After a Case Has Been Filed and Served
This is the stage most people have in mind when they say a parent needs permission. An automatic temporary injunction restrains each party from removing the minor children from the state without the other party’s consent or a court order.2 When it binds you depends on the kind of case, and on which side of it you are.
In a Colorado divorce or legal separation, the spouse who files is bound once the petition is filed. The other spouse is bound on personal service of the petition and summons, or on waiver and acceptance of service.3 The injunction language is printed on the summons and the petition.
A parental responsibilities case that does not involve a divorce works differently. There the injunction takes effect on filing and on personal service or waiver.4 Either way, it stays in effect until the court enters a decree, dismisses the petition, or modifies it.
The practical point is easy to miss and expensive to get wrong. If you file for divorce, you are restrained from that moment, not from the moment your spouse is served. Waiting for service is not a window.
Temporary orders entered while the case is pending can add further restrictions. Those orders carry weight of their own, as the parental kidnapping section explains.
When the Court Makes Its First Parenting Decision
At an initial allocation of parental responsibilities, the court applies the best interests standard rather than the relocation statute.5 That distinction matters more than most people expect.
The Colorado Supreme Court has held that in an initial determination, a court has no statutory authority to order a parent to live in a specific location.6 The court must accept the location in which each party intends to live, then allocate parental responsibilities accordingly in the child’s best interests.
Read that carefully, because it cuts both ways. The court cannot order you to stay in Colorado. It can decide that the child stays, which may mean allocating majority parenting time to the parent who is not moving.
The Court of Appeals has reinforced this. Where a parent states before permanent orders that they intend to relocate, the court must allocate parenting time assuming the parent will move.7
Many parents concede they would stay if the children had to, and courts sometimes rule on that concession. They are not permitted to.
So the question at this stage is not whether you may move. It is where the child custody arrangement will leave the child once the court accepts that the two of you will live in different places.
After Final Orders: How a Relocation Request Works
Once a parenting plan is in place, a move that substantially changes the child’s geographic ties to the other parent is handled as a modification. The parent planning to move must give the other parent written notice as soon as practicable, stating the new location, the reason for the move, and a proposed revised parenting plan. Courts give these hearings priority on the docket.8
Neither parent starts with a presumption, and both share the burden of showing what serves the child.9 The notice requirements, the factors the court weighs, and how a contested relocation hearing runs are covered in how relocation and move-away disputes work in Colorado.
Planning a move, or trying to stop one?
The stage your case is in decides what you can do and how fast you have to act. Schedule a free consultation with Johnson Law Group and we will tell you which rule applies to you and what the court will want to see.
What About Parental Kidnapping?
Colorado’s statute is broader than most people assume, and it does not depend on having a court order.10 It reaches any person, including a parent, who takes or entices a child under eighteen from the custody or care of the child’s parent or guardian. That offense is a class 5 felony, and the taking must be done knowing there is no privilege to do so, or heedless in that regard.
A separate subsection covers violating an order. A parent who violates a district or juvenile court order granting custody or parental responsibilities, intending to deprive the other person of custody or care, commits a class 5 felony.
Temporary orders count. A Colorado appellate decision holds that temporary care and control provisions of a restraining order qualify as an order granting custody.11 The subsection reaches temporary and permanent orders alike.
Removing a child from the country in the course of either offense raises it to a class 4 felony.
The statute does provide affirmative defenses, and they are narrower than they sound. One applies where the person reasonably believed the conduct was necessary to preserve the child from danger to the child’s welfare.
The other applies to a child over fourteen, but only on three conditions. The child must have been taken away at their own instigation, without enticement, and without purpose to commit a criminal offense.
None of that is a green light. Relying on the absence of a court order as protection is the most dangerous assumption in this area. It is worth legal advice before you act rather than after.
How Johnson Law Group Helps Before a Move
Johnson Law Group represents parents on both sides of a proposed move, whether you plan to relocate or want to keep your child’s routine where it is. We start by pinning down which stage your case is in, because that decides which rule applies and how fast you need to act.
We do not promise how a court will rule. We will give you a clear read on your options, help you avoid steps that create criminal or procedural risk, and serve as your North Star while the clock runs.
