Colorado Springs Child Visitation Lawyer

Experienced Family Law Attorneys Fight for Clients’ Rights in Child Custody Visitation Matters in El Paso County, Teller County, Pueblo County, and Throughout Colorado

Even when you and your former spouse or partner separate, you still want to remain a major part of your children’s lives, even if you don’t have physical custody. In Colorado, even if only one parent is awarded primary custody of the children, courts will still award the other parent visitation rights. When you are seeking to spend time with your children and to be a part of their development, a Colorado Springs child visitation lawyer at Brighter Day℠ Law can help you secure your parenting time schedule. 

Contact our firm today to schedule a case evaluation to talk to one of our knowledgeable attorneys about your legal rights and options. 

Parental Responsibility in Colorado: Custody

Colorado law splits child custody into two categories: legal custody and physical custody.

• Legal Custody: is determined by the parent’s ability and responsibility to make major decisions for the child’s welfare with respect to their health, education, and safety. The court can grant legal custody to either one of the parents or to both as it deems fit. 
• Physical Custody: is determined by the time that the child physically spends with one or the other parent. This could be time spent in one primary physical home (where the parent is considered to have primary parental responsibility) with specified periods of time spent at the other parent’s home (where the parent is considered to have visitation rights). Or the parents could have relatively equal parenting time between their homes (where both parents are considered to have joint parental responsibility).

​​Parental responsibilities are the sum of all the duties and responsibilities parents have to their children, including decision-making ability and parenting time. 

Parenting Time in Colorado: Visitation

In any case about parental responsibility (custody) or parenting time (visitation), the court looks to the same overall legal rules in reaching its conclusions. These rules apply whether the setting is a divorce, custody case, or paternity case.

The Right to Visitation and Parenting Time

If one parent has primary parental responsibility and physical custody, that parent makes all the major decisions relating to the child. However, the sole decision-making parent does not have the right to decide the amount of parenting time the other parent shall have, or to deny the other parent parenting or visitation time. 

In any case where there is a parental responsibility or custody order, the parents of a child are entitled to a reasonable amount of parenting time. It is unusual for a parent to be given no visitation rights at all unless the court terminates that parent’s rights or the parent has been convicted of a serious crime. 

Establishing Parenting Time and a Visitation Schedule

In order to receive a parenting time order for visitation with your child you must have:

• Been married and commenced divorce or legal separation proceedings,
• Established paternity (meaning the father signed the birth certificate as the legal father of the child or had paternity established by the court or child support agency),
• Obtained a custody order, or
• Qualify as a grandparent.

The parenting time order may only refer to one parent having reasonable parenting time or visitation. If this is the case, the next step is to discuss the problems with a qualified Colorado Springs child visitation lawyer at Brighter Day℠ Law so we can prepare a more detailed arrangement and visitation schedule to propose to the courts.

Modifying Parenting Time and Visitation Schedules

As children grow up, they and their parents’ needs change, therefore, you and the other parent may agree to change the parenting time and visitation arrangement. If you agree to do so, it is important to have a qualified attorney iron out the details on the new arrangement and ask the court to modify the existing order. The court may make or modify an order granting or denying parenting time and visitation whenever such order or modification would serve the best interests of the children. 

How An Experienced Colorado Springs Child Visitation Lawyer Can Help You Enforce Visitation Rights and Parenting Time

If your parenting time order is clear but you are consistently denied visitation, then a skilled Colorado Springs child visitation lawyer at Brighter Day℠ Law can file a motion to enforce your parental rights.

At a hearing to enforce parenting time, the court can do any of the following:

• Add new rules and conditions which are consistent with the court’s previous order;
• Reconsider the best interests of the child and if this produces a change in parenting time, change the order;
• Require the person not complying with the parenting time to pay money to be held by the court in the event a further breach of the order occurs. The money (or part of it) would be released to the parent denied time;
• Require that makeup visitation time be provided for the wronged parent or children 
• Find the parent who did not comply with the parenting time and visitation schedule in contempt of court and impose a fine or jail sentence; or
• Make any other order that may promote the best interests of the children involved.

The court can also order the non-complying parent to pay actual expenses, including attorney fees, court costs, and expenses incurred by the wronged parent because of the non-complying parent’s failure to provide or exercise court-ordered parenting time. 

A skilled child custody lawyer at Brighter Day℠ Law can help you negotiate with your former spouse or partner for the visitation and parenting time you and your child deserve. We can also help you prepare a petition with the court to modify the existing custody order to secure additional visitation rights and parenting time. 

Objections to Parenting Time and Visitation 

If you are contesting the issue of visitation in a child custody dispute between you and your child’s other parent, you need experienced legal representation to help you fight for your child’s best interests. A compassionate Colorado Springs child visitation lawyer at Brighter Day℠ Law can help you file a notice with the court objecting to the other parent having parenting time and visitation rights, especially in cases where there has been domestic violence that endangers your children or involves murder, enticement, sexual assault, or incest.

In deciding a case where there is a serious criminal allegation, the court will consider the criminal record of the parent as well as any actions that the parent has taken to harass you and your children. The court will also consider any mitigating actions by the parent accused of improper behavior. This would include seeking therapy, anger management classes, and parent education. 

Schedule a case evaluation with a Colorado Springs child visitation lawyer at Brighter Day℠ Law today to discuss your legal rights and options and to learn more about how we can help you arrive at a visitation schedule that protects your parental rights and your children’s safety.

A Qualified Colorado Springs Child Visitation Lawyer Can Litigate Your Issues With Parenting Time and Visitation

An experienced Colorado Springs child visitation lawyer at Brighter Day℠ Law can assist you when you experience problems with parenting time and need a court proceeding to resolve the matter. This can be done through:

• An existing case (i.e., divorce, parental responsibility, paternity, or child support within which proceedings the court can make parenting time orders);
• An existing parenting time or visitation order within one of these proceedings.

If you do not have an existing case we can help you begin an action within which a parenting time order can be made, such as paternity, parental responsibility, or divorce action. 

If you already have a parenting time or visitation order, a dedicated Colorado Springs child visitation lawyer at Brighter Day℠ Law can file a motion to modify that order within the existing proceedings on your behalf.

Grandparent Visitation

Grandparents have their own rights to visitation in some cases. If you are a grandparent seeking your own visitation, an experienced Colorado Springs child visitation lawyer at Brighter Day℠ Law can file a motion on your behalf much as we would for a parent petitioning for parenting time. A trusted family law attorney from our firm will set out why a separate order is in the child’s best interests and craft a detailed proposal as to how your grandparent visitation arrangement would work. 

Contact an Experienced Colorado Springs Child Visitation Lawyer Today

It’s all about the children. Trying to spend as much time with them as possible and helping them reach their potential. At Brighter Day℠ Law we get it. Let us help you protect your parental rights. We will handle your visitation case with the seriousness and compassion it deserves. We understand what’s at stake for you and your family, so we will do everything we can to protect your right to see your child. Contact us today to schedule a case evaluation.

Frequently Asked Questions about Child Custody and Visitation in Colorado