Protecting Your Parental Rights Under Colorado Family Law
When you are separating or facing a divorce, figuring out how to raise your children is easily the most stressful and emotional hurdle you will face. Under Colorado family law, courts in the Denver metro area don’t use the traditional term child custody.
Instead, the legal framework is officially called the Allocation of Parental Responsibilities (APR). This shift in terminology was intentional; the state aimed to move away from the adversarial concept of “winning” or “losing” a child, replacing it with a cooperative framework focused purely on parental duties.
If you need an experienced Colorado child custody and parenting time attorney, the legal team at Perusse Family Law, PLLC is dedicated to protecting your parental rights while keeping your child’s well-being front and center.
What is Allocation of Parental Responsibilities (APR) in Colorado?
In Colorado courts, an APR case is broken down into two main legal components:
Parenting Time: Where the children sleep and how their day-to-day time is split between each parent’s home. This includes the regular schedule, holidays, and vacation time, and can range from a roughly equal split to a schedule where one parent has the majority of overnights.
Decision-Making Responsibilities: Who makes the major choices regarding a child’s upbringing, covering areas like education, healthcare, and religion.
Either component can be awarded jointly or solely, and a court can even mix and match, granting joint decision-making for education while awarding one parent sole authority over healthcare, for example.
An APR case can be filed as part of a dissolution of marriage (divorce) or as a standalone case if the parents were never married. Under Colorado Revised Statutes § 14-10-124, judges determine both areas using the strict “Best Interests of the Child” standard. This means the court’s primary objective is to create an environment that fosters the child’s safety, emotional growth, and long-term stability.
How Colorado Judges Determine Parenting Time Schedules
Parenting time dictates the children’s physical schedules and residential arrangements. Colorado courts weigh nine specific statutory factors to decide on a fair parenting schedule that serves the child’s best interests. Judges have broad discretion, but they must evaluate how these factors intersect in your specific family dynamic:
- The Preferences of Everyone Involved: The court considers the wishes of both parents. Additionally, the judge will look at the child’s preferences, provided the child is mature enough to express an independent, reasoned opinion without being influenced or coached by a parent.
- Existing Dynamics & Environment: The court examines how your child currently interacts with each parent, their siblings, and any step-family or extended family members. They evaluate how well the child is adjusted to their current Colorado school, home schedule, and local community.
- Physical and Mental Health: The physical and mental health of all individuals involved is evaluated. However, Colorado law explicitly states that a physical disability alone cannot be used to restrict or deny your parenting rights.
- Geographic Proximity and Logistics: The court looks closely at the physical distance between the parents’ homes. A schedule that works when parents live blocks apart in downtown Colorado may become impossible if one parent moves to the far suburbs or out of state, making daily school commutes unrealistic.
- Cooperation & Support: Each parent’s willingness to foster a relationship of love, respect, and affection between the child and the other parent is highly scrutinized. The only exception is when a parent is actively taking steps to protect the child from domestic violence, child abuse, or emotional neglect.
- Values & Commitments: The court evaluates whether your past pattern of involvement shows a consistent system of values, time commitment, and mutual support. Judges prefer to maintain continuity in who has historically handled doctor appointments, bedtime routines, and school conferences.
- Prioritizing the Child: The demonstrated ability of each parent to put their child’s physical and emotional needs ahead of their own personal desires and work schedules.
- The Goal of Equity: Colorado courts generally operate under the assumption that frequent and continuing contact with both parents is beneficial, unless evidence proves otherwise. However, “equal” time is not guaranteed; the schedule must realistically fit the child’s age and developmental needs.
No single factor controls the outcome; the court weighs all nine together to arrive at a schedule tailored to your child’s specific needs.
Major Decision-Making Responsibilities
Decision-making dictates who gets the final say on the major pillars of a child’s life. This does not cover day-to-day choices, such as what the child eats for lunch or wears to school, which are decided by whichever parent has physical custody at the time. Instead, it covers:
- Education: Choice of school, tutoring, online schooling, or specialized educational tracks.
- Healthcare: Choosing primary care doctors, dentists, mental health therapists, and approving elective surgeries.
- Religion: Deciding on religious upbringing, attendance at places of worship, and spiritual milestones.
- Extracurricular Activities: Major sports, camp enrollments, or arts programs that require significant time or financial commitments from both sides.
While Colorado courts strongly favor joint decision-making, the judge may award sole decision-making authority to one parent if ongoing arguments, safety concerns, or an inability to cooperate make joint decision-making impossible. To determine this, the court evaluates:
- Credible evidence that the parties can cooperate and make joint choices peacefully.
- Whether a history of joint involvement shows a mutual ability to provide a positive, nourishing relationship.
- Whether sharing decision-making will promote ongoing, frequent contact and collaboration between the child and both parents.
Important Safety Note
If there are credible allegations of domestic violence, substance abuse, or child neglect, the Colorado family court shifts its primary concern entirely to safety. Under Colorado law, if a history of domestic violence is proven, the court cannot order joint decision-making over the objection of the victimized parent, and parenting time may be heavily restricted or supervised.
The Role of Mandatory Mediation in Colorado Family Courts
If you and your co-parent cannot agree on a parenting plan, you cannot simply jump straight to a trial. In Colorado, family court judges almost always require parents to participate in mandatory mediation before a contested final hearing can be scheduled.
Mediation is a confidential process in which a neutral third-party mediator helps both parents discuss their disagreements and seek common ground. A mediator cannot force you to sign an agreement, but they can help you craft creative scheduling solutions that you might not have considered.
If mediation is successful, your attorney can draft the mediated terms into an official Stipulated CO Parenting Plan to be signed by the judge, saving you the emotional and financial toll of a courtroom battle.
Court-Appointed Evaluators: CFI vs. PRE
When parents cannot agree on a parenting plan even after mediation, the court may appoint an outside expert to investigate the family dynamic and provide recommendations. Colorado uses two different types of evaluators, and which one gets assigned to your case depends heavily on how complex your situation is.
A Child and Family Investigator (CFI) conducts a brief, cost-capped evaluation focusing on specific, narrow issues like scheduling logistics, schooling options, or basic stability. CFIs are often attorneys or mental health professionals, and their process is designed to move faster and cost less than a full evaluation.
A Parental Responsibility Evaluator (PRE) is always a licensed mental health professional, such as a psychologist, and conducts a much deeper, more comprehensive evaluation. This involves psychological testing, extensive clinical interviews, and home visits.
PREs are typically used when there are severe allegations of substance abuse, mental health struggles, parental alienation, or domestic violence, since these situations require a more thorough clinical picture than a CFI is equipped to provide.
How Parenting Time Directly Impacts Child Support
Many parents do not realize that the allocation of parenting time directly impacts financial obligations. There were major changes as of March 2026 to how child support is calculated in Colorado. Now, all overnight stays with a parent (even one night) are given “credit,” meaning a discount on the child support owed. (C.R.S. 14-10-115 (8)h.)
Because financial support is tethered to the schedule, custody battles can sometimes become financially motivated. Having an experienced attorney ensures that your parenting schedule is built around your child’s needs, not a math equation.
Modifying Parenting Time and Decision-Making Later
A parenting plan is not necessarily permanent. You can file a post-decree motion to modify parenting time if there has been a substantial change in circumstances. And, per the CO statutes, the modification would need to serve the child’s best interests. Minor scheduling adjustments generally fall under this more flexible standard.
Changing major decision-making responsibilities or switching which parent the child primarily lives with is held to a much stricter standard. Under Colorado’s endangerment standard, courts will not change a child’s primary residence unless you can prove that the current environment seriously endangers the child’s physical health or significantly impairs their emotional development, and that the benefit of the change outweighs the disruption of moving the child.
This stricter bar exists specifically to prevent constant upheaval in a child’s living situation. You generally cannot seek this kind of major restriction change more than once every two years.
Connect with a Colorado Child Custody Lawyer Today
Whether you need to draft a baseline parenting plan, navigate an uncontested split, or fight for your parental rights in a complex, high-conflict custody dispute, you do not have to handle it alone under Colorado family law. The legal choices you make now will impact your family dynamic for years to come.
Cindy Perusse has built Perusse Family Law, PLLC around one goal: helping Denver-area parents protect what matters most. With decades of family law experience, she combines compassionate guidance with the courtroom advocacy your case demands. Protect your relationship with your children.
Call 888-735-0304 or fill out our online contact form to schedule your initial legal consultation today.
Colorado Child Custody Frequently Asked Questions
Does a mother automatically get more custody or parenting time in Colorado?
No. Colorado law explicitly prohibits courts from favoring a parent based on gender, sex, or marital status (C.R.S. 14-10-124(3)). Both mothers and fathers start on entirely equal legal ground. The court evaluates custody based solely on the child’s best interests, past parental involvement, and current parenting abilities.
If I am not married to my child’s Mother or Father, what are my parental rights?
It depends on which parent you are. If you gave birth to the child, you automatically hold sole custody rights. If you did not, you have no legal entitlement to parenting time or decision-making until you establish paternity and a court grants you those rights.
How does establishing paternity affect an unmarried father’s rights?
An unmarried father has no enforceable right to parenting time or decision-making authority until paternity is legally established, even if he is the biological father. Paternity can be established through a Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity, genetic testing, or a court order. Once established, the father has the same rights and responsibilities as the mother.
At what age can a child choose which parent to live with in Colorado?
There is no specific age in Colorado at which a child can make a definitive choice. Instead, the court will listen to the child’s wishes only if the child is “sufficiently mature to express reasoned and independent preferences.” While judges often give substantial weight to teenagers’ opinions, the final decision always rests with the judge, who must ensure that the teenager’s choice aligns with their actual safety and well-being.
Can a parent relocate with the child out of state?
Not without following the proper legal process. A parent seeking to substantially change the child’s geographical ties to the other parent must give written notice, generally at least 60 days in advance, including the new address, the reason for the move, and a proposed revised schedule. If the parents can’t agree, a judge decides based on the child’s best interests.
Can a grandparent seek visitation or custody under Colorado law?
Not automatically, since Colorado law gives strong deference to parents’ decisions. Grandparents can petition for visitation in specific situations, such as after a parents’ divorce, an existing custody case, or the death of the grandparent’s own child. A judge will only grant it if it serves the child’s best interests.