Colorado Child Custody Lawyer

As a parent, your child’s well-being is one of your first concerns in a divorce or relationship change. Where will they live? Who will make the important decisions about their life? These are questions that come under the heading of child custody, or parental responsibility as it is called in Colorado.

At Altitude Family Law, we’re not just attorneys; we’re parents, too. We know how much your relationship with your child means to you, and the concerns you face as the shape of your family changes. The choices you make at this time are critical; you need a child custody lawyer who will help you understand the law and your options and advocate for you and your children.

Colorado Child Custody Law

There are two types of parental responsibility in Colorado. Decision-making responsibility is the same as what is called “legal custody” in other states. It’s the authority to make important decisions for a child, like those about education, medical care, and religious upbringing. Parenting time refers to the scheduled time a child spends with each parent.

In general, Colorado courts encourage parents to share these parental responsibilities unless there’s a compelling reason not to, such as a history of abuse. Most of the time, children benefit from having both parents involved in decisions that affect them, and from frequent, continuing contact with both of their parents.

No one knows a child and their needs better than the child’s parents. If you and your child’s other parent can agree on a parenting plan that outlines how you will share decision-making authority and parenting time, the court will approve that plan so long as it appears to be in your child’s best interests. If you can’t reach an agreement, the court will allocate parental responsibility.

Colorado courts allocate parenting time based on the best interests of the child as described in Colorado Revised Statutes 14-10-124. The factors courts consider include:

• The wishes of the parents
• The wishes of the child, if the child is mature enough to express a reasoned, independent preference about parenting time
• The relationship and interaction between the child and their parents and siblings
• Reports of domestic violence
• The child’s adjustment to home, school, and community
• The mental or physical health of all involved (but a disability alone is not a basis to deny or restrict parenting time)
• Each party’s ability to encourage love, affection, and contact between the child and the other party
• The past pattern of involvement of the parties with the child
• Each party’s ability to place the child’s needs of their own

Many of these factors are subjective. At Altitude Family Law, our child custody lawyers understand how best to present the facts in a way that the court will interpret favorably for you and your child.