Child Support Attorneys in Colorado Springs

Colorado sets child support with statutory guidelines. The amount they produce is presumed correct, and most of the dispute in a support case is about the numbers that go into the calculation, not the calculation itself.

How the guidelines work

The guidelines start with both parents’ combined adjusted gross income and the number of children, and estimate what the parents would have spent on the children in one household. That amount is divided between the parents in proportion to their incomes. The calculation then accounts for extraordinary medical expenses and work-related child care.

Parenting time changes the calculation

When each parent has the children for more than 92 overnights a year, Colorado treats it as shared physical care, and the calculation reflects the time the children spend in each home. The number of overnights in the parenting plan can therefore change the support amount significantly. That is one reason support and parenting time should be negotiated together.

Income disputes

Most contested support cases are about income: self-employment income and business expenses, overtime and bonuses, in-kind benefits such as a company car or housing that reduce a parent’s living costs, and whether a parent who is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed should be treated as able to earn more. The law counts potential income in that case, though not for a parent who is incapacitated or caring for the parents’ child under two. Getting those numbers right matters more than anything else in the case.

When the court departs from the guidelines

The court may set support above or below the guideline amount when applying the guidelines would be inequitable, unjust, or inappropriate. It has to explain why on the record, and state what the guideline amount would have been.

Changing support

Support can be changed when circumstances have changed substantially and continuously, and only for payments due after the motion is filed. A new calculation that changes the monthly amount by less than 10 percent doesn’t qualify. File as soon as the change happens: support that came due before the motion generally can’t be reduced, and each missed payment becomes a judgment.

When support ends

For most orders, child support ends automatically when the last child turns 19, unless the parents agreed otherwise in writing or an exception applies. A child still in high school is supported until the end of the month after graduation, and a child with a disability can be supported beyond 19.

How we handle support cases

We gather the financial records that show real income on both sides, run the guideline calculations for each realistic parenting schedule, and challenge income figures that don’t hold up. For modifications, we move quickly so the change applies as early as the law allows.