A motion is how you ask the judge for something while the case is pending, or after the decree. In a Colorado divorce or custody case, the difference between a good outcome and a bad one is often which motions were filed, when, and whether the court had a reason to act quickly.
This is a client's guide to the motions that move a family case: what each asks for, the standard the judge applies, and how fast to expect an answer.
How Motions Work in a Colorado Family Case
Domestic relations cases run under C.R.C.P. 16.2, which limits what can be filed without permission. Motions about jurisdiction, venue, service, protection orders, contempt, amending the petition, sealing the file, evidentiary issues, and post-decree matters can be filed any time. Everything else, including a motion for temporary orders, is authorized at a status conference or, in an emergency, by the court, Rule 16.2(c)(4).
Once filed, C.R.C.P. 121 § 1-15 governs. The moving party must confer with the other side first and say so at the top of the motion. The other side has 21 days to respond (14 if the hearing is within 42 days), and the movant has seven days to reply. Most motions are decided on the papers; failing to respond can be treated as conceding. Frivolous motions and frivolous oppositions can draw fee awards.
Motions While the Case Is Pending
Temporary orders (C.R.S. § 14-10-108)
Either party may ask for temporary maintenance, child support, parenting time and decision-making, use of the house, payment of debts, and attorney fees while the case is pending, supported by an affidavit stating the facts and amounts. The standard is need and the status quo for money, and the children's best interests for parenting. Rule 16.2 says the hearing is to be held "as soon as possible," which in the metro districts usually means several weeks to a few months, often after a required mediation, in a hearing limited to an hour or two. Temporary orders do not prejudice the final ruling.
Motion to restrict parenting time (§ 14-10-129(4))
This is the emergency tool for children. The motion must allege that the child is in imminent physical or emotional danger from the other parent's parenting time, and the court must hear and rule on it within fourteen days. Any parenting time in the meantime is supervised. The price of misuse is real: if the court finds the motion substantially frivolous, groundless, or vexatious, it must order the filer to pay the other side's fees.
Interim attorney fees (C.R.S. § 14-10-119)
After considering both parties' financial resources, the court may order one spouse to pay the other's fees and costs, including fees already incurred and, cautiously, fees expected; courts have ordered advances for attorney and appraisal costs where separate property had to be traced (In re Marriage of Rose, 2006). The point is to let the lower-earning spouse litigate without undue sacrifice.
Motion to appoint a CFI, PRE, or child's legal representative
On either party's motion or its own, the court may appoint a child and family investigator under § 14-10-116.5, order a parental responsibilities evaluation under § 14-10-127, or appoint a child's legal representative under § 14-10-116. The standard is the child's best interests; the practical questions are cost, who pays, and time. Since HB24-1350, evaluators must be trained in domestic violence, coercive control, and child abuse. A CFI report typically takes two to three months, a PRE four to six, and the hearing waits for it.
Motion to compel and for sanctions (C.R.C.P. 37)
When a spouse ignores the Rule 16.2 disclosure deadline or answers discovery evasively, the remedy is a motion to compel, which requires a certificate that you tried to resolve it first. If the motion is granted, or the documents show up after it is filed, the court may award the fees of bringing it (In re Marriage of Wright, 2020). If an order to compel is then violated, Rule 37(b) sanctions escalate: facts deemed established, evidence excluded, and in extreme cases default.
Motion for protective order over financial records (C.R.C.P. 26(c))
A business owner facing a demand for every corporate record can ask the court to limit discovery for good cause, and filing the motion stays the discovery it targets. The Colorado Supreme Court has held that Rule 16.2 favors discovery tailored to the case, and that giving a spouse open-ended access to an employer's records was an abuse of discretion (In re Marriage of Gromiko, 2017).
Emergency and Forthwith Motions
"Forthwith" on a motion asks the court to rule immediately, before the 21-day response period. Courts honor the request for genuine emergencies: a parent about to leave the state with the children in violation of the automatic injunction, a spouse liquidating an account, a medical decision that cannot wait. Rule 16.2(c)(3) gives issues involving children priority on the docket, and emergencies can be raised through the family court facilitator. A motion to modify the injunction so a parent can relocate for a job also has to be heard promptly; refusing to set a hearing on one denied due process (In re Marriage of Finer, 1995).
Ex parte relief, an order entered without notice to the other side, is reserved for imminent danger; a temporary protection order under § 14-10-108(3) is the vehicle. A forthwith motion filed over an ordinary dispute teaches the judge to discount the next one.
After the Decree: Modify, Enforce, Contempt
Motion to modify
Maintenance and child support are modified on a showing of changed circumstances so substantial and continuing as to make the existing order unfair, § 14-10-122. Parenting time is modified under the child's best interests, with the stricter endangerment standard for changes that restrict a parent's time or move the child's primary home, § 14-10-129. Under Rule 16.2(d), the court reviews a post-decree motion within 49 days and decides whether to hold a status conference or rule on the papers.
Motion to enforce parenting time (§ 14-10-129.5)
On a verified motion, the court must decide within 35 days whether there has been substantial or continuing noncompliance and set a hearing if so. Remedies include make-up parenting time, fines, counseling, a bond, fees, and contempt.
Contempt (C.R.C.P. 107)
Contempt is the enforcement tool for any order: support, property transfers, the injunction. It begins with a verified motion and a citation personally served on the other party, followed by an advisement and an evidentiary hearing. Remedial contempt, aimed at compliance, requires proof by a preponderance that the person knew of the order and had the ability to comply; punitive contempt, aimed at punishment, requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt of willful disobedience and can carry a fine or jail. Contempt is slow, often three to six months to a hearing, but it is the only motion that ends with the other party explaining to a judge why an order was ignored.
Post-Decree Reallocation of Undisclosed Assets
Rule 16.2(e)(10) keeps former spouses honest for years. If a party's disclosures contained a misstatement or omission that materially affected the division of property, the court retains jurisdiction for five years after the decree to reallocate the assets or liabilities involved. A motion filed later must be denied.
Three cases set the standard. In re Marriage of Hunt (2015) reopened a settlement where a husband had failed to hand over his company's financial statements. In re Marriage of Runge (2018) refused to reopen where the wife had the documents and signed before valuing the business. And in In re Marriage of Durie (2020) the Colorado Supreme Court held that the motion must state its grounds with particularity but may rely on information and belief, and that the movant is entitled to discovery, in a case where a business appraised under $900,000 sold for $6.9 million within a year of the decree. Maintenance cannot be reopened through this motion.
Talk to a Denver Divorce Attorney About Motions in Your Case
Aaron Herzberg is a divorce attorney in Greenwood Village, Colorado, serving Denver and the Front Range, with more than 30 years of trial experience and a practice focused on divorce, custody, and financially complex family law. The motions filed in the first sixty days, and the ones deliberately not filed, shape the rest of the case. A first meeting is a paid consultation, not a free call and not a sales pitch.
Read the full guide on DenverDivorce.com: Divorce in Colorado: The Process.
Educational information only, not legal advice. Reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship.
