Colorado family court, word by word

The formula in section 14-10-114 that gives the court a starting point for the amount and length of maintenance. It applies when the marriage lasted at least three years and the spouses' combined annual adjusted gross income is $240,000 or less. The court then sets an award that is fair and equitable to both parties.

A sworn written statement, made in front of a notary or other official, that certain facts are true.

Colorado's term for what many states call custody. The court decides parenting time and decision-making responsibility according to the child's best interests.

Court orders that take effect automatically once a divorce or legal separation case is filed and served. Among other things, they bar hiding or getting rid of marital property, taking the children out of Colorado without permission, and changing insurance that covers the family. They are printed on the summons.

The standard Colorado courts use for parenting decisions. The court gives paramount consideration to the child's safety and to the child's physical, mental and emotional needs.

Form JDF 1104, where you certify that you have met the mandatory financial disclosure requirements. The Colorado Judicial Branch lists it with the forms to file within 42 days of filing or receiving the petition.

Colorado's statewide formula and schedule in section 14-10-115. Support is based on the parents' combined adjusted gross income, adjusted for extraordinary medical expenses and work-related child care, and divided between the parents based on the physical care arrangements.

An attorney the court may appoint under section 14-10-116 to represent the child's best interests in a case about parental responsibilities. The same person cannot also serve as the Colorado Child & Family Investigator in that case.

A spouse who signs and files the petition together with the other spouse, instead of being served.

A pattern of threatening, humiliating or intimidating actions used to harm, punish or frighten a person, such as isolating them from friends and family, controlling their money or movements, or frequent degrading name-calling. It is defined in section 14-10-103 (1.5)(a), as amended by House Bill 26-1309, and it is one form of domestic violence under that section.

A neutral person the court may appoint under section 14-10-116.5 in a case about parental responsibilities, to investigate, report and make recommendations to the court about the children's best interests, as the court's written order of appointment directs.

A marriage formed without a license, by the couple's mutual agreement to enter into marriage followed by conduct showing that agreement. Under section 14-2-109.5, one entered into on or after September 1, 2006, is recognized only if both people were at least 18 and the marriage was not otherwise prohibited.

Disobeying a court order.

A qualified person the court may appoint, with both parties' written consent and after parenting orders are in place, with binding authority to resolve disputes about carrying out or clarifying those orders, such as parenting time, specific parenting decisions and child support.

The authority to make decisions for a child. For each issue, the court can give decision-making to both parents together, to one parent, or any combination.

A decree that a marriage is invalid, entered for reasons listed in section 14-10-111, such as a party's lack of capacity to consent, fraud that goes to the essence of the marriage, or duress.

The court's final order that ends the marriage, or legally separates the spouses, and sets the terms. The court's form is JDF 1019.

Final orders entered on the parties' sworn affidavits instead of testimony, when section 14-10-120.3 is met: the other party was properly served, there is no genuine dispute about a material fact, and any marital property is divided by agreement. If there are minor children or a pregnancy, both spouses must be represented by a lawyer or licensed legal paraprofessional and have a separation agreement covering parenting and child support.

Failing to do something required, such as responding to the petition or attending a hearing. If you do not file a response, the court may decide the case without your input.

What Colorado calls divorce. The court can enter the decree only when one spouse has been domiciled in Colorado for the 91 days before filing, the marriage is irretrievably broken, and at least 91 days have passed since the court gained jurisdiction over the respondent.

The trial court that hears divorce, custody and many other kinds of cases. Each county's district court belongs to a numbered judicial district: Boulder County is the 20th and Weld County is the 19th.

In Colorado's family law article, conduct by a party, whether or not it is a crime, that includes an act or threat of physical assault or bodily harm against the other parent or a family or household member, including a child; damage to their property; harm to their animal; stalking; sexual assault; coercive control; economic abuse; or human trafficking. It does not include acts a parent uses to protect themself, a family member or property from the other parent. See section 14-10-103 (1.5)(b), as amended by House Bill 26-1309, signed May 27, 2026.

A proceeding or communication in which only one party is present.

A person who helps the court manage family cases and may lead the Initial Status Conference. Family Court Facilitators cannot give legal advice.

The state system that processes support payments. When the court orders payments processed through the FSR, the paying party must pay through it.

A request to have court fees waived, made with form JDF 205 (Motion to Waive Fees) and form JDF 206 (the order). The Colorado Judicial Branch publishes the income and public-benefit rules for qualifying.

Under Colorado's Uniform Child-custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, the state where a child lived with a parent for at least 182 consecutive days just before a custody case started, or since birth for a child under six months. Colorado generally can make a first custody order only if it is the child's home state or another test in section 14-13-201 is met.

How Colorado collects support from pay. When child support or maintenance is ordered or modified, the order is generally activated as an income assignment from the paying party's employer or other payor of funds.

An early meeting about the progress of a family case with a Family Court Facilitator, a magistrate or a judge, where deadlines are clarified and next steps explained.

The ground Colorado uses to end a marriage: the marriage cannot be saved. If both spouses say so under oath, or one does and the other does not deny it, the court presumes it. Old defenses such as condonation and recrimination are abolished.

A case that can decide everything a divorce decides without ending the marriage. No earlier than 182 days after the decree of legal separation, either party can ask the court to convert it to a decree of dissolution, with proof that notice was mailed to the other party.

A judicial officer authorized by statute or the Colorado Rules for Magistrates to hear certain cases. In a family case, a party can ask a district court judge to review a magistrate's order; this is called magistrate review.

Colorado's term for spousal support, also called alimony. The court decides it without regard to marital misconduct.

Generally, all property either spouse acquired after the marriage, however title is held, except property received by gift or inheritance, property exchanged for pre-marriage or gifted property, property acquired after a decree of legal separation, and property excluded by a valid agreement. The court divides it in the proportions it finds just, without regard to marital misconduct.

A process where a neutral third party, the mediator, helps people in a dispute talk through their issues and find their own solutions. The Judicial Branch's Office of Dispute Resolution provides mediation services.

Changing an existing court order, such as parenting time or support. For child support and maintenance, a change generally reaches only payments that come due after the motion is filed and requires changed circumstances that are substantial and continuing.

A type of court case to determine whether someone is a child's legal parent. The divorce summons explains that you can request genetic testing, and that testing must be done before the court establishes parentage and issues final orders.

A class the court may order a parent of a child under 18 to attend in a divorce, legal separation or parenting case. It covers how separation and divorce affect children and teaches co-parenting skills.

An evaluator the court may order under section 14-10-127, either a licensed mental health professional or a county department of human or social services, to evaluate the disputed parenting issues and file a written report.

A neutral person the court may appoint after parenting orders are entered to help the parents resolve disputes about parental responsibilities, including carrying out the parenting plan.

The written plan for the children: where they live, how decisions are made and the parenting time schedule. The court's form is JDF 1113.

The time each parent is court-ordered to have with the child. The court sets it in the child's best interests, with the child's safety always paramount.

The final orders that resolve parenting, child support, maintenance and the division of property. They are entered with the decree unless the court finds that putting them off until after the decree is in the parties' best interests.

The paper that starts a divorce or legal separation case. The court's form is JDF 1011.

The spouse who files the petition.

Income the court assigns to a parent it finds voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, or whose employment information is unreliable, when calculating child support. The court considers the parent's specific circumstances.

An agreement between people who intend to marry that affirms, modifies or waives a marital right or obligation, such as maintenance or property rights, during the marriage or at legal separation, divorce or death.

Representing yourself in court without a lawyer. The Judicial Branch notes that people who represent themselves are bound by the same rules and procedures as an attorney.

A civil court order to prevent assaults and threatened bodily harm, domestic abuse, emotional abuse of an elderly or at-risk adult, sexual violence or stalking. It can be temporary or permanent. The person protected is the protected party; the person ordered to stop is the restrained party.

Qualified Domestic Relations Order. A court order used to divide retirement assets in a divorce case.

When the parent the child lives with most of the time plans a move that substantially changes the child's geographic ties to the other parent. That parent must give the other written notice as soon as practicable, with the new location, the reason and a proposed revised parenting time plan.

The spouse who is served with the case and may file a response.

The paper the served spouse files to take part in the case, usually form JDF 1015. It is due within 21 days of service in Colorado, or 35 days if served outside Colorado or by publication.

Property the court sets apart to each spouse instead of dividing it, such as property owned before the marriage or received by gift or inheritance. Any increase in its value during the marriage is generally treated as marital property.

A written agreement between spouses about maintenance, property, parental responsibilities, child support and parenting time. Terms about property and maintenance bind the court unless it finds them unconscionable; terms about the children do not bind the court.

Formal delivery of the case papers to the other spouse. A spouse can instead sign a Waiver of Service, form JDF 1013.

An agreement between the opposing parties. If the court accepts it and a judicial officer signs it, it becomes a binding court order.

The notice delivered with the petition, form JDF 1012. It explains the response deadline and the automatic court orders.

Form JDF 1111, your sworn statement of your finances. The Colorado Judicial Branch lists it, with any Supporting Schedules (JDF 1111SS), among the forms to file within 42 days of filing or receiving the petition.

Orders that apply while the case is pending. Either party can ask for temporary orders on payment of debts, use of property, maintenance, parental responsibilities, child support or attorney fees.