Johnstown Child Custody Lawyer

Divorce comes with many emotional and legal challenges, but one of the most wrenching processes of a Colorado divorce is deciding on child custody and creating a parenting schedule with the least possible emotional harm caused to your children. Determining child custody in Johnstown or elsewhere becomes even more distressing when one parent believes the other poses a danger to their child due to neglect, abuse, or chronic addiction.

At The Law Office of Stephen Vertucci, LLC, we understand the critical importance of your child custody case, whether during a divorce or for non-married spouses. Call our Johnstown family attorneys today so we can begin a strategy to obtain the outcome that aligns with your goals for your family.

Why Choose The Law Office of Stephen Vertucci, LLC?

Nothing matters more than your children, and you want them to feel safe and secure after the turbulence of the divorce process settles and you enter your post-divorce life. The Johnstown divorce attorneys at the Law Office of Stephen Vertucci understand this. We offer the following advantages in your child custody case:

• We uphold our mission to protect families as our firm’s highest priority in every case
• We seek the lowest-conflict resolution possible for every case without compromising our client’s goals or the child’s best interest
• We are experienced trial attorneys with years of knowledge, skills, and access to resources to support your case 
• Founding attorney Stephen Vertucci is a proud member of the Colorado Eighth Judicial District Domestic Relations Best Practices Committee and was listed in Lawyers of Distinction in 2023

We always take a dignified approach to divorce and child custody cases, respecting the individual circumstances of each case rather than using a cookie-cutter legal strategy that may not align with your goals.

Parental Responsibility and Legal Custody In Colorado

Colorado divides child custody into two parts: legal custody and parental responsibility. “Legal custody” refers to a parent’s right to make important legal decisions for their child, such as medical decisions, choosing a school, religious practices, and extracurricular activities.

“Parental responsibility” refers to the physical custody of a child or the parenting time the parent has with the child in their home.

A child custody agreement or court order includes an enforceable structure for the way in which the parents share physical and legal decision-making over their children.

Arriving at a Child Custody Agreement

In the best-case scenario of parental divorce, the parents are willing to communicate and compromise effectively to continue co-parenting their children. This not only facilitates a better ability to consult with each other on important, child-raising decisions going forward after the divorce, but also provides a more secure, nurturing environment for the children so they continue to thrive. 

When parents agree to share custody of their children in a way that’s fair and workable for their schedules, they can avoid having the court make this decision for them. No one knows children better than their parents. Mutually choosing one of Colorado’s popular parenting schedules and including it as part of a divorce settlement agreement means avoiding the court’s input on this matter and keeping control of child custody between the parents themselves.

Colorado provides shared parenting-time schedule templates for parents to use. Each has different arrangements for sharing custody as close to 50/50 as possible. Some methods work best for young children, while others are more appropriate for older children.

In most cases, a judge will agree and simply sign off on a child custody schedule chosen or created by the parents. The only exception is if the judge suspects one parent signed the agreement under duress.

How Do Colorado Courts Decide Child Custody?

In Colorado, family courts uphold the state’s standard of deciding all family law cases in the best interests of the child. Under C.R.S. 14-10-124(1.5)(a), Colorado family law describes the court’s accepted standard for meeting the best interests of the child in the following way:

“While co-parenting is not appropriate in all circumstances following dissolution of marriage or legal separation, the general assembly finds and declares that, in most circumstances, it is in the best interest of all parties to encourage frequent and continuing contact between each parent and the minor children of the marriage after the parents have separated or dissolved their marriage.”

While the court begins with the presumption that continued close contact with both parents is in a child’s best interest, this is a rebuttable presumption. If one parent has evidence that spending time in the other parent’s custody is not in their child’s best interests, they may present this evidence in court. The judge then considers all evidence and testimony before making a decision.

What Does a Judge Consider When Making a Decision In The Child’s Best Interests?

When parents can’t reach a mutually acceptable agreement for sharing custody, they take their dispute to the court for a judge to decide. A spouse may then present their arguments as to why they believe the other parent should have less than 50% custody, or one parent with primary custody and the other visitation, or why one parent should be restricted from visitation due to a physical or emotional threat to the child’s well-being.

When deciding on child custody, the Colorado court considers the following:

• The wishes of the parents
• The child’s wishes if they are of an age to reasonably express themselves
• The intrapersonal relationship between each parent and child
• Each parent’s willingness to facilitate a close relationship between the child and the other parent
• How close the parents live to each other
• The child’s adjustment to their home, school, extended family, and community
• The physical and mental health of each parent and child
• Whether or not the parents display a willingness to cooperate and work jointly on important decisions, such as education, medical decisions, and religion
• Each parent’s ability to prioritize the child’s needs above their own

The court does not consider a parent’s sex relevant when deciding child custody in Colorado.

Call the Child Custody Lawyers In Johnstowns at The Law Office of Stephen Vertucci, LLC

The Colorado child custody attorneys at The Law Office of Stephen Vertucci understand how a child custody decision impacts all aspects of family life as a Colorado family moves forward after a divorce. We bring our commitment to Colorado families into every child custody case and work relentlessly until our clients obtain the best possible outcome in a parental custody agreement or in court. Contact our Johnstown family law firm today so we can begin action in your case.