Denver's Best Family Lawyers & Attorneys

Navigating Family Law Issues

If you’re dealing with divorce, child custody disputes, or other family law issues, our team at Colorado Legal Group is here to help. With over 100 years of combined experience, our skilled family law attorneys have provided strong support in both court battles and mediation. Unlike some lawyers who rush through cases, our divorce attorneys in Colorado are dedicated to giving each client caring, thorough, and individualized legal assistance.

We believe in tailoring our services to each client’s needs, which is why we meet with everyone personally to understand their situation. This personal touch helps us gather important details that can make a big difference in court or mediation. Our founding and managing attorney, David Crum, is straightforward and focuses on ensuring every client gets top-notch representation. When you have 30+ years of experience like David, you provide clients with the best attorneys around and lead them with expert guidance in client cases.

Our commitment to excellent service has earned us many awards. Attorney David Crum has handled thousands of cases throughout his career and helps the attorney team thrive in the courtroom. We know that legal issues can deeply affect your life and your family, which is why we’re dedicated to providing skilled and confident legal help.

What Does Family Law Include?

An experienced Denver family law attorney is a valuable asset for families going through the types of difficulties, problems, and challenges that most families have to deal with at some point. Working with our family lawyers guarantees a better understanding of Colorado state laws, improving family relationships post-divorce and securing your half to marital property.

As well as divorce, families may have to confront and deal with issues like:

Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements are also becoming an increasingly popular demand amongst couples planning to get married or already in a marriage.

These types of family law challenges can be legally complex. To navigate the steps required and achieve an outcome that you and your family members are happy with requires a skilled and experienced family lawyer fighting for your best interests.

Child Custody

The state of Colorado adopted the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) in 1973.

However, the custody of children after a marriage break-up is correctly termed “parental responsibility” in Colorado. “Joint” or “sole” custody of children doesn’t actually exist in Denver. Instead, parental responsibility can be considered joint or sole.

Parental responsibility needs to be resolved in two main areas:

Decision-making responsibility: which of the parents has the right to make major decisions in their children’s lives, such as education, healthcare, etc.
Parenting time: where the children physically reside during the week/weekend, during summers and other major holidays and what are the visitation rights of the parent who is not the primary caregiver for the children?

These are two distinct areas that generally require the help of a lawyer to determine.

The court will ultimately decide on child custody based on the best interests of the children. That’s also where we start as family lawyers. We will look to see whether the ideal situation (joint decision-making responsibility) is possible and, if so, how it can be best arranged in the child custody agreement. If there are contentious issues in the agreement, we are prepared to defend your family’s best interests aggressively in court.

If you need to modify an existing child custody agreement to suit the changing needs of your family, we can also help with that.

How Child Custody Works

In Colorado, custody of the children consists of two parts: decision-making ability and parenting time. Decision-making refers to which parent has the right to make major decisions in the lives of their children. Colorado courts like to see the parents share joint decision-making for their children, although this is not appropriate in all cases. Joint decision-making would mean that parents have to agree on major decisions as related to the children’s education, healthcare, and other major aspects of their lives. Joint decision-making arrangements require a collaborative effort between the parents. Decision-making is determined on a case by case basis, and in some situations, the court may award one parent sole decision-making for the children.

Child Support

Families in Denver who go through relationship break-ups must decide who financially supports the children in this event.

There are two basic ways of doing this:

Reaching an agreement between yourselves
Passing it to the court to decide

In both cases, a legally-binding agreement will need to be drawn up with the assistance of an experienced family lawyer.

All child support agreements must be based on several factors:

Both parents’ incomes
Certain expenses that are paid for the benefit of the children, such as medical and insurance expenses
The number of overnights that each parent enjoys with the children

Child support will help meet the reasonable needs of the children. A court-approved child support calculator can be used to estimate child support amounts. This can help you reach an agreement on the amount of child support that should be paid. Court judges will always decide on an amount that is in the best interests of the children rather than the parent(s) in question.

How Child Support Works

Colorado parents have the option of reaching a child support agreement on their own or to have it decided by the court. Child support obligations are based on both parents’ incomes, certain expenses that are paid for the benefit of the children, and the number of overnights that each parent enjoys. Child support is designed to assist the receiving party in covering the children’s reasonable needs.

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Contact a Denver Family Lawyer Today

As a team of experienced, Denver-based family lawyers, Colorado Legal Group can help with all the challenging areas of family law.

With emotions often running high in families, we can help you make considered and measured decisions that always look after your best interests, no matter how confusing, upsetting, or frustrating it gets.

Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements

Prenuptial agreements are often sought by people entering a second marriage.

However, they are also becoming increasingly popular as people get married later in life, having already accumulated considerable assets.

They are a way of deciding what happens to these assets in the event of a separation or divorce, even before you get married.

Postnuptial agreements are almost the same, except that they are drawn up after a couple is already married.

It’s important to note that the couple may still be happily married, with no plans to separate. So, postnuptial agreements are not to be confused with separation agreements.

Both prenuptial and postnuptial agreements usually provide for the following elements; Division of property and other assets, Spousal support, Allocation of debt, Retirement benefits and life insurance proceeds, The needs of any children from previous marriages.

Because these agreements are legal contracts with important consequences should the couple separate, it is important to make them legally enforceable under Colorado law.

That is best achieved with the assistance of a qualified family lawyer who fully understands Colorado family law.

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Where the paternity of a child needs to be proven, the assistance of a lawyer experienced in paternity cases in Colorado is essential.

After all, the paternity of a child will affect many aspects of his or her future life.

In many cases, a simple admission of paternity will suffice. There is a presumption that the couple are the biological or legal parents if they were married during the child’s birth.

However, sometimes a paternity case will be initiated by the mother or father of a child. These can take between three and nine months to settle.

Even if there is no dispute, legal issues like child support and child custody will require a paternity case to be opened.

The parents are responsible for the welfare of their children, so the outcome of a paternity case is critical and will influence who must meet both financial obligations and visitation rights in the event of separation or divorce.

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Domestic Violence and Restraining Orders

Domestic violence is one of the most difficult subjects for families to have to contend with.

It can include:
Acts of physical violence – with or without a dangerous instrument
Credible threats of violence – written, verbal, or implied by action
Acts of unwanted sexual contact or penetration

The early intervention of an experienced lawyer can help mitigate the suffering that the victim experiences.

Being wrongly accused of domestic violence is also a very stressful time for the accused party.

We have represented clients on both sides of domestic violence cases and understand the fears and emotions involved.

When representing the victim of a domestic violence case, the first step is usually to get a domestic violence protection order (or restraining order) in place.

This is achieved by filing a petition with the court establishing that an act of domestic violence has been perpetrated against you.

The initial protection order is temporary and it will then be determined whether the order should be made permanent within 14 days.

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