Get Legal Help for Child Support Issues

Our experienced child support attorneys work for parents to navigate Colorado's child support laws

Talk to a lawyer and learn about your options in a divorce

Chris Sutton, partner and award winning family law attorney

Child support cases

File

Mediation

Hearing

Court Order

File

Your initial petition or motion details what you believe child support should be, or why it should be modified.

Common Child Support Issues

modifications

Modifying child support

You can modify your payments using several different methods, but the most common is to change your payments due to changed circumstances. You still must prove a substantial and continuing change of circumstances, but the change in finances must result in a 10 percent or more difference per month.

legal standards

Determining gross income

“Income” is defined as actual gross income of the parent, if employed to full capacity or potential income if unemployed or underemployed. Gross income includes income from any such as income from salaries; wages, commissions; payments received as an independent contractor, business income, rents, royalties, retirement benefits and more.

collections

Contempt

Failure to pay child support can result a contempt order. If the court finds a party in contempt for failure to pay child support, resulting in a possible arrest and jail time.

child support

child support payments

In Colorado, children have a legal right to financial support from both parents, and that right belongs exclusively to the child. This obligation exists even if the child’s parents were never married. Understanding the interplay between alimony and child support is critical when considering child support payments.

collections

Back Child Support Obligations Collections

Failing to pay child support can result in serious consequences including garnishments, liens, driver's license and professional license suspensions, as well as bank account seizures. Interest accrues monthly, and child support debtors can face jail time and court penalties

legal standards

Child Support Calculations

The Colorado Child Support Guidelines are designed to make sure that a fair share of each parent’s income and resources are given to their child. Some of the factors include: Gross income of both parents; The child’s income; Number of overnights the child spends with each parent; Expenses, including health insurance and daycare; Other child support orders; and financial support given to children or prior spouse the parent may have with another person.

Our attorneys get results in child support cases

Past results afford no guarantee of future results; each matter is different and must be judged on its own merits.

No spousal support or child support

Our experienced divorce attorneys successfully negotiated a significantly beneficial separation agreement and parenting plan, taking into account the fact that our client was a victim of domestic violence. The agreement ensures our client does not have to pay spousal maintenance or child support.

no retroactive child support

Our attorneys successfully defended a court order for retroactive child support after the mother filed a motion for increased child support payments

Court dismissed request for retroactive child support

Our client retained us after his former spouse filed a post-decree modification request seeking retroactive child and spousal support. This would have amounted to over $100,000. Our family law attorneys were able to demonstrate that the former spouse’s request was made under C.R.C.P. Rule 16.2(e)(10), which covers the statute of limitations for division of property — not child and spousal support. Consequently, the court dismissed the former spouse’s request.

Child support dispute resolved out-of-court

Child support is a common post-decree matter. In this case, our Family Law Team helped a client reach an agreement outside of court regarding their child support. Coming to an agreement without going to court saved our client on attorneys fees and resulted in a more suitable child support payment.

Successful defense of child tax credit

We successfully defended our client against allegations that he was ineligible to claim a child tax credit. The father, who was out of work, was behind on his portion for child care. We were able to negotiate a fair settlement for payment of extraordinary child care expenses that allow him to make payments over time after gaining new employment.

$20,000 in unpaid child support recovered

This client came to Robinson & Henry with an ex who was substantially behind on their child support. We successfully obtained an income withholding order so our client could begin to recover more than $20,000 in unpaid child support.

Income assignment acheived

In this case, the father of our client’s child had a significant history of both criminal activity and drug use. Our Family Law Team was able to get an income assignment for child support from the opposing party despite his efforts to avoid providing the required information.