Custody in Colorado.

Decisions against where the child lives

C.R.S. § 14-10-124(1.5) directs the court to "determine the allocation of parental responsibilities, including parenting time and decision-making responsibilities, in accordance with the best interests of the child, giving paramount consideration to the child's safety and the physical, mental, and emotional conditions and needs of the child." Subsection (1.5)(a) governs parenting time; subsection (1.5)(b) governs decision-making and says the court "may allocate the decision-making responsibility with respect to each issue affecting the child mutually between both parties or individually to one or the other party or any combination thereof." So Colorado can split decision-making issue by issue — for example, joint on education but sole on medical.

What the judge must weigh

(1.5) Allocation of parental responsibilities. The court shall determine the allocation of parental responsibilities, including parenting time and decision-making responsibilities, in accordance with the best interests of the child, giving paramount consideration to the child's safety and the physical, mental, and emotional conditions and needs of the child as follows:

(a) Determination of parenting time. The court, upon the motion of either party or upon its own motion, may make provisions for parenting time that the court finds are in the best interests of the child, with the child's safety always paramount, unless the court finds, after a hearing, that parenting time by the party would endanger the child's physical health or significantly impair the child's emotional development. In addition to a finding that parenting time would endanger the child's physical health or significantly impair the child's emotional development, in any order imposing or continuing a parenting time restriction, the court shall make findings imposing the restriction, including findings related to domestic violence, child abuse or neglect, sexual assault that resulted in the conception of a child, or child sexual abuse, and may enumerate the conditions that the restricted party could fulfill in order to seek modification in the parenting plan. In determining the best interests of the child for purposes of parenting time, the court shall consider all relevant factors, including:

1. (I) The wishes of the child's parents as to parenting time;
2. (II) The wishes of the child if he or she is sufficiently mature to express reasoned and independent preferences as to the parenting time schedule;
3. (III) The interaction and interrelationship of the child with his or her parents, his or her siblings, and any other person who may significantly affect the child's best interests;
4. (III.5) For any evidence submitted to the court by a party, a child and family investigator appointed pursuant to section 14-10-116.5, a parental responsibilities evaluator appointed pursuant to section 14-10-127, or a legal representative of the child appointed pursuant to section 14-10-116 that a party has committed domestic violence, child abuse or neglect, or sexual assault that resulted in the conception of a child, the court may consider any relevant and admissible evidence, including testimony from the parties, experts, therapists for any parent or child, the department of human services, parenting time supervisors, school personnel, or other lay witnesses. The court shall make findings on the record by a preponderance of the evidence whether a party has committed domestic violence, child abuse or neglect, or sexual assault that resulted in the conception of a child.
5. (IV) The child's adjustment to his or her home, school, and community;
6. (V) The mental and physical health of all individuals involved, except that a disability alone shall not be a basis to deny or restrict parenting time;
7. (VI) The ability of the parties to encourage the sharing of love, affection, and contact between the child and the other party; except that, if the court determines that a party is acting to protect the child from witnessing domestic violence or from being a victim of child abuse or neglect or domestic violence, the party's protective actions shall not be considered with respect to this factor;
8. (VII) Whether the past pattern of involvement of the parties with the child reflects a system of values, time commitment, and mutual support;
9. (VIII) The physical proximity of the parties to each other as this relates to the practical considerations of parenting time;
10. (IX) and (X) Repealed.
11. (XI) The ability of each party to place the needs of the child ahead of his or her own needs.

(a.5) In determining the best interests of the child for purposes of parenting time, the court shall strive not to consider as a relevant factor information or recommendations that are biased, including bias regarding religion, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, culture, race, ethnicity, national origin, or disability.

Recently changed. This section changed on 27 May 2026. House Bill 26-1309 repealed subsections (1.3) and (4), rewrote the opening of (1.5)(a), replaced factor (III.5) entirely, amended the opening of (1.5)(b) and added (1.5)(c) and (1.6). Factor (III.5) used to be about reports submitted by a child and family investigator; it now covers any evidence that a party committed domestic violence, child abuse or neglect, or a sexual assault that resulted in conception, and it requires the court to make findings on the record by a preponderance of the evidence. Anything you read about Colorado custody written before June 2026 is describing the old section.

What the child wants

No age is set. C.R.S. § 14-10-124(1.5)(a)(II) counts "the wishes of the child if he or she is sufficiently mature to express reasoned and independent preferences as to the parenting time schedule." Maturity, not a birthday, is the test, and the child's wish is one factor among many rather than a decision.

Where there has been violence or abuse

Colorado's rules are unusually detailed and were expanded to cover coercive control. C.R.S. § 14-10-124(1.3)(a) defines "coercive control" as a pattern of threatening, humiliating, or intimidating actions used to harm, punish, or frighten someone, and lists eleven examples including isolating a person from friends and family, controlling their finances or movements, monitoring them through technology, threatening deportation, threatening to harm a pet, and damaging property. Where a claim of child abuse, domestic violence, or sexual assault resulting in the child's conception is before the court, § 14-10-124(4)(a) requires the court to address those factors FIRST, before the ordinary best-interest factors. If the court finds child abuse or neglect by a preponderance, "it shall not be in the best interests of the child to allocate mutual decision-making with respect to any issue over the objection of the other party." If the court finds domestic violence by a preponderance, mutual decision-making "shall not be in the best interests of the child… over the objection of the other party, unless the court finds that there is credible evidence of the ability of the parties to make decisions cooperatively in the best interest of the child in a manner that is safe for the abused party and the child," and the court "shall not appoint a parenting coordinator solely to ensure that mutual decision-making can be accomplished." Sexual assault resulting in conception creates a rebuttable presumption against sole, split, or mutual decision-making with that party. Section 14-10-124(4)(c) protects a parent who left home because of violence: that absence "shall not be a factor in determining the best interests of the child." Section 14-10-124(9) requires the court to state on the record why unsupervised parenting time is in the child's best interests whenever there is any information or accusation of domestic violence, child abuse, child sexual abuse, or coercive control.

The parenting plan

A parenting plan is expected but not strictly mandatory from you. C.R.S. § 14-10-124(7): "both parties may submit a parenting plan or plans for the court's approval that shall address both parenting time and the allocation of decision-making responsibilities. If no parenting plan is submitted or if the court does not approve a submitted parenting plan, the court, on its own motion, shall formulate a parenting plan." The statute says that when parenting time is contested, "the parenting plan must be as specific as possible." It lists what a plan may include: the type of decision-making awarded; a practical schedule including holidays and school vacations; a procedure for exchanges including location and transportation; a procedure for the parents to communicate about the child; a procedure for a parent to communicate with the child outside that parent's parenting time; and any other orders in the child's best interests. Colorado publishes a standard parenting plan form (a JDF-numbered form) through the Judicial Branch self-help forms page, but we could not confirm the exact form number and current file link.

Mediation

Not mandatory by statute. C.R.S. § 14-10-124(8): "The court may order mediation, pursuant to section 13-22-311, C.R.S., to assist the parties in formulating or modifying a parenting plan or in implementing a parenting plan… and may allocate the cost of said mediation between the parties." Many Colorado judicial districts do require mediation before a contested hearing by local rule, so check your district. Separately, C.R.S. § 14-10-123.7(2) lets a court order a parent whose child is under 18 to attend a divorce-and-separation education program.

If the court appoints someone to look into it

Colorado has three distinct court-appointed roles. A parental responsibilities evaluator under C.R.S. § 14-10-127 may be appointed on either party's motion or the court's own motion to investigate and file a written report; "The court shall, at the time of the evaluator's appointment, order one or more of the parties to deposit a reasonable sum with the court to pay the cost of the evaluation," and may assess the charge among the parties. A child and family investigator may be appointed under C.R.S. § 14-10-116.5. A legal representative of the child may be appointed under C.R.S. § 14-10-116; that person represents the child's best interests, must ascertain and consider the child's wishes but is not required to adopt them, and cannot be called as a witness. Section 14-10-124(4)(f) also lets the court order a domestic violence evaluation and treatment, and "may order the party who has committed domestic violence to pay the costs."

Changing the order

Colorado has real waiting periods, and they surprise people. For parenting time: C.R.S. § 14-10-129(1.5) says that once a motion for a substantial modification of parenting time that also changes which parent the child lives with a majority of the time has been filed — whether or not it was granted — "no subsequent motion may be filed within two years after disposition of the prior motion" unless the court decides on affidavits that the child's present environment may endanger the child's physical health or significantly impair emotional development, or that the majority-time parent intends to relocate substantially. To actually change which parent the child lives with most of the time, § 14-10-129(2) requires facts arising since the prior decree or unknown to the court then, a change in circumstances, and that modification is necessary to serve the child's best interests — and the court must keep the existing schedule unless the parties agree, the child has been integrated into the moving party's family with the other party's consent, the majority-time parent is relocating substantially, or the child's present environment endangers physical health or significantly impairs emotional development and the harm of changing is outweighed by the advantage. For decision-making: C.R.S. § 14-10-131(1) imposes the same two-year bar after a prior motion, liftable only on affidavits showing endangerment or significant impairment.

If you were never married

Colorado treats parents the same once parentage is settled — there is no separate "custody" track for married parents. Under C.R.S. § 14-10-123(1)(a)(II), a parent starts a case "by filing a petition seeking the allocation of parental responsibilities with respect to a child in the county where the child is permanently resident or where the child is found." A parent may also file a motion for APR inside an existing juvenile court case under § 14-10-123(1)(a)(III). Parentage itself is established under Colorado's Uniform Parentage Act in Title 19, article 4. Notably, § 14-10-124(3.5) provides that "A request by either party for genetic testing shall not prejudice the requesting party in the allocation of parental responsibilities."