Modifications

Yes, if the change in child support would be greater than 10%. C.R.S. § 14-10-xxx allows for a retroactive change in child support back to the date of the “agreed upon” change in parenting time, which can be interpreted as the date when the other parent unilaterally stopped exercising parenting time.

If you have less than 50% of parenting time and are seeking to modify so that you have more than 50% of parenting time, you can only file once every 2 years. Otherwise, if you are seeking to change the pattern of parenting time but not change the percentage of time each parent has, you can file as often as you wish, but each filing incurs a filing fee.

Generally at least three months. The other person has 21 days to respond after you file (or 35 days if the other person is out of state) and the court will require you to mediate or go through the Family Court Facilitator or both. (Every county is different.) And most court dockets book 2-3 months out.

A modification of child support is retroactive to the date of filing. Upon filing for a modification of child support, both parties are required to file updated C.R.C.P. 16.2 financial disclosures (sworn financial statement, pay stubs, tax returns, etc.).

The legal standard for changing from joint to sole decision-making is that continuing with joint decision-making will endanger the child or that the parents have proven to not be able to make decisions together. Courts favor joint decision-making, but when there is a restraining order against one parent, courts will often modify decision-making. For the situations where one parent refuses to respond to a question regarding a major decision for the child, courts often order that the parent requesting agreement message the other parent through a secure messaging system like talkingparents.org and if the other parent doesn’t respond within a certain amount of time (generally 48-72 hours), the other parent is presumed to have agreed.