| ISSUES IN DIVORCE Alimony, Maintenance and Spousal Support In Colorado, the term “maintenance” has replaced “alimony” or “spousal support”. Maintenance is support paid by a supporting spouse to a dependent spouse, The amount and time limit of maintenance depends on several factors reviewed by the Court, including: --The income and financial resources of each party --The standard of living established during the marriage --The education levels of each party --The length of the marriage --The age and health of each party Whether or not maintenance is appropriate in a particular case varies from case to case. I will assist you in determining if maintenance is appropriate. Child Custody, Parental Responsibility, and Parenting Time: Colorado no longer uses the old familiar terms “custody” and “visitation” Nowadays we use the terms“allocation of parental responsibility”, which includes “decision-making authority” and “parenting time”. The person with decision making authority is the one who makes major decisions affecting the children, such as education, religious, extracurricular, and non emergency medical decisions. This could, of course, mean both parents, and often does. Like the old visitation, a parent has parenting time when the children are in their care. We will put together a parenting plan that allocate both decision-making authority and parenting time to one or both parents. Part of my job is to help you develop a parenting plan that meets your objectives and is in your children’s best interest. Child Relocation and Removal In today’s society, many people move to other states because of job-related or other issues. In the context of a divorce, in order to move a child out of state, the parent with whom the children reside with a majority of the time must seek permission from the court to relocate with the children far enough away from the other parent so as to change the parenting time schedule, Because of this change, “removal” cases, as they are called, are some of the most emotionally charged and highly contested cases. Colorado has some very specific rules and considerations on removal cases. I have extensive experience in such matters and can advise you whether or not a court is likely to allow removal. Child Support: In Colorado, child support is pretty straightforward – it is determined by a formula that considers the parents’ combined incomes, the number of overnights each parent spends with the child, a parent’s individual expenditures for child care, health insurance and other extraordinary expenses, as well as whether one parent is staying home with a child under the age of thirty months old. Almost all lawyers use a computer program which allows us to quickly and easily make a determination as to the likely amount of child support in any case. In addition, a court could order more or less support than the guideline amount when its application would be inequitable, unjust or unfair. In Colorado, however, paying less than the guideline amount is rare. The courts do not generally allow a party to waive child support. In your divorce case, part of my job is to help you determine the amount of child support you may be required to pay or could receive. Marital Property: |
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