In Colorado, people with children need to determine parental responsibilities when ending a relationship. The team of Denver parenting responsibilities mediation attorneys at Divorce Resolutions, LLC can walk you and your spouse or co-parent through important topics and help create a mutually beneficial arrangement that protects your children’s best interests.
When you have children, filing for divorce or separation can be a complicated process. Not only will you need to determine who gets what, but you will also need to decide who will have primary responsibility over the children, how much support to pay, and who will make important decisions on the children’s behalf.
Colorado doesn’t use the term child custody in its laws. Instead, it uses the term parental responsibility. The reason is that custody does not adequately describe the relationship between children and their parents. Instead of treating children like property, Colorado takes a more modern approach to defining these terms.
There are two categories of parental responsibilities: parenting time and decision-making. While parenting time refers to the physical time that each child spends with a parent, decision-making refers to a parent’s right to make important choices for the children.
Parental responsibilities can be divided in a number of ways. For example, one parent may have primary decision-making authority but have joint parenting time with a former spouse or co-parent. Parents could also share decision-making obligation, but the children may live with one parent primarily.
As a parent, you want to ensure that they live a healthy, happy life following the end of the relationship with your spouse or co-parent. Unfortunately, many children find themselves in the middle of lengthy parental responsibility disputes and intense litigation.
The divorce or separation process can be challenging for children. That’s why it’s so important to create an amicable agreement that works in the best interests of your whole family. When you take a parental responsibility case to court, you are essentially leaving the final decision up to the courts—not the individuals who know your family best.
For many couples, mediation is a positive alternative to going to court. During this process, you and your spouse or co-parent will meet with a neutral mediator who can help you make important decisions on parenting time, child support, and more.
At the conclusion of the mediation process, you and your spouse will have a Memorandum of Understanding that clearly outlines these important duties. If you ever want to change the terms of your agreement, you can return to mediation and communicate directly with the other parent about what would work best for your children.
If you and your spouse or co-parent are trying to divide parental responsibilities, mediation can help you resolve these issues quickly and amicably. Trust licensed Denver parenting responsibilities mediators to guide you through the process.
Contact us today to schedule your consultation by calling us at (303) 650-1750 or filling out our online form. We are available Monday to Friday, from 8am to 5pm.
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