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Child Custody Cases

• Parenting Plan
• Emergency Orders
• Temporary Orders
• Permanent Orders
• Modification of Parenting Time
• Relocation
• Termination of Parenting Rights
• Enforcement of Child Custody Orders
• Unmarried Parents
• Grandparents' Rights

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Unmarried Parents

Parents can ask the court for an order concerning parenting time outside the divorce context by filing a Motion for Allocation of Parental Responsibility. This will initiate a proceeding very similar to the child custody proceedings that are included in divorce actions.

Paternity

Paternity can be presumed in Colorado based on factors which include whether the child was born during a marriage or within a certain period of time after a marriage is terminated, whether a man accepts a child into his household and holds himself out as the child's father, whether a man files come types of paperwork with the government indicating he is the father of the child, etc.

The presumptions which can guide Colorado courts do not require marriage, and may even apply to more than one person a particular child. Accordingly the presumptions regarding paternity can be rebutted. An increasingly common method of establishing paternity involves scientific testing.

Establishing paternity can be important for a father because it can strengthen the father's arguments for parenting time and decision-making responsibilities (child custody). Establishing paternity can be important for mothers because doing so can obligate the father to assist with the financial care and support of the child.

Non-biological parents

Colorado law allows a person other than a parent to file a motion for allocation of parental responsibilities under certain circumstances. Click here to read about the special provisions for grandparents. This section addresses people who have been in a care-taking role that would be difficult to distinguish from that of a legal guardian, but who are not biological parents and have not adopted the child in question. For example, a person may have engaged in a long-term relationship without a formal marriage. During that relationship, this person may have taken on the role of father for several children and cared for them in that role for many years. When the relationship ends, the person who took on that father-role may have trouble establishing a right to parenting time. This scenario is relatively common among homosexual couples who separate, due to the fact that most states do not yet allow them to marry.

Those who find themselves on either side of this situation should carefully consider with their attorney any applicable presumptions already allowed by Colorado law. If those presumptions are inadequate, the party seeking parental rights and their attorney may face the difficult task of educating the courts about how the nature of the specific relationship demands treatment similar to that which the court gives biological relationships.

Colorado law does allow non-biological parents who have never adopted the child in question to petition for allocation of parental rights. There are requirements regarding how long the child has been under petitioner's physical care and custody, and there are time limits which apply to the request if the child is no longer in the petitioner's care. It is important to move quickly if you face a similar situation.

If you have questions about a demand for parenting rights by a non-parent (in the formal legal sense), call (720) 201-3802 for a consultation with an attorney. Or click here to submit your legal question directly to an attorney.