Fort Collins Child and Spousal Support Modification Lawyer

While child support and maintenance obligations are binding Court Orders, it is possible to modify those obligations depending on the circumstances – especially with the help of a Fort Collins child support attorney. There are many circumstances a Court will consider when changing child support and/or maintenance obligations. These circumstances include, but certainly are not limited to: a change to a party’s income; if a party has lost their job, changes in cost of health insurance for the children or changes in the cost of the children’s daycare, or if a party’s financial needs have changed.

If your current child support order or spousal support order is not working for you—whether you are a paying spouse or receiving spouse—call the Fort Collins child and spousal support modification attorney at The Law Office of Stephen Vertucci, LLC.

Why Choose Us for Your Child and Spousal Support Modification Lawyers in Fort Collins?

At The Law Firm of Stephen Vertucci, our mission is to advocate for families and protect our clients’ rights throughout family court legal disputes and all family law matters, including child and spousal support orders and modification requests. Our experienced trial attorneys offer the following benefits to your modification of support orders in Fort Collins:

• Child-focused legal representation with the goal of adhering to the Colorado court’s “best interests of the child” standards
• A resolution to help each client resolve their legal matter with the least amount of conflict and cost required
• Effective legal strategies tailored to each unique case
• A legal advocate working tirelessly on your case to ensure the best possible outcome including in requests for modification of existing orders
• The counsel of an attorney who has served Colorado communities with aggressive legal advocacy since 2016 after over a decade of prior trial experience

Even the toughest family court judges in Colorado understand that circumstances change and sometimes existing court orders must reflect those long-term changes. Your attorney from The Law Firm of Stephen Vertucci, LLC is ready to present a compelling case on your behalf in written requests with documentation or in court before a judge when required.

Expert Child or Spousal Support Changes Attorney at Your Service

As life circumstances change, it may be appropriate, and even necessary, to ask the court to reconsider the amount of the obligation, or in the case of spousal maintenance, to terminate it altogether.

On the other hand, what if you are struggling financially, suffering from health problems, and one of your children has been diagnosed with a condition that not only requires expensive care but also makes it necessary for you to quit your job and stay home with him or her?

If any of the factors that went into determining the child support awarded to help cover your children’s needs ― both parents’ gross monthly income, child support or spousal maintenance you receive or are required to pay from a previous marriage or relationship, healthcare expenses, daycare, costs, and a child’s special needs―change significantly, then the court will consider a child support modification. And because life is unpredictable and your circumstances may change more than once, you may request a modification any time your financial situation and obligations have undergone a substantial change.

Contact our law office by filling a contact form or calling 970-900-1800 to receive help on any child or spousal support modifications. Our Fort Collins child and spousal support modification lawyers can assist you in any necessary alterations.

How a Fort Collins Child Support/Spousal Support Modification Lawyer Can Help

Documentation and paperwork filing must be meticulous in a request for child support or spousal support modifications of existing orders or in most cases, the child support enforcement office will simply refuse the request. The request must include detailed affidavits for income and expenses, all supporting documents, and a compelling written request for the change. 

The Colorado courts make all decisions in the best interests of children. This means the court requires all parents to fulfill their obligation to support their children to ensure their welfare and prevent a child from experiencing a dramatic lifestyle change following a divorce.

The courts may also compel a higher-earning spouse to provide a lower-earning spouse with temporary spousal support when circumstances warrant such an order. When income changes substantially for the better or worse on either side of an existing temporary, rehabilitative, or permanent spousal support order, an attorney helps facilitate a streamlined process with a greater chance of a successful outcome.

Why You Need an Attorney to Assist With Modification of Existing Support Orders in Fort Collins

Proving that a modification of a judge’s existing orders is necessary in your case is not a simple task. A knowledgeable attorney who is well-versed in the process maximizes your chance of a granted request. Your attorney from The Law Firm of Stephen Vertucci, LLC, provides the following:

• Diligent attention to detail throughout the process
• Collection and documentation of pertinent evidence
• Facilitation of an out-of-court agreement between both parties whenever possible, including arranging mediation if required by your existing court order before making requests for changes from the court
• Meticulous filing of your motion with all required documentation to present a compelling case
• Skilled representation of your interests during the hearing by clearly presenting your case to the judge
• Ensuring that all provisions related to the support payments are also modified

Under Colorado Revised Statute 14-10-122, Courts only consider modifications when the applicant provides the following:

“ A showing of changed circumstances so substantial and continuing as to make the terms unfair.”

No one should attempt this process without experienced legal counsel, especially when disputes arise between parties and the case requires a hearing before a Colorado Family Court Judge.

Requesting the Court to Make a Change

Remember, until a Judge approves a modification of your support obligations, they are not changed at all. Only a Judge can approve a modification of support obligations. Therefore, make sure you are protecting yourself and speak with The Law Office of Stephen Vertucci, LLC to ensure you are modifying support obligations correctly and in a way that protects your interests.

If you live in or around Fort Collins, CO, and you feel that you need a change in your current child support order, call The Law Office of Stephen Vertucci, LLC for the experienced, professional help you need.

How is Child Support Modified in Colorado?

Colorado uses a specific calculation formula to determine child support payments. This formula considers the following:

• Both parents’ gross annual income, including wages, salary, commission, bonuses, rental incomes, and pension payments 
• Any adjustments to the incomes of both parents based on mitigating factors such as health insurance premiums and retirement contributions
• Child support paid by the parent to a child or children in another household
• The parent’s allotted parenting time days (overnight custody days). Typically, the parent with the highest number of parenting time days receives child support from the parent with the lower number of child overnight stays

Colorado courts do not recommend requesting changes to child support modifications unless the changes are substantial, or at least a ten percent deviation in income or in necessity to accommodate a child’s changed medical or educational needs.

A parent may also request a termination of child support if a child has become emancipated by joining the military, moved out and become self-supporting, or if they’ve been married.

Child support modifications must be made in writing through the county child support office along with the submission of income and expense affidavits. The process can become complex and may require a hearing during which your attorney will represent your interests before a judge.

Guidelines for Modifying Child Support

When one or both parents have a significant change in circumstances, the Colorado court applies the state’s guidelines for determining child support under the new circumstances. As outlined in C.R.S. § 14-10-115.

A parent may not request a modification of child support in response to the other parent’s increase in income due to voluntary overtime pay, working beyond a 40-hour work week, or a secondary job, or income from child support for children by another parent.

The Colorado Child Support Enforcement Unit conducts the reassessment request and makes a determination. If they grant the parent’s request, the other parent has the right to dispute the change, in which case both parties go to court to present their cases to a judge, after which the judge decides to grant or deny the request based on the documentation and testimony.

What Is Spousal Support And When Can it Be Modified in Colorado?

Unlike the obligation to pay child support, one spouse does not automatically have an obligation to support the other spouse after a divorce. However, the courts may order temporary or permanent spousal support (alimony) under certain circumstances, such as when one spouse supported the other’s education and career goals at the expense or sacrifice of their own education or career advancement, when one spouse left the workforce to raise children, or when one spouse has a disability or advanced age that makes self-sufficiency impossible. Spousal support in Colorado may be:

• Temporary support during separation and throughout the divorce process
• Rehabilitative, or temporary payments from one spouse to the other until the other gains self-sufficiency by increasing their education or graduates from vocational training and finds employment 
• Permanent spousal support ordered in limited circumstances when one spouse cannot earn an adequate income due to disability, age, or illness

As with child support, both paying and receiving spouses have a right to request modifications to existing spousal support orders in Colorado when their circumstances change significantly.

Spousal Support Modification

As with child support, spousal maintenance payments can be modified in certain circumstances. If your maintenance award or obligation was Ordered as “modifiable”, then you may have the opportunity to modify the maintenance if you can demonstrate the appropriate evidence justifying a change. Maybe you have lost your employment and no longer have the ability to pay maintenance. Maybe your health has changed and you can no longer earn what you could previously and you need more maintenance. Maybe circumstances have changed and the party who is paying maintenance now has a greater ability to pay maintenance and it should be increased. Our Fort Collins spousal maintenance lawyers can offer expert guidance and support, making the legal process smooth.

Under What Circumstances Can I Request a Modification of Spousal Support in Colorado?

When one spouse has a significant change in financial circumstances they may request a modification of their existing spousal support order even when the order is temporary or rehabilitative. Either spouse may request the court review their request for modification of alimony under the following circumstances:

• A significant, ongoing change in financial circumstances, typically at least by 10 percent or more
• When one spouse—either payor or payee—passes away, in which case the courts will automatically terminate the order
• When a receiving spouse remarries or enters a civil union with a party in a new relationship unless the spousal support order specifically states that it does not terminate upon the spouse’s remarriage

Spousal support in Colorado does not automatically end when the receiving spouse moves in with a party in a new relationship, but the paying spouse may request a modification or termination by providing evidence that the receiving spouse has had significant improvement in lifestyle since cohabitating with the new party or that their relationship has become a common-law marriage under Colorado law.

When an existing order for spousal maintenance no longer accomplishes its goals or is no longer appropriate under either or both spouses’ circumstances a request for modification is in order. A Fort Collins spousal support modification lawyer from the Law Office of Stephen Vertucci is ready to help.

Speak with Our Fort Collins Child and Spousal Support Modification Lawyer

Attempting to modify your maintenance can be challenging. However, with the help of our Fort Collins child and spousal support modification attorneys, it is a seamless process. Contact The Law Office of Stephen Vertucci at (970) 900-1800 to discuss how strong, or weak, your case is to modify maintenance.