Colorado divorce and custody, explained.
Colorado divorce and custody, explained by Aaron Herzberg — for business owners, executives, professionals, and parents. A new article most weekday mornings, each one written from the cases and linked to the practice page it belongs with.
No Colorado statute creates a right of first refusal. It exists only if the parenting plan says so, and how it is written decides whether it adds parent time or becomes the most litigated paragraph in the plan.…
"I can't afford to fight — my spouse controls all the money." Colorado's fee-shifting statute exists for exactly that situation: it lets the court order one spouse to fund the other's representation so the case turns on the merits.…
Temporary maintenance keeps two households afloat while the case is pending. Maintenance at permanent orders is a different decision on different evidence, and the first number does not bind the second.…
A Colorado divorce takes months, and temporary orders govern life in the meantime — the house, the bills, the children, support, and fees. They also set a status quo with quiet momentum toward the final result.…
When a spouse is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, Colorado courts calculate support on potential income — what the person could earn — often proven through a vocational evaluation. The doctrine cuts both ways.…
An abuse allegation in a Colorado custody case triggers procedures the judge cannot skip, but the allegation does not decide the case. How claims enter a case, what the law requires the court to do, how to respond without making it worse, what a DHS finding means, and remedies when a claim fails.…
The Sworn Financial Statement is testimony, and it becomes Exhibit 1 at temporary orders and maintenance. How to complete JDF 1111 and its schedules as a business owner or executive without understating, overstating, or leaving something off.…
A home bought before the wedding starts out as separate property in Colorado, but the growth during the marriage is marital and one signature on a deed can hand the whole thing to the marital estate. What the court will do, and what a prenup could have changed.…
A parenting plan is a court order, not a suggestion. Colorado gives a parent whose time is being withheld a fast-track motion, makeup parenting time, a presumption of attorney fees, and contempt.…
Half of what people believe about dividing property in a Colorado divorce is wrong, and the errors are expensive. Eight common myths, each corrected with the actual rule Colorado courts apply.…
Parenting orders are not carved in stone, but Colorado makes some changes much harder than others. Adjusting the schedule turns on best interests. Changing the primary parent requires proof of endangerment.…
The decree is signed and the fighting is not over. Colorado law offers two referees for high-conflict co-parenting — the parenting coordinator and the decision-maker — that resolve disputes in days instead of months.…
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