Moving Out of State With a Child in Colorado

Colorado does not have one relocation rule. What you must do depends on where your case is, and the answer changes at four points.

Whether you need permission to move out of Colorado with your child depends on the stage of your case. What matters is whether a case has been filed, whether you have been served, and whether orders exist. Those stages produce genuinely different answers, which is why general advice about relocation so often seems to contradict itself.

The stages below run in order. Find the one that matches your situation. The rule for a parent with no case filed is not the rule for a parent with a final parenting plan.

Before Any Case Has Been Filed

If no dissolution or parental responsibilities case exists, no Colorado family law statute requires you to get the other parent’s permission before moving. The relocation notice rules apply to changing an existing order, which you do not have. That assumes no protection order or other order already addresses the child.

That does not make a move consequence-free. Criminal exposure is possible even without a custody order, which the section on parental kidnapping below explains.

Moving first also does not always move the case. Colorado generally remains the child’s home state for 182 days after the move, if the other parent still lives here.¹ A Colorado court can take the case during that window even though the child is gone.

The practical reality is that moving first rarely ends the dispute. It usually starts one, on facts you chose under pressure rather than facts your attorney helped you build.

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 geographic ties between the child and the other parent runs through the modification statute.⁸ The parent intending to relocate must give the other party written notice as soon as practicable.

That notice must state the location where you intend to live, the reason for the relocation, and a proposed revised parenting plan. A hearing on a modification due to an intended relocation is given priority on the court’s docket.

These rules are written for the parent with whom the child resides a majority of the time. Where parents share time equally, a proposed move is handled under the general best-interests modification standard instead.

The Colorado Supreme Court has held that the amended statute eliminated the presumption favoring the majority-time parent.⁹ Both parents share equally the burden of showing what serves the child’s best interests. There is no presumption for Colorado, and none against the move.

The same decision directs courts to weigh the relocating parent’s constitutional right to travel alongside the other parent’s right to parent. Neither interest automatically outweighs the other.

One more point often gets missed. The heightened endangerment standard that applies to restricting parenting time does not apply to relocation cases, which the statute says expressly.

Because a relocation request after final orders is a modification, the mechanics overlap with how custody modification works 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 the Court Actually Weighs

The statute lists factors for a relocation request, and directs the court to consider all relevant factors alongside the general best-interests factors. The listed ones are worth knowing precisely, because rumor fills the gaps.

The court considers the reasons you want to relocate and the reasons the other parent objects. It considers the history and quality of each parent’s relationship with the child since the last parenting order.

It considers the educational opportunities for the child at the existing location and at the proposed new location. There is no carve-out limiting this to gifted students or children with an individualized education program.

It considers the presence or absence of extended family at each location. It weighs any advantages of the child remaining with the primary caregiver, and the anticipated impact of the move. It also asks whether it can fashion a reasonable parenting time schedule if the move is allowed.

The general best-interests factors come in alongside these. That is where a mature child’s stated preference carries weight, and where courts tend to be reluctant to separate siblings.

Domestic violence is a required consideration, supported by a preponderance of the evidence, whether it occurred before or after the prior decree. A 2026 act that took effect on May 27, 2026 rewrote how courts handle these findings and widened what counts as domestic violence.¹⁰ The definition now reaches stalking, coercive control, economic abuse, and human trafficking, whether or not the conduct is a crime.

Two claims that circulate widely are not in the statute. There is no rule that an employer-required move is treated more favorably than a voluntary one.

There is also no rule that more parenting time improves a parent’s chance of blocking a move. Your reasons are a factor the court weighs, not a category that changes the standard.

What About Parental Kidnapping?

Colorado’s statute is broader than most people assume, and it does not depend on having a court order.¹¹ 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.¹² 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.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need permission to move out of Colorado with my child if nothing has been filed?

No Colorado family law statute requires permission when no case exists and no order has been entered. That is not the whole picture, because the criminal statute on taking a child does not depend on a court order. It also tends to trigger the case you were hoping to avoid.

When does the automatic injunction start restraining me?

In a divorce or legal separation, the spouse who files is bound once the petition is filed, and the other spouse on service or waiver. In a custody case without a divorce, it takes effect on filing and on service or waiver. Either way it restrains removing the children from the state without consent or a court order, and lasts until the decree, a dismissal, or a modifying order.

Can a Colorado judge order me to stay in the state?

Not in an initial allocation of parental responsibilities. The Colorado Supreme Court has held that the court must accept where each parent intends to live. The court can still decide that the child remains in Colorado, which may change who has majority parenting time.

Does my reason for moving decide the outcome?

It is one factor among several, not a category that changes the standard. There is no rule treating an employer-required move more favorably than a personal one. Neither parent carries a presumption, and both share the burden of showing what serves the child.

Is it parental kidnapping if there is no custody order?

It can be. The first subsection reaches taking a child from the other parent’s custody or care knowing you have no privilege to do so, without requiring an order. A second subsection covers violating an order, including temporary ones.

Talk With a Colorado Family Law Attorney

Relocation questions are time-sensitive in a way most family law questions are not. A filing date, a service date, or a notice sent late can change your options entirely. Getting the stage right is the first step, and it is usually a short conversation.

A move also raises the question of which state decides. Johnson Law Group works across Colorado, Illinois, Florida, and Wyoming, which matters when a family is about to be split between two of them.

Johnson Law Group handles relocation and parenting time matters across the state, and you can learn more about our approach on our Colorado family law page. You can find our offices in Denver, Colorado Springs, Commerce City, Englewood, and Fort Collins. You can also read about the background and experience of the attorneys on our team.

Schedule a free consultation and we will walk you through which stage applies and what the court will expect from you.

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