Family Law Attorneys in Colorado Springs

Family cases are decided by a judge or magistrate in District Court, and they move on their own schedule, with financial disclosures, parenting plans, and hearings that each carry deadlines. Decisions made in the first weeks, especially temporary arrangements for the children and the household, often shape the rest of the case. This page covers what applies to most family cases. The pages for each kind of case explain what changes.

Who can file in Colorado

To file for divorce or legal separation in Colorado, one spouse must have lived here for at least 91 days before filing. Custody has a separate rule: Colorado generally decides custody for the first time only if it is the child’s home state, meaning the child lived here with a parent for at least 182 days in a row just before the case was filed. Military families often have more than one state in play; see military divorce.

What happens when a case is filed

Once a divorce or legal separation is filed and served, an automatic temporary injunction applies to both spouses. Neither may hide, transfer, or dispose of marital property except for ordinary living and business expenses, take the children out of Colorado without the other’s consent or a court order, harass the other, or cancel or change health insurance without notice and consent. Breaking those rules can cost you with the court for the rest of the case.

Temporary orders

The final orders can be months away. Either party can ask the court for temporary orders in the meantime: who lives in the home, who pays which debts, temporary maintenance, temporary child support, a temporary parenting schedule, and attorney fees. Temporary orders often become the baseline the final orders start from, so they deserve full preparation.

Mediation

Colorado courts commonly refer family cases to mediation before a contested hearing, and many cases settle there. A court can’t send a case to mediation over the objection of a party who says they were abused by the other and is unwilling to mediate. We prepare you for mediation as seriously as for a hearing, since what you agree to there becomes a court order.

Emergency orders

Some situations can’t wait: a child’s safety is at risk, a parent threatens to leave the state with the children, or someone needs protection from abuse. The court can act on a much shorter timeline, through a civil protection order or an emergency motion in the family case. See protection orders and child custody.

If criminal charges are part of the picture, the criminal case’s own protection order applies too, and the two cases have to be handled together. See domestic violence.

How we handle family cases

You get a clear account of your options and of what the law weighs before you commit to a strategy. We prepare every case as if a judge will decide it, and we tell you honestly when an agreement serves you better than a hearing.