Ending a marriage is already among the more difficult scenarios you may face in your adult life, and as stressful and painful as it is for you, it can be even harder on your children. Retaining the services of the qualified Englewood family law experts at Johnson Law Group can help ensure that your children have the resources they need to maintain their standard of living and that your familial bonds with your kids remain just as strong as ever, despite you and your former spouse moving forward to a new phase in your lives.

Like any other legal situation, you are perfectly within your rights to head into child custody hearings without an attorney at your side. Some people successfully process their divorces with good outcomes, usually after many weeks of research and document preparation. Many others, however, overestimate their legal abilities or underestimate the complexity of a child custody case and find themselves in over their head. In most divorces, choosing self-representation over working with qualified child custody attorneys can end up being a significant mistake that is difficult and expensive to correct.

If you (or your spouse) are about to file for divorce (or if you've already filed but child support, child custody, and other legal issues are proving more complex than you originally predicted), you may currently be in the process of deciding whether you need to get a lawyer. Before you make a final decision or go to court alone, consider the following:

• Your ex’s strategy – Even if your separation is fairly amicable and the division of property looks straightforward in your case, you need legal help. When your former partner is hiring a lawyer to help them with a divorce or separation, it’s likely in your best interests to do the same. You do not want to enter divorce court on uneven footing. Every citizen has equal rights when they step into a courtroom—with or without a lawyer—but the simple truth remains that an experienced lawyer will do a better job of negotiating for custody and navigating complex court processes than an untrained person representing themselves.
• Your children – The very notion that you must go to a courtroom and fight for the right to parent your own children can feel offensive. Some people misinterpret this feeling and fool themselves into thinking their child custody issue will be an open-and-shut case. In reality, your ex-spouse may be thinking the same. It's healthy to allow older children to express their feelings about the divorce and their hopes for the future.
• Criminal background – No matter how far it is in the past, if you have a criminal record, your ex-spouse may try to use it against you in court, particularly when working out child custody issues. A good divorce lawyer can help keep these irrelevant mistakes of your past from affecting the outcome of your divorce case.
• One or both parents will be moving – It can become especially important to retain a lawyer if your separation or divorce involves either you or your ex moving a significant distance. A custodial parent cannot simply take their children and move out of state without going through the proper legal process and giving the co-parent an opportunity to respond. You can also hire a lawyer to help you re-open a child custody case if your ex-spouse has custody of the children and intends to move a significant distance away. This request can even be made years after your divorce has been finalized.
• Abuse issues – Abusive situations can have major implications when awarding child custody at the end of divorce proceedings, so it is essential that victims of abuse tell their stories completely and effectively in divorce court, which can be difficult to do without legal training.
• A current child custody order is insufficient – Changes to a child custody order are common and can be made years after a divorce is finalized. Your rights as a parent do not end just because your ex-spouse is awarded custody at the end of divorce proceedings.

Q: How Do You Win a Court Case for Child Custody?

A: A child custody case is not about one or the other parent “winning." The purpose of using the court system to determine which parent will have primary custody of a child is so that the child is safe, well cared for, and adequately supported.

Q: How Much Is a Custody Lawyer in Colorado?

A: As with any sort of legal services, the cost of hiring a child custody lawyer, divorce lawyer, or family law specialist in Colorado can vary greatly based on a number of factors. These factors include what city you’re in, the quality of your legal representation, the amount of courtroom time required to finalize your divorce, the complexity of assets to be divided, the number of minor children involved, and more.

Q: How Much Does It Cost To File for Custody in CO?

A: The fee to bring a child custody case to court in Colorado will depend on the circumstances of the case. The filing fee for a “petition for allocation of parental responsibilities” is currently $222. If you are seeking to re-open and modify an existing child custody order, the filing fee is only $105, however. Atypical situations may have other fees involved. These are separate from attorney fees, child support payments, or any other legal costs that may be incurred by the case going forward.

Q: Which Court Deals With Englewood Child Custody?

A: Child custody in Colorado is handled by The Domestic Relations Division of the Family Court, a special apparatus of the Colorado Judicial Branch. When filing a petition to have custody awarded or modified, you can simply begin at your local courthouse. For Englewood residents, you can visit the Englewood Municipal Court located at 1000 Englewood Parkway.

The family law team at Johnson Law Group has years of success handling the most sensitive child custody matters, and we’re ready to put that experience to work for you and your children. Working from our main offices in Denver, we are grateful to be able to offer our high-end services to families and parents throughout the Englewood area, as well as Adams, Arapahoe, and Denver counties. Contact us today for a compassionate, no-obligation review of your case.

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