majority of parenting time overnights received credit against their child support obligation, updated legislation under Colorado HB 25-1159, now gives credit toward the child support obligation for every overnight custody stay in each parent’s custody schedule.
When parents have equal or near-equal joint custody of their children, they earn equal credits toward their overall child support obligation, proportionately adjusting their payment obligation. Depending on each parent’s total gross income and their credits, one parent typically pays child support to the other. Under this model, the higher-income parent typically pays the lower-income parent.
In Colorado, child custody no longer refers to physical custody; instead, it refers to a parent’s right to make important decisions for their child. A parent with legal custody has the ultimate decision-making authority for medical care, education, religion, and extracurricular activities, while parental responsibility refers to each parent’s allocated overnight parenting-time days.
Joint custody in Colorado may refer to shared decision-making authority, shared parenting time, or both. In some cases, both parents may have joint physical custody while one parent has decision-making authority, or both parents may equally share decision-making authority and physical custody.
While it’s not a common outcome, it’s feasible that the state may require neither parent to pay child support. If both parents share near-equal joint custody and make very similar incomes, the child support calculation may not support a child support order for either parent.
When calculating child support, the state’s income shares model offers little flexibility for parents who earn under $40,000 per month. As an experienced family law firm in Colorado, we understand how complex child support calculations can be.
If you’d like to know more about child support and child custody in Colorado, and how the state’s income shares model affects your case, contact Ciancio Ciancio Brown, P.C. for experienced legal counsel.
