Englewood Child Custody Attorneys

Determining Custody Based on a Child’s Best Interests

In Colorado, courts prioritize the "best interests of the child" when making custody and parental responsibility decisions. This standard helps ensure that the child's physical, emotional, and developmental needs are met. The court will evaluate several factors to determine what arrangement serves the child's best interests, including:

• The child’s needs. The court considers the child’s specific emotional, educational, and physical needs and how each parent can meet them.
• Both parents’ ability to cooperate. The court assesses whether the parents can work together to make decisions and foster a positive relationship with the child.
• The amount of adjustment the child may have to make. Consideration is given to the child’s adjustment to their home, school, and community with the aim to maintain stability.
• The mental and physical health of all parties. The court evaluates the mental and physical well-being of both parents and the child.
• The relationship between the child and each parent. The court will look at the quality of the bond between the child and each parent.
• Both parents’ involvement. The court looks at each parent’s history of involvement in the child’s life, including caregiving and decision-making.
• The ability to encourage a relationship with the other parent. The court considers each parent’s willingness to support the child’s relationship with the other parent.
• History of abuse or neglect. Any evidence of domestic violence, child abuse, or neglect is heavily weighed, as the court prioritizes the child’s safety.
• Proximity of the parents’ homes. The distance between the parents’ residences can impact the feasibility of shared parenting time.
• The child’s wishes. If the child is mature enough to express a reasoned preference, the court may consider their input.

These factors are evaluated holistically, with the court tailoring its decision to the unique circumstances of each case. The ultimate goal is to create a custody arrangement that promotes the child’s overall well-being and stability.

The Connection Between Custody & Child Support Calculations

Child custody arrangements and child support payments are closely linked. The connection lies primarily in how parenting time, or physical custody, is allocated between parents and how financial responsibilities are shared to support the child’s wellbeing. Colorado uses specific guidelines to calculate child support, ensuring fairness and consistency, while considering the unique dynamics of each family.

The number of overnights a child spends with each parent annually is a critical factor used to calculate how financial responsibilities are shared. A parent who has more parenting time typically incurs greater child-related expenses such as housing, food, and clothing. This often results in the other parent paying support to help cover those costs.

If both parents have roughly equal parenting time (more than 92 overnights per parent per year), child support payments may be adjusted to reflect the shared responsibility of daily expenses. Child support calculations will then consider each parent’s income and their proportionate share of the child’s expenses. The more equal the division of parenting time, the less likely significant child support payments will be required, as both parents contribute directly to the child's daily needs.

By balancing parenting time, income, and expenses in child support calculations, the court aims to create a stable and supportive environment for the child, regardless of the custody arrangement. Ultimately, both parents are held responsible for contributing to their child’s well-being in proportion to their circumstances.

Enforcing Custody Orders & Addressing Violations

Custody orders are designed to protect the child’s best interests and ensure stability. Unfortunately, violations of custody orders or cases of parental alienation can disrupt this stability. Colorado law provides mechanisms to enforce these orders and address such issues.

When one parent violates a custody order—whether by refusing to comply with parenting time arrangements, withholding the child, or interfering with decision-making responsibilities—the other parent has the right to seek enforcement through the legal system. Parents can address these violations by:

• Documentation. Keep detailed records of the violation, including dates, times, and specific incidents. Examples include missed parenting time, blocked communication, or other forms of non-compliance. Save text messages, emails, or other evidence that demonstrate the violation.
• Attempt a resolution. Before escalating to court, parents may try to resolve the issue through mediation, with the help of a neutral attorney. Misunderstandings or temporary conflicts can often be resolved without legal intervention.
• File a motion to enforce parenting time. If the violation continues, the parent’s attorney can file a motion with the court to enforce the custody order. Colorado courts take these matters seriously and can penalize the parent who is non-compliant. The court may issue specific orders to ensure compliance, such as requiring makeup parenting time or imposing sanctions.
• File a motion for contempt. For serious or repeated violations, a lawyer can file a motion for contempt. This legal action alleges that the violating parent willfully disobeyed the custody order. If the court finds the violating parent in contempt, consequences may include fines, mandatory parenting classes, or even jail time in extreme cases.
• Request a custody modification. If a parent consistently violates the custody order or demonstrates they are unwilling to co-parent in good faith, the affected parent can request a modification of custody with the help of a lawyer. For example, the court may reduce the violating parent’s parenting time or grant sole decision-making to the affected parent.

Under Colorado law, the court’s goal is to enforce custody orders while prioritizing the child’s best interests. Remedies typically focus on ensuring the violation does not harm the child’s stability or relationship with either parent.

Parental Alienation & Its Impact on Children

Parental alienation occurs when one parent deliberately tries to damage the child’s relationship with the other parent. This might include making negative comments about the other parent, encouraging the child to take sides, or interfering with communication and parenting time. Over time, parental alienation can lead to significant emotional harm for the child and a breakdown in the child's bond with the targeted parent.

Signs of parental alienation include the child speaking negatively about the targeted parent without justifiable reasons, the child resisting or refusing to spend time with the other parent, discouraging the child from contacting their parent, or when the child adopts the alienating parent’s criticisms and accusations.

Parental alienation can cause long-term psychological and emotional harm to children, such as feelings of guilt, confusion, anxiety, depression, and divided loyalty. The child may also find it difficult to maintain trust and healthy relationships in the future. Due to the severe consequences of parental alienation, Colorado courts treat these cases with urgency and take corrective action when necessary.

When to Reach Out to Our Englewood Child Custody Lawyers

Like any other legal situation, you are perfectly within your rights to head into child custody hearings without an attorney at your side. Some people successfully process their divorces with good outcomes, usually after many weeks of research and document preparation. Many others, however, overestimate their legal abilities or underestimate the complexity of a child custody case and find themselves in over their head. In most divorces, choosing self-representation over working with a qualified child custody attorney can end up being a significant mistake that is difficult and expensive to correct.

If you (or your spouse) are about to file for divorce (or if you've already filed but child support, child custody, and other legal issues are proving more complex than you originally predicted), you may currently be in the process of deciding whether you need to get a lawyer. Before you make a final decision or go to court alone, consider the following:

• Your ex’s strategy. Even if your separation is fairly amicable and the division of property looks straightforward in your case, you need legal help. When your former partner is hiring a lawyer to help them with a divorce or separation, it’s likely in your best interests to do the same. You do not want to enter divorce court on uneven footing. Every citizen has equal rights when they step into a courtroom—with or without a lawyer—but the simple truth remains that an experienced lawyer will do a better job of negotiating for custody and navigating complex court processes than an untrained person representing themselves.
• Your children. The very notion that you must go to a courtroom and fight for the right to parent your own children can feel offensive. Some people misinterpret this feeling and fool themselves into thinking their child custody issue will be an open-and-shut case. In reality, your ex-spouse may be thinking the same. It's healthy to allow older children to express their feelings about the divorce and their hopes for the future.
• Criminal background. No matter how far it is in the past, if you have a criminal record, your ex-spouse may try to use it against you in court, particularly when working out child custody issues. A good divorce lawyer can help keep these irrelevant mistakes of your past from affecting the outcome of your divorce case.
• One or both parents will be moving. It can become especially important to retain a lawyer if your separation or divorce involves either you or your ex moving a significant distance. A custodial parent cannot simply take their children and move out of state without going through the proper legal process and giving the co-parent an opportunity to respond. You can also hire a lawyer to help you re-open a child custody case if your ex-spouse has custody of the children and intends to move a significant distance away. This request can even be made years after your divorce has been finalized.
• Abuse issues. Abusive situations can have major implications when awarding child custody at the end of divorce proceedings, so it is essential that victims of abuse tell their stories completely and effectively in divorce court, which can be difficult to do without legal training.
• A current child custody order is insufficient. Changes to a child custody order are common and can be made years after a divorce is finalized. Your rights as a parent do not end just because your ex-spouse is awarded custody at the end of divorce proceedings.