Protecting Your Parental Rights and Your Children's Best Interests
Nothing matters more than your relationship with your children. When you're facing a child custody dispute—whether as part of a divorce, a modification of existing orders, or a paternity action—you need an attorney who understands the profound importance of the parental bond and will fight to protect your rights as a parent.
At Neiley & Morris, we provide comprehensive representation in all child custody and parenting time matters throughout Western Colorado, including Telluride, Aspen, and Rifle. Our boutique practice ensures you receive personalized attention from experienced family law attorneys who are committed to achieving outcomes that serve both your parental rights and your children's best interests.
Colorado law uses the term "allocation of parental responsibilities" rather than "custody." This encompasses two distinct components: parenting time (physical custody) and decision-making responsibility (legal custody). Understanding these concepts is essential to navigating custody proceedings.
Parenting Time refers to the schedule determining when children spend time with each parent. This includes regular schedules for school days and weekends, holiday schedules, vacation time, and provisions for special occasions like birthdays. Colorado courts do not presume that any particular parenting time arrangement is best—instead, they focus on what serves the children's best interests based on the specific circumstances of each family.
Decision-Making Responsibility refers to authority to make major decisions about the children's upbringing, including education, medical and dental care, religious training, and extracurricular activities. Decision-making can be allocated jointly (both parents share decision-making) or to one parent for some or all areas. Joint decision-making requires parents to consult and agree on major decisions. When decision-making is allocated to one parent, that parent can make decisions in that area without the other parent's consent.
Colorado courts determine parenting time and decision-making based on the "best interests of the child." This standard requires the court to consider multiple factors designed to promote children's healthy development and wellbeing. Understanding these factors is crucial because they guide how courts evaluate custody cases.
Key factors courts consider include:
No single factor is determinative. Courts weigh all relevant factors based on the evidence and circumstances of each case. This is why thorough preparation and strategic presentation of evidence is essential in custody proceedings.
Colorado requires parents to have a parenting plan—a detailed written agreement or court order outlining parenting time schedules, decision-making allocation, and other provisions governing the children's care. A comprehensive parenting plan addresses regular schedules, holiday schedules, vacation time, transportation arrangements, communication between parents, methods for resolving disputes, and any special provisions relevant to your family.
Parents can agree to a parenting plan and submit it to the court for approval, or if parents cannot agree, the court will impose a parenting plan after hearing evidence about the children's best interests. We help clients develop parenting plans that protect their parenting time, allocate decision-making appropriately, and create clear, workable schedules that minimize conflict and serve the children's needs.
Parenting plans should be detailed enough to prevent disputes but flexible enough to accommodate children's changing needs and schedules as they grow. We work with clients to draft comprehensive parenting plans that provide clarity while allowing for necessary adjustments through cooperation.
Parenting time arrangements vary widely based on parents' work schedules, proximity to each other, children's ages and needs, and other factors. Common arrangements include:
Equal or Near-Equal Parenting Time: Children spend approximately equal time with both parents. This might involve alternating weeks, a 2-2-3 schedule (two days with one parent, two days with the other, three days with the first), or other arrangements dividing time roughly equally. Equal parenting time works best when parents live relatively close to each other, can communicate effectively, and children can manage frequent transitions.
Primary Residence with Parenting Time: Children primarily reside with one parent, with scheduled parenting time for the other parent. This might involve alternating weekends, midweek overnights, extended summer time, and shared holidays. This arrangement may be appropriate when parents live far apart, when one parent's work schedule makes equal time impractical, or when children are very young.
Supervised Parenting Time: In cases involving concerns about child safety, domestic violence, substance abuse, or other risk factors, the court may order supervised parenting time. Supervision can range from professional supervision at a supervision center to supervision by a trusted family member or friend, depending on the level of concern.
The right parenting time arrangement depends on your family's specific circumstances. We help you develop and advocate for schedules that protect your relationship with your children while serving their developmental and emotional needs.
When a parent wants to relocate with children, Colorado law requires specific procedures to be followed. If parents share parenting time and one parent wants to move more than 10 miles away (or any distance that substantially changes the existing parenting time arrangement), that parent must either obtain the other parent's consent or seek court permission.
The relocating parent must provide written notice of the proposed move at least 60 days before the intended relocation date (or as soon as reasonably possible if the move is necessitated by circumstances beyond the parent's control). The other parent can object, triggering a court hearing.
In relocation cases, courts consider the reasons for the move, the potential impact on the children's relationship with each parent, the children's wishes, whether the move offers educational or quality of life advantages, whether alternative parenting time arrangements can maintain the children's relationship with both parents, and other relevant factors.
Relocation cases are often highly contested and emotionally charged. Whether you're seeking to relocate with your children or opposing a proposed relocation, you need skilled legal representation to protect your rights and your children's interests.
In contested custody cases where the court needs additional information to determine the children's best interests, the court may order a child and family investigator (CFI) or parental responsibilities evaluator (PRE) to conduct an evaluation and make recommendations to the court.
A CFI or PRE will interview parents and children, observe parent-child interactions, review relevant records, speak with collateral contacts like teachers or therapists, and assess each parent's ability to meet the children's needs. The evaluator then provides a written report with recommendations about parenting time and decision-making.
While evaluators' recommendations are not binding on the court, judges give them significant weight. It's crucial to prepare thoroughly for an evaluation, understand what evaluators look for, and present yourself and your parenting in the most favorable light. We help clients prepare for custody evaluations and, when necessary, challenge evaluations that contain errors or unfair recommendations.
Domestic violence allegations have significant implications for custody determinations. Colorado law requires courts to consider credible evidence of domestic violence when allocating parental responsibilities. When the court finds a parent perpetrated domestic violence, it affects both parenting time and decision-making allocations.
A parent who committed domestic violence may face restrictions on parenting time, supervised parenting time requirements, requirements to complete domestic violence treatment, prohibition on overnight parenting time, or in severe cases, very limited contact with the children. Courts must also consider the safety of the victim parent and children when crafting parenting plans.
False allegations of domestic violence unfortunately occur in custody disputes. When you're wrongly accused of domestic violence, your custody rights are at serious risk. We vigorously defend against false allegations while presenting evidence of your positive relationship with your children and your fitness as a parent.
When substance abuse or mental health concerns exist, courts must balance parents' rights with children's safety and wellbeing. Evidence of substance abuse or untreated mental illness can result in restrictions on parenting time, requirements for treatment, drug or alcohol testing, or supervised parenting time.
However, past substance abuse or mental health treatment doesn't automatically disqualify a parent from parenting time or decision-making. If you've addressed these issues through treatment and sobriety, courts will consider your progress. We help clients demonstrate their commitment to recovery and their ability to safely parent their children.
We also represent parents seeking to protect children from the other parent's substance abuse or untreated mental illness. When safety concerns exist, we advocate for appropriate restrictions and safeguards to protect children while encouraging the other parent to address their issues.
While parents have fundamental rights to make decisions about their children, Colorado law recognizes that in some situations, grandparents or other third parties may seek custody or parenting time. Third parties can seek allocation of parental responsibilities when the child is not in the physical care of a parent, when a parent is deceased, or when the child has lived with the third party for an extended period and removal would cause serious harm.
Grandparents may petition for visitation rights in limited circumstances, such as when the grandparent-grandchild relationship has been unreasonably denied, the parents' marriage has been dissolved or legally separated, or a parent of the child has died. The court must find that visitation would be in the child's best interests and that the parent's decision to deny visitation does not adequately address the child's need for the grandparent relationship.
We represent parents seeking to protect their parental rights from third-party interference, and we also represent grandparents and other third parties seeking legally protected relationships with children when appropriate.
Parenting plans can be modified when circumstances substantially change. Colorado law makes it relatively difficult to modify parenting time arrangements during the first two years after initial orders, recognizing that children need stability. After two years, modification is easier to obtain if you can show that circumstances have substantially and materially changed and modification serves the children's best interests.
Common reasons for modification include parental relocation, changes in children's needs as they age, changes in parents' work schedules or living situations, concerns about a parent's substance abuse or mental health, one parent's failure to follow existing orders, or teenagers' strong preferences about where they want to live.
We represent clients seeking to modify existing orders to better serve current circumstances, and we defend against modification requests when maintaining the current arrangement serves the children's best interests.
When a parent violates custody orders by denying parenting time, failing to return children as scheduled, or refusing to follow decision-making allocations, the aggrieved parent can seek enforcement through contempt proceedings. Contempt remedies can include makeup parenting time, modification of orders, payment of attorney's fees, and in serious cases, jail time.
However, not every violation of custody orders constitutes contempt. To prove contempt, you must show the other parent had clear notice of the order, had the ability to comply, and willfully failed to comply. We help clients document violations and pursue appropriate remedies while also advising clients on how to avoid contempt allegations when compliance issues arise.
Custody cases involving multiple states are governed by the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA). Generally, the child's "home state"—the state where the child has lived for six months immediately before the custody proceeding—has jurisdiction to make custody determinations.
Interstate custody cases can be complex, involving questions about which state has jurisdiction, how to enforce custody orders from other states, and preventing parental kidnapping. We have experience navigating interstate custody matters and protecting your rights when custody issues span state lines.
When parents are unmarried, establishing paternity is a prerequisite to obtaining custody orders. Paternity can be established by signing an acknowledgment of paternity at the hospital when the child is born, by agreement of both parents, or through court proceedings involving genetic testing.
Once paternity is established, unmarried parents have the same rights and responsibilities as married parents regarding custody, parenting time, decision-making, and child support. We represent both mothers seeking to establish paternity and obtain child support, and fathers seeking to establish paternity and secure their parental rights.
Some custody cases involve high levels of conflict, poor communication between parents, frequent disagreements, and repeated returns to court. High-conflict cases are emotionally exhausting for parents and potentially harmful to children. When conflict is severe, special provisions may be necessary including detailed parenting plans minimizing required communication, use of parenting apps for communication and scheduling, appointment of a parenting coordinator to help resolve disputes, or parallel parenting arrangements minimizing interaction between parents.
We help clients navigate high-conflict custody situations, focusing on reducing conflict, protecting children from parental disputes, and creating structures that allow both parents to maintain relationships with their children despite parental animosity.
Your relationship with your children is precious and irreplaceable. When that relationship is threatened by custody disputes, you need an advocate who understands what's at stake and will fight to protect your rights. At Neiley & Morris, we combine sophisticated legal knowledge with genuine understanding of the emotional aspects of custody litigation.
We take the time to understand your children's needs, your relationship with them, and your concerns about the other parent. We develop strategies tailored to your situation, whether that means negotiating an agreed parenting plan, mediating disputed issues, or aggressively litigating contested custody matters.
Throughout the process, we focus not just on winning legal battles, but on achieving outcomes that serve your children's best interests while protecting your parental rights. We know that custody litigation affects real families and real relationships, and we approach each case with the seriousness and sensitivity it deserves.
If you're facing a child custody dispute or have questions about your parental rights, we encourage you to schedule a consultation. Contact Neiley & Morris today to meet with an experienced child custody attorney at our Telluride, Aspen, or Rifle office. We'll listen to your concerns, explain your rights and options, and discuss how we can help you protect your relationship with your children.