Divorcing parents have numerous decisions and agreements to make about life after the divorce, many of which require no ongoing interaction between the two ex-spouses. However, when it comes to visitation schedules for the children after the divorce, you and your ex-spouse must be able to communicate successfully and work together to match the best interests of the children. Our visitation lawyer in Greeley, CO, can help you meet your goals for parenting time with the kids, while managing the potentially tricky relationship with your ex-spouse.
Coming to a consensus on visitation can be a very difficult process for two people who struggled to agree during marriage. One of the best ways to ensure a smooth visitation process is through setting up a well-thought-out plan at the beginning. Our Greeley, CO, child visitation lawyer knows the guidelines and rules regarding visitation in Colorado. We will manage the challenging process of creating a workable visitation situation for you and your kids that you hopefully can live with for years to come.
One question we frequently hear from our clients’ centers on the term “parenting time.” Colorado uses the term “parenting time” to describe any time that the children spend with each parent, according to the Colorado Department of Labor & Employment. Other states use the term “visitation” for this action. The two terms mean the same thing. Trust that our Greeley, CO, child visitation attorney will explain the entire process to you in terms that you are comfortable with and can easily understand.
It is extremely important to make the best possible decisions regarding parenting time during negotiations. Do not agree to a parenting time schedule you are unsure about, expecting to change it in a few months. Courts frown on repeatedly changing these schedules. They trust that you and your ex-spouse will develop a workable schedule during your negotiations. Barring unusual circumstances, courts do not understand a need to change the schedule so soon after you agreed to it.
Our Greeley visitation rights lawyer understands how the courts work in these types of cases. As a child custody lawyer, the team at The Cossitt Law Firm has extensive experience working through cases like this. We strive to keep negotiations moving forward toward a satisfactory conclusion. Although we know you want a speedy result in determining visitation, we also know you will not want to agree to a deal that leaves you or your children unhappy with the agreed-upon schedule. We will fight to balance a speedy resolution with an attempt to meet your wishes for the parenting time schedule.
Going through a divorce can be a disorienting process. You are about to embark on a new life, one where you may be living apart from your kids for the first time and in a new home or apartment. You may be unsure whether your friends will side with you or your ex-spouse. You may begin to miss some of the milestones your children achieve as they grow, especially when you have limited visitation rights. It can feel like your entire world is turning upside down.
The team at The Cossitt Law Firm will stand with you throughout the process of setting up parenting time. We know just how challenging these negotiations can be, especially if you and your spouse had frequent disagreements about caring for the children during the marriage. These arguments and hard feelings can carry over to the negotiations about parenting time. Our Greeley, CO, child visitation lawyer can work to keep the situation professional between you and your ex-spouse. We will keep the negotiations on track.
Colorado laws do not require people going through a divorce to hire a lawyer to represent them in negotiations or in court hearings. However, failing to hire representation can leave you at a disadvantage during negotiations, which may result in an unfavorable outcome regarding parenting time schedules.
If your ex-spouse hires representation for the divorce and child visitation negotiations, do not assume that your ex-spouse’s attorney will also be representing you. In fact, you should assume the opposite. Your ex-spouse’s lawyer will make sure the proceedings follow state law, but this lawyer will not be looking out for your best interests. When you don’t have experience regarding how the law applies in divorces and in parenting time decisions, your ex-spouse’s lawyer may be able to take advantage of your lack of experience and knowledge.
Count on The Cossitt Law Firm to help you level the playing field during negotiations. We will be representing your best interests, rather than the interests of your ex-spouse. Your ex-spouse needs to hire a lawyer on his or her own. You hired us, so we will represent you, not your ex-spouse. We also will have your children’s interests in mind because we know how important this is to you. When negotiating for your visitation time with the kids, we will always attempt to work toward your goals.
When you hire us to represent you during negotiations over parenting time, you can be confident that we will keep you informed to the best of our ability, from start to finish. Our goal is that none of our clients are ever wondering about the status of a case. As part of that service, our Greeley, CO, child visitation lawyer is always available to answer the questions of our clients. Here are some of the most frequent questions we hear. Hopefully, our FAQ can help you gain a feel for how we handle these types of cases.
The state of Colorado does not allow either parent to deny a scheduled visitation time to the other parent. Certainly, your ex-spouse could make a mistake about remembering your scheduled parenting time. However, if this is occurring with any regularity, our child visitation lawyer in Greeley, CO, is ready to help you. We can ask the court to enforce the schedule when the custodial parent denies visitation to you.
Actually, Colorado courts always strive to meet the best interests of the child in all aspects of parenting time and child custody decisions, according to Colorado statute § 14-10-124. This often means the two parents will receive an almost equal amount of time with the children through visitation. However, our Greeley, CO, child visitation attorney may be able to argue that reasonable rights of visitation in your particular case would involve having you receive extra time with the children. Perhaps your ex-spouse’s busy work schedule complicates allowing for equal visitation time, for example.
Our child visitation lawyer in Greeley, CO, has a number of benefits we can perform on your behalf. We will investigate your case thoroughly, so we can tell your side of the story. Through negotiations with your ex-spouse’s representatives, we then be able to represent your interests accurately. Should your spouse try to claim that you do not deserve visitation because of fears of domestic abuse on your part, as described in Colorado statute § 13-14-101, we can show that the facts in the case do not justify this type of decision. As a visitation lawyer we do a lot of work on your behalf, including standing up for your rights against false accusations from your ex-spouse.
Gaining the child visitation rights you want requires negotiation with your ex-spouse. The courts in Colorado will attempt to make sure both spouses receive parenting time that is as equal as possible. However, your ex-spouse may try to argue that you do not deserve equal parenting time because of past behavior. We can help you create an argument that shows your ex-spouse is exaggerating or outright lying. Our Greeley visitation rights lawyer will work hard to protect your rights regarding the time you will spend with your kids.
Although our child visitation lawyer in Greeley, CO, cannot promise that we will achieve a specific outcome in your parenting time negotiations, you can trust that we will fight as hard as we can to give you a result that works for you and the children. We take special care to get to know you and your hopes for your case, so that we can represent you accurately in the negotiations over parenting time.
Putting your interests first is a vital part of the service that our Greeley, CO, child visitation lawyer provides. The best way for us to put your interests first is to take the time to talk to you about your divorce, about your relationship with the kids, and about your goals for your life after the divorce. By listening to you and to your story, our Greeley divorce lawyer has the best chance at reaching the result you are seeking.
In matters of child support, Colorado law provides special guidance when the combined gross incomes of the parents exceeds the maximum income outlined in the child support guidelines. The standard guidelines provide an upper threshold of $30,000 in monthly income for purposes of calculating child support.
If your situation has changed since your original order establishing maintenance or child support and you need a child support orders modification, the attorneys at The Cossitt Law Firm can help you through the process toward the goal of a more equitable arrangement.
