Nicholas Family Law
4610 S. Ulster St., Suite 150
Denver, CO 80237

303.290.7414 (phone)
303.394.2403 (fax)

E-mail Us | Directions

Follow Nicholas Family Law online!

CHILD CUSTODY DENVER

Child Custody is called Parental Responsibility in Colorado. It consists of parenting time, which is the amount of time each parent will have with the children as well as decision-making. Parenting time is known as visitation in other states. Decision-making consists of one or both parents being designated to make important decisions about the children.

In all Colorado divorces, legal separations, annulments, or paternity cases involving children, the "best interests of the child" are considered by Colorado courts in determining Colorado child custody, visitation, and relocation. The deciding standard is the best interests of the children and not the parent. Under Child Custody Colorado laws both parents are supposed to have an equal opportunity of obtaining primary child responsibility.

CHILD CUSTODY LAWYER DENVER COLORADO

Major Decision-Making

In Colorado, the parent who has the child at the time a decision is to be made is the one who makes that decision. This is true for all ordinary decisions, such as, bedtime, whether they have to eat their green beans, etc. However, Colorado recognizes that a few of the decisions are really important. Because these decisions are important, the parties need to decide which parent will have final say for which major decision or whether the parties will make these decisions together. If they cannot agree, the court will decide which parent makes which decision.

The major areas are: religion, education and medical care. There really isn’t usually much to argue about in these areas because most parents are compatible as to religion or they wouldn’t have ever been married. Nearly every parent wants their child to have the best education and the best medical care available.

A court is an arm of the State. Therefore, the court can run into Constitutional problems if it tries to dictate the religious upbringing of a child. A court usually allows each parent to expose the child to that parents religion during the time spent with that parent. In that situation there really isn’t any need for one parent or the other to be designated as the parent who will make all religious decisions.

Most of the time the parties will agree on a good education for the child. There are some circumstances where one party may be designated to make final decisions, such as which public school the child will attend, or, in the right circumstances, whether the child will attend a private school.

Either parent always has the right to designate emergency medical care for a child and to make emergency medical decisions for the child. Where an emergency is not involved, the parties may agree to jointly make such decisions. Otherwise, one of the parents will have to carry this burden as a decision-maker.

CHILD CUSTODY ATTORNEY DENVER COLORADO

Parenting Time

The children are the most important element in a divorce case. They must be considered above every other issue and even above the desires of the parents. Guess what? Colorado law agrees with this proposition. Consider the following and see if it meets with your beliefs about children:

Children are entitled (have a right to) their welfare. Their welfare includes food, clothing, shelter, care, education, and a safe environment.

Children are entitled to love, nurturing, advice and training of BOTH father and mother.

Children cannot be denied the right to know, associate with, love and be loved by either parent.

It is the public policy of this state to encourage frequent and continuing contact between the children and each parent. Neither parent has a legal presumption that favors that parent, including presumptions regarding gender and including children of tender years.

To aid in this public policy each parent is given free and unobstructed access to any medical, counseling, psychotherapy, dental, religious, government, school, day care, babysitter or similar records or information…without the consent of the other parent. The court can and will provide sufficient authorization for this purpose.

This liberal policy of keeping parents involved is not restricted unless the contact is impairing the physical health or emotional development of the children. In other words, the court would restrict this policy only if it was convinced that it would be beneficial to the children to have the parenting or decision-making restricted.

That is the policy of this state. Does that sound like something you could live with? It is not automatic. These rights have to be asserted and defended to make sure that the children enjoy the benefits of both parents. The law that defines the “best interests of the children” is complicated and lengthy.

As a practical matter, the question of what days and times the children spend with each parent is part of an overall balancing of the days they are in school, the schedules of each parent, the distance that each parent lives from the child’s school or daycare and the distance between each parent. In addition to these concerns, we try to equalize the holidays that the parties celebrate. We include the children’s birthdays, the parent’s birthdays, mother’s day, father’s day and any days that are unique to the family.

This issue is so important that most Judges require the parties to hire an expert to investigate the needs of the children and report to the Judge on their best interests.

Gary Nicholas is an experienced Colorado Child Custody Lawyer who has been helping people through child custody laws in Denver for 25 years.

Call our Colorado Child Custody Attorneys today to schedule a 30 minute FREE Consultation at 303-290-7414, and get our FREE SPECIAL REPORT.