Family Law

Your Colorado Family Lawyer

Currently, Amy advises clients and mediates all family law matters including divorce, legal separation, parenting plans, maintenance, child support, division of property and debt, post-decree modifications of parenting time and support, same sex marriage, common law marriage, post-judgement relief, and pre-and post marital agreements.

Amy believes that domestic relations disputes in particular are generally best resolved outside of the court process through mediation, a collaborative process and/or parties working with the assistance of counsel to reach an acceptable settlement.

Divorce & Legal Separation

Financial Agreements

In Colorado, couples seeking a divorce must divide their assets and debts (property) in a way that is determined to be equitable before the court will grant a decree of dissolution. Other financial issues may also need to be addressed, including awarding spousal support and deciding who will remain in the marital home or if it will be sold. The agreed-upon terms are reduced to a written Separation Agreement, which is submitted to the court for approval and ultimately becomes a court order. Although couples sometimes reach agreements between themselves as to how to divide their property and award support, the law is more nuanced and complex in this area than many appreciate. What may feel “fair” to some may not actually be consistent with the law. Couples may not be aware of different options for structuring their agreement in a way that is both consistent with the law, and can also be implemented logistically. Working with a mediator or a Collaborative attorney, or consulting with an attorney individually, is an important step to make sure that all of the required issues have been addressed and that the terms of your agreement are equitable based on the statute. 

When couples cannot reach agreements on all the issues in their divorce or legal separation, a judge may decide the disputed issues at a contested hearing. Even if your case is set for a contested hearing it does not mean that you and the opposing party cannot still reach a final settlement of any disputed issues before the hearing, either through mediation or negotiations with or without counsel. 

Parenting Plans

For couples with children, a Parenting Plan that addresses your agreements as to parenting time, decision-making, child support and the division of your child’s expenses, is also required. When reviewing a Parenting Plan, the court is confirming that the agreements reached between parents on issues like how much time a child will spend with each parent, and who will decide where he/she goes to school, are in the best interest of the child.  Amicable couples often believe that they will be able to figure things out as they go along, and that is sometimes the case, but it is essential to have a written agreement with detailed terms that you can rely on in those instances when you cannot agree. 

Allocation of Parental Responsibilities (APR)

For co-parents raising a child together who are not married and no longer in a relationship it is also very important to have a Parenting Plan that confirms your agreements around parenting time, decision-making, child support and payment of your child’s expenses. For unmarried parents, when you submit your Parenting Plan to the court you are requesting that the court issue a decree allocating parental responsibilities (APR). The same legal analysis and standards of review are used in assessing custody arrangements in an APR case as in a dissolution of marriage. In particular, there are a series of ‘best interest factors’ enumerated in the statute which aid the court in deciding how parenting time and decision-making should be allocated.

Child Support

Under Colorado law, both parents have a duty to financially support their child until the age of emancipation, which for the purposes of child support is 19. This means that although one parent may owe child support payments to the other parent, both parents share the legal obligation to provide sufficient financial means to support their child. This financial responsibility is apportioned based on the incomes of the parents. Colorado has statutory support guidelines which are utilized in determining an amount of support based on: (1) the number of overnights each parent has with the child; and (2) the incomes of each parent relative to the other.

Child support is the right of the child not of the parent who may be receiving support, so it cannot be “waived” even if parents agree that no support will be owed. Parents can, however, ‘deviate’ from the child support guidelines and agree to an amount of child support that is less than the statutory guideline amount or that no support will be owed, if they demonstrate to the court that their agreement is fair and in the best interests of their child.

Post-Decree Parenting and Support Modifications

When parties to a domestic relations (DR) case need to change their maintenance, child support, or parental responsibilities orders, they seek a post-decree modification. Sometimes parties will agree to modify their existing orders by a stipulation (agreement), other times the party pursuing the modification will need to file a motion with the court in order to raise the issue if the other party will not agree.

Modifications of child support are routine and occur frequently by stipulation of the parties based on a change of income for one or both parties (or sometimes a change in overnights). The issue of income and the capacity of each party to earn through employment is a common area of dispute with modifications. The court may find that one parent is voluntarily underemployed or unemployed and in doing so can ‘impute’ that party with additional potential income for the purpose of the guideline support calculation. Modifications of maintenance are not as routine as child support but do occur, for example when one party reaches retirement and their income is reduced.

Parental responsibility (custody) orders may be modified when one parent seeks to relocate (move to a different geographic location), or when parents disagree about existing custody orders and what is best for the child. The legal standard for modifying parenting orders may be different from the initial best interest of the child analysis if one parent is seeking to change the parent with whom the child resides the majority of time.

Modifications of both support and parenting time can frequently be resolved through mediation or when one or both parties consult with an attorney to come up with revised terms addressing the proposed change.

Marital Agreements

Pre-marital (pre-nuptial) and post-marital agreements are contracts between spouses defining in advance how property will be both characterized and divided in the event of a divorce and also upon death. A marital agreement allows couples to contract around the Colorado statutory provisions that govern the division of property at the time of a dissolution of marriage and also the state intestacy laws pertaining to distribution of assets upon death. More couples are getting married and starting families later in life, as well as having blended families, and it is not uncommon for one or both spouses in a marriage to have significant premarital separate property.  They may therefore wish to determine up front how they will characterize assets owned before marriage, inherited or gifted property and assets accumulated during the marriage so that it is clear how property will be treated in a divorce and distributed at death. Despite that there is sometimes a stigma associated with prenuptial agreements, spending the time now to clarify your intentions and understandings about your assets with your spouse makes tremendous practical sense and has considerable value in the long term. 

Division of Property for Unmarried Partners

How do you separate finances fairly when you’ve been cohabitating with your partner but are unmarried? The law in Colorado on a division of marital property does not apply and it can thus be difficult to decide how to part ways and separate finances fairly. Amy has assisted unmarried partners with mediated agreements dividing their property and debt, and in particular, structuring terms for a buy-out of one partner’s equity in a jointly-owned home.