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Get Your Questions Answered – Call Me To Schedule Your 30 Minute Phone Consultation (719) 985-8192
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In Colorado, child support can be modified when a parent’s financial situation changes significantly enough to warrant an adjustment in the amount of support paid. This is decided by running new calculations to determine the parent’s income and expenses; an increase or decrease of at least 10% would allow for a modification of the existing child support order by the courts.
There are two ways to request modification of child support; through Colorado Child Support Services (CSS), and through the court system.
If you apply for child support to be modified through CSS, you’ll be given a form detailing the information that CSS is seeking from you. This usually includes…
If you file an action to request modification through the court, however, this will involve filing a motion to modify child support with the help of your attorney, and a newly sworn financial statement.
If either you or the other party has already gone to Child Support Services for enforcement or for recalculation of child support, or if one of you is receiving state services, CSS will be considered part of the case, too.
They are a neutral party, so their primary role is to sit back and let you and the other party attempt to negotiate the child support on your own.
If you and your former spouse can not come to an agreement, CSS will appear in court as a representative of the state to help you and the other party reach a settlement.
Attorney Tammy Akers is a focused, caring family law attorney serving Colorado. For nearly 40 years, she’s helped clients just like you navigate modifications to child support payments and protect their children’s best interests.
Have questions about child support or your rights as a parent?
Reach out to the Law Firm of Tammy W. Akers at (719) 985-8192 for an initial consultation today!
The three most likely outcomes are that child support payments are increased, decreased, or remain the same.
Payments may also increase if insurance is needed for your child or if your child suddenly requires costlier special services. The cost of these factors can be tallied and added to the amount of child support given to the parent who pays for these services or for your child’s insurance.
Child Support Services in Colorado can take three to four months or more to get your case initiated. Once your case is reviewed, however, it tends to move rather quickly.
After review, you and the other party will be required to attend mediation to hopefully reach a settlement without going to court. If you and the other party can reach a quick and amicable agreement through mediation, modification can be filed, approved, and resolved within a couple of months of the initial CSS review.
If you and the other party can’t agree, however, Child Support Enforcements will set a date for a hearing with the courts, and that date of that hearing can be an additional three to four months out, due to the large number of cases handled.
Mediation can be an excellent tool to use. Your attorney will work with you and the other party prior to mediation as well, but the mediation process involves a further, experienced neutral party.
This mediator can take offers back and forth, help both parties consider the others’ needs, and suggest ways to adjust payments that are hopefully agreeable to both sides.
In 75 to 80% of cases, mediation is successful, allowing both parties to avoid a lengthier court process, and move forward will less stress.
The first thing I tell my clients is that the heart of every child support dispute needs to be in the interests of the child. Your child has a right to love both parents equally, and it’s important that divorce disputes don’t negatively impact your child’s relationship with either parent.
This means not discussing the case with your child and not using your child’s emotions as a tool in bargaining. Some parents will say damaging things like, “If your father would pay more child support, we’d be able to go on vacation,” putting the child in the middle of the conflict.
This kind of behavior manipulates the child, potentially damages their relationship with their father, and puts pressure on the case that shouldn’t be there.
A skilled family law attorney can help keep your children’s interests at heart while keeping negotiation simpler and more understandable for the parents involved.
For more information on Navigating Child Support Modifications In Colorado, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (719) 985-8192 today.
Attorney Tammy Akers is a focused, caring family law attorney serving Colorado. For nearly 40 years, she’s helped clients just like you navigate modifications to child support payments and protect their children’s best interests.
Have questions about child support or your rights as a parent?
Reach out to the Law Firm of Tammy W. Akers at (719) 985-8192 for an initial consultation today!
