No. There is nothing in the statute that says Colorado has to default to 50/50 parenting time.  In fact, the Court considers a number of factors when it determines whether a 50/50 parenting plan, or some other division of parenting time, is appropriate for a specific case.   The Judge may weigh one factor more heavily than another.  Typically, the Court is required to look at the ‘best interest of the child/children’ when determining what is appropriate for parenting time initially in a divorce proceeding.

It depends.  There are certain situations where the law requires the opposing party to pay your legal fees if the Court makes specific findings.  However, it also depends on what county your case is in, and even in that county, what Judge is hearing your case. Judges rarely order another party to pay attorney’s fees, and other judges are more liberal an may order them to be paid. As it is a very fact-specific area of law, Judges have broad discretion in determining if attorney’s fees should be paid by one side or the other.

The short answer is ‘no’.  To get a new Judge on your case, there has to be a conflict that has arisen.  Simply not liking your Judge is not a conflict to have them removed from the case.  For example, if  your Judge knows and is personal friends with your ex, that would be a reason to have the Judge removed from the case.  It is truly a case-by-case basis on whether it makes sense to file something letting the Judge know that you believe there is a conflict of interest.

Yes. Colorado is one of a few states left that recognize common law marriage.  There are a number of factors the Court considers in making that determination.  If the other side does not agree that you are common law married, then the Court will have a hearing to review evidence related to the factors enumerated in the law.  It will be up to the Judge to determine whether you are in fact common law married and whether you can proceed with your Petition for Dissolution.  Like most things, this is on a case-by-case basis.

Answer- See our blog post about the differences between a Child and Family Investigator (CFI) and a Parental Responsibilities Evaluator (PRE).  (link blog post here)

Yes, but there is a caveat.  When a divorce case with children is filed, the Court has specific injunctions in place during the proceedings.  One of those injunctions is that the children should not be removed from the state of Colorado.  However, the parents of the child can make an agreement to allow temporary out-of-state travel.  A parent wanting to remove the child/children from the state can also file a motion with the Court asking the Judge’s permission to remove the children temporarily from the State. 

The short answer is ‘it depends’.  If you and your ex have an agreement that you can move to another state with your child/children then it is always recommended to file something with the Court so that the Court can approve any agreement or major change to your parenting plan. If you do not have an agreement with your ex, then you likely will have to file a Motion with the Court.  Keep in mind that the Court is required to prioritize these kinds of requests when setting hearing dates, but it could take months to get a hearing date.  The best thing you can do is to plan ahead, knowing that it might take months to get a hearing date or answer from the Judge.

You can always ask your ex if they are open to changing the child support amount until you are able to afford to pay more.  Unfortunately, we rarely see agreements like this filed with the Court.  If you do have an agreement, you should always file that agreement with the Court so the Court knows about it and the other sides states in writing that they agree to the deviation as appropriate in this instance  You can also file a Motion to Modify Child Support if there is a more than 10% change to the child support that might be ordered by a Court statutorily.  It is best to ask for a change with the Court as soon as possible, if you are in a place where you cannot afford your child support. Interest can accumulate on unpaid support.

If someone is not following a court order and paying the required amount of child support pursuant to that order, you can always ask the Court to find them in contempt.  However, contempt is not an automatic thing. There must be proof that someone is willfully violating the Court order that is in place. Sometimes not paying child support is not an automatic finding of contempt by a Judge.  The Court can invoke both punitive (punishment like fines and jail) and remedial (making someone do the thing that they have not done yet) sanctions so it is always helpful to consider what outcome you want out of going back to Court.

In Colorado, a Legal Separation operates in the same exact manner as a divorce – the marital assets and debts are divided, maintenance and/or child support is awarded, and parental responsibilities are allocated; however, at the end of the proceedings, both parties are still legally married.  We see this often used when parties want to maintain special insurance coverage. Either party can file to make the legal separation a complete divorce at any time, and the other side cannot object.

The law in Colorado is that certain assets are considered ‘marital’ for purposes of a divorce.  However, there are exceptions.  Property acquired during the marriage is commonly referred to as marital property.  However, property acquired prior to the marriage is often considered separate property.  Any gains in value of separate property during the marriage (ie: a house purchased prior to the marriage) could also be considered marital property. There is not a hard and fast rule about what is marital property and what is not since there are always exceptions that may arise and should be considered.

Colorado is a no-fault state for divorce.  What that means is that the Judge, in dividing the marital assets and debts, does not consider if one party cheated on the other party.  However, there is an argument that can be made called ‘dissipation’ to argue that one party wasted marital assets during the marriage and therefore, should be responsible for a larger portion of the debt that created.  It still does not put ‘fault’ on that person, but it does assign more responsibility for marital waste to one party versus the other.