When a relationship ends, decisions about your children usually matter more to you than anything else in the case. Colorado decides those questions under one standard: the best interests of the child, with the child’s safety given paramount consideration.
Colorado does not start from a presumption that parents will share decisions equally, and it does not reserve individual decision-making for extreme cases. The court allocates parenting time and decision-making responsibility on the facts, and it can assign decisions to both parents, split them by category, or give them to one parent.
There are many elements that play into this standard, but the court usually attempts to award joint physical and legal custody to both parents, to allow a continued connection in both parent-child relationships. Only in extreme cases will one parent be given sole physical or legal custody of the child, but after reviewing the circumstances of the child and each parent’s capacity to parent, a custody decision will be based on what will ultimately be in the best interest of the child. If you are concerned about how the best interest of the child standard may impact your parental custody rights, consider visiting with the experienced family law attorneys at Johnson Law Group at (720) 815-9175, or through Text-to-Chat at (720) 815-9175 today.
Best Interest of the Child
Focusing on the child’s best interest means that decisions made regarding custody and visitation have the ultimate goal of the child’s happiness, security, and emotional and mental development into young adulthood. Other factors involved in determining a child’s best interest include his or her care, protection, safety, as well as the child’s specific academic, emotional, or physical needs.
Usually, it is in the child’s best interest to safeguard a close and loving relationship with both parents, but this is often difficult to achieve when it comes to parenting time and decision-making in Colorado. In any custody dispute, it is critical to make your focus always in the best interest of the child. The choices made now, by you or by the court, will affect your child’s life in many ways. Whatever is decided will affect their development as well as their long-term relationship with you.
What the Court Actually Weighs
Colorado law does not presume that either parent, mother or father, is better able to serve the child’s best interests because of their sex. Both start on the same footing, and the outcome turns on the facts of your case rather than on which parent is asking.
The statute lists factors for parenting time and directs the court to weigh all relevant ones, so the list below is where it starts rather than where it stops.
- What each parent wants the schedule to look like
- What the child wants, if the child is mature enough to express reasoned and independent preferences
- The child’s relationships with each parent, with siblings, and with anyone else who significantly affects the child’s wellbeing
- The child’s adjustment to home, school, and community
- The mental and physical health of everyone involved, though a disability alone is not a reason to deny or restrict a parent’s time
- Each parent’s ability to encourage the child’s love, affection, and contact with the other parent. Steps taken to protect a child from abuse are not held against a parent here
- Whether each parent’s past involvement with the child reflects a system of values, real time commitment, and mutual support
- How close the parents live to each other
- Each parent’s ability to put the child’s needs ahead of their own
Decision-making carries its own short list. The court looks at whether the two of you can actually cooperate and decide together, whether your past involvement shows a shared set of values and a real time commitment, and whether sharing decisions would lead to more contact between the child and both parents.
No single factor decides the case. The judge builds a picture from all of them, which is why what you can document matters more than what you can argue.
Safety
Where domestic violence or child abuse is claimed, the court decides by a preponderance of the evidence whether it happened. Colorado’s definition covers coercive control and economic abuse, not only physical harm, and applies whether or not the conduct was a crime.
Where the court finds domestic violence, child abuse or neglect, or a sexual assault that resulted in the child’s conception, mutual decision-making is off the table over the other parent’s objection. The exception is where the court specifically finds that mutual decisions can happen without coercion, intimidation, retaliation, or risk of harm. The court must also set conditions that keep the child and the abused parent safe.
A court can restrict parenting time, generally only on a finding that the time would endanger the child’s physical health or significantly impair the child’s emotional development. Any order restricting parenting time has to spell out the specific findings behind it.
If you have any questions regarding how these factors may impact your parental rights, contact the experienced family lawyers at Johnson Law Group to learn more.
You and Your Child’s Best Interest
A parent involved in a custody situation has the ongoing opportunity to show to the court that his or her child’s best interests are a top priority. Demonstrating that you are actively involved in the child’s life and that you provide attentive, loving care is crucial. Staying involved in your child’s activities and education are important, as well as showing that you have the ability to nurture your child through the parenting decisions you make. The court does look at whether each parent supports the child’s relationship with the other, so communication that stays workable usually helps. Where there has been abuse, the court does not expect you to rebuild that relationship, and your safety comes first.
Contact an Experienced Divorce Attorney To Learn More About Your Legal Rights
A custody conflict is frustrating and often frightening, and the decisions made now shape years that follow. Knowing what the court weighs is the first step toward building a record that reflects how you actually parent.
Schedule a free, no-pressure consultation and get a clear read on where you stand.