Layered ridgelines of the Colorado Front Range

Overview

Understanding family law in Colorado

Colorado family law is governed by Title 14 of the Colorado Revised Statutes and the Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure, with specialized rules acknowledging both the sensitivity of these disputes and the court's obligation to protect children's best interests.

These cases cover dissolution and legal separation, allocation of parental responsibilities, child and spousal support, division of property and debt, adoption and guardianship, paternity, protection orders, and post-decree modification when circumstances change.

Family matters are heard in the district court of each judicial district. The firm appears regularly in Denver, Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Douglas, Jefferson, and Larimer counties. Local rules differ by county; the governing statutes do not.

Parenting time and decision-making

Are you facing a custody battle?

The first orders a court enters tend to become the permanent ones. Before the next exchange, the next text message, or the next hearing, find out what a Colorado judge will actually look at, and what you should be documenting now.

Book a custody consultation See the free family law tools

Free guide

Preparing for a custody case in Colorado

What the court weighs, what to document, and the mistakes that cost parents time with their children.

Coverage

Matters handled

Dissolution of marriage and legal separation

Ending a marriage, or formally separating without ending it. Colorado is a no-fault state, so the question is never who was at fault. It is how the property, the debt, the support, and the children are handled. Legal separation keeps the marriage intact on paper, which matters for immigration status, insurance, and some religious considerations.

Allocation of parental responsibilities and parenting time

What Colorado calls custody. Two separate decisions: who the children live with and on what schedule, and who has authority over decisions about school, medical care, and religion. They can be split differently, and often are. There is no presumption of an even division. The schedule follows the evidence about what serves the child.

Child support, establishment and modification

Colorado calculates support by formula, using both parents' gross incomes, the number of overnights each has, health insurance premiums for the children, and work-related childcare. Courts depart from the formula only with a stated reason. Modification requires a substantial and continuing change, which the statute defines more narrowly than most people expect.

Spousal maintenance

Support paid from one spouse to the other after a marriage ends. Colorado publishes an advisory guideline based on income and the length of the marriage, but unlike child support it is genuinely discretionary. The court weighs need, ability to pay, the standard of living, and what each spouse gave up during the marriage.

Division of marital property and debt

Colorado divides marital property equitably, which means fairly, not necessarily equally. The first fight is usually classification: what is marital, what is separate, and what began as separate but grew in value during the marriage. Retirement accounts, a business, and a house bought before the marriage are where this gets genuinely complicated.

Separation agreements and parenting plans

The documents that turn an agreement into an enforceable order. A parenting plan that is vague about holidays, exchanges, or travel is a plan that produces another hearing in eighteen months. These are worth drafting carefully even, and especially, when the two of you are getting along right now.

Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements

Agreements signed before or during a marriage that decide in advance how property, debt, and maintenance will be handled if the marriage ends or a spouse dies. Colorado's Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act sets the rules: the agreement must be in writing and signed by both of you, each person needs fair financial disclosure and a real opportunity to consult their own attorney, and terms about parenting or child support do not bind the court. A maintenance waiver can still be set aside if it turns out to be unconscionable when it is enforced. Drafted well, these agreements prevent the most expensive fights in a divorce. Drafted carelessly, they become one.

Adoption

Stepparent, second-parent, kinship, custodial, and adult adoptions. Adoption creates a permanent legal parent-child relationship, with every right and duty that comes with it, and it usually requires ending a birth parent's legal rights first, by consent or by court order. Colorado requires background checks and, in many cases, a home study, and the court's question throughout is the child's best interests. For LGBTQ+ families, a confirmatory adoption secures a parent's rights in every state, even when both parents are already on the birth certificate.

Protection orders in domestic violence matters

Emergency and permanent civil protection orders, and defending against one that should not have been requested. These move faster than the rest of family law, the standard of proof is lower than in a criminal case, and the consequences reach employment, housing, firearms, and immigration status.

Paternity and parentage

Establishing legal parentage where a couple was never married, or where the presumed parent is not the biological one. Parentage has to be settled before support or parenting time can be ordered, and it carries its own deadlines. This also covers parentage questions for same-sex couples and children born through assisted reproduction.

Relocation disputes

One parent wants to move far enough away that the existing schedule stops working. Colorado treats this as its own question with its own factors, and the outcome turns heavily on whether the move is proposed before or after the initial parenting orders are entered. Do not move first and ask later.

Post-decree modification and enforcement

The case after the case. Changing orders when circumstances genuinely shift, and enforcing them when the other party simply stops complying: missed support, withheld parenting time, or a property division never carried out. Enforcement has real remedies, including contempt, and they work better the earlier they are used.

Free calculators

What will child support or maintenance actually be?

Colorado uses formulas. Run your own numbers in about two minutes, free and private, before you talk to anyone. Then bring the result to your consultation and we will tell you where a court might land differently.

Child support estimator
Spousal maintenance estimator
Parenting time calendar

Open the calculators Book a consultation

Divorce and legal separation

You want a divorce but don't know where to start?

Start with the map. Colorado divorces follow the same steps in the same order: filing, financial disclosures, temporary orders, negotiation, and final orders. Knowing the steps tells you what to gather, what to avoid, and how much help you really need.

Book a divorce consultation Read the Colorado divorce guide

Free guide

The Colorado divorce roadmap

Every step from filing to final orders, the deadlines that matter, and a document checklist.

Costs

Money should not prevent you from getting legal help.

So the prices are published. For one defined objective, an attorney package at a flat fee. For a document you already know you need, attorney-prepared drafts at a flat fee. You see the scope and the price before you ever speak to anyone, and both can be financed.

Full representation is quoted at the consultation, because it depends on how contested your case is.

Read our blog

In focus

Options

How this can be delivered

Family matters are where scalable support makes the most practical difference. All five options are available here.

Support Options

Financing available

The right legal help now. The cost, spread over time.

Cost should not decide whether you protect your family or your future. Legal fees at Inclusive Law Group can be financed through trusted third-party providers, so you can start today and pay in installments that fit your budget.

Choose from

Pay Later

The full process

Finance full representation, from first filing to final order, instead of paying the whole fee up front.

Inclusive Unbundled Method (IUM)

Spread the flat fee of any defined-scope package, one legal objective at a time.

Drafts on Demand (DoD)

Finance attorney-prepared documents, so even a single filing never has to wait on a payday.

Financing is offered by independent providers, subject to their own approval and terms. Direct payment arrangements with the firm that do not affect your credit score are also available, and we will tell you plainly which route costs you less.

Ask about financing

The consultation

Before the next deadline, get a straight read on where you stand.

A family matter moves whether or not you are ready for it. The consultation gives you an attorney's assessment of your position, the options actually available in the county where your case sits, and an honest answer about how much representation this needs.

Schedule a Consultation Send a message instead

Call or text: (720) 739-0037
AI appointment receptionist: (720) 953-5ILG (454)
Email: info@inclusivelawgroup.com

Common questions

No. Consultations are paid, and that is a deliberate choice. A free consultation is generally a screening call; ours is a working session in which you receive an attorney's actual assessment of your position and options. The fee is quoted before you book, with no surprises.

All questions

Family Law