What Does “Best Interests of the Child” Mean?

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This post will discuss Colorado’s law that pertains to parenting and to the best interest of the children and questions that are asked about whether or not the law favors mothers over fathers or fathers over mothers. The best interest statute in Colorado was really crafted to not play any favorites with one gender or the other, and the statute itself, which is Colorado Revised Statute 14-10-124 recognizes that children should have both parents involved in their lives regardless of gender. That doesn’t mean that there are circumstances that would give a father more parenting time than a mother or vice versa, but is Colorado a state that favors fathers over mothers or mothers over fathers? I think the clear answer is no, it does not.

It’s always important to talk to an attorney who’s been doing these cases for a very long time before you step into the courtroom and have an unrealistic expectation that because you’re a mom or because you’re a dad, you’re going to get preferential treatment or more parenting time than the other parent, and I think it’s important to understand that the law doesn’t play favorites. What it does is say that children are entitled to have both parents involved in their lives, involved in their decisions, and equal parenting time whenever possible.

Questions About Attorney Conduct

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Lots of clients call here and ask questions about, “What do I do when I’ve had an attorney working on my case and the attorney is not returning my phone calls, not sending me email responses, and I have no idea what’s going on in my case?” It could be a divorce case, a legal separation, a child custody case, what have you.

My response to that is this. Whenever you’re hiring an attorney in any of these kinds of matters, you need to be comfortable with your lawyer, and you need to discuss, going into the case, how that lawyer operates. Is the lawyer going to return emails promptly? What happens if the lawyer is in court or mediation? How will I get my questions answered?

In this office, we offer a 24/7 phone line, and I have very experienced staff and a paralegal who’s been involved in family cases for many, many years, who will answer a lot of the questions that clients have while I’m in court or unavailable, and if you are not getting the proper service from your attorney, or your attorney is telling you what to do rather than you telling your attorney what you want to see happen, maybe it’s time to consider changing lawyers to someone you’re more comfortable with or can work with.

If you are in that situation and you are looking to hire an attorney to jump in and take over your case, remember to bring as many of the court documents with you when you see the new lawyer, so that that lawyer is not surprised by any of the litigation history or upcoming court dates.

What Kind Of Evidence Do I Need That The Other Parent Is A Perpetrator of Domestic Abuse, or Has An Alcohol or Drug Problem?

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Often times clients will ask me, “What kind of evidence do I need that the other parent is a perpetrator of domestic abuse, or has an alcohol or drug problem?” Well usually that means that there must be some sort of objective evidence. In other words, you just can’t come to court and say I believe the other parent has a meth problem, or I believe the other parent has an alcohol problem. You need to have some independent evidence of that.

Like what? Well it usually involves maybe a conviction for DUI, a drug possession situation, photographs or evidence independently that there were drugs in the house, that a parent left when children there.

The other kinds of evidence that is important would be if a parent is saying that the other parent is dangerous, because they have an anger or domestic violence problem. Is the number calls that the police have responded to the house, or home where the family has lived. You would get the police reports, or the police call reports to show the number of calls, and how often the police have come. Has there been a conviction for harassment or domestic violence?

These are critical factors for the court in any kind of custody case. You’ll find that a lawyer who has a lot of experience in taking these cases to court and appearing in front of the judge, is going to know and be able to tell you what kind of evidence is really going to be significant that a court will rely on.

What To Do When A Child Removed or Taken Across State Lines

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What you should do when you have child custody orders from another state, and let’s say that the parent who has visitation is here in Colorado and the other parent is not returning the child. What do I do then?

You’ll find that the police here in Colorado are not going to act on another court order from another state unless a Colorado judge has authorized the police to do something.

We’ve been very successful in getting children back to their lawful custodial parent when this happens. The process involves registering a foreign decree, that’s what it’s called, from another state into Colorado so that a Colorado judge can take what they call “judicial notice” of the child custody orders and enter orders for the police to assist you in getting the child back.

It’s a two-step process. Step one is to register the foreign decree from the other state and, two, to seek the Colorado courts ruling that would allow you to use law enforcement in the state to help you get the child back.

How do I get my child back from the other parent when I don’t have any court orders?

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Today I want to discuss with you a frequently asked question that parents raise, and that is, “How do I get my child back from the other parent when I don’t have any court orders?” Typically what happens is that if parents are married, they’re going to file a divorce action, and the court’s going to then support the orders in the divorce, but when parents aren’t married, there’s an allocation of parental responsibilities action that has to be filed. If you have no court orders entered, and let’s just say that the other parent and you have an agreement where you’re going to share the parenting time and that other parent says, “Well I decided that we’re going to move to Denver and I’m going to keep the child.” What do you do? No court orders.

My advice is that you immediately seek to file the petition. It’s called a petition for allocation of parental responsibilities, so that a judge can establish some orders because without court orders, you’re not going to be able to have a court get a child back into your care or shared parenting care. I want to discuss with you what parental kidnapping or an abduction is. In order to establish that there’s been parental kidnapping or an abduction, there must be some sort of legal action that’s been filed, preferably a court order is in place, or a summons. Let me tell you what that is.

A summons is what would be served on the parties. Both parties would be bound by a summons and it states that a child cannot be removed from the state of Colorado once an action is filed. What this means is that if you had filed the divorce case and you have served the other party, or you filed a child custody case, like a parental responsibilities action, and you’ve served the other party, you’re going to have the process server serve them with a summons that includes an automatic injunction that prohibits that other parent from taking the child away from Colorado without a court order. A parental kidnapping case or an abduction case means that a parent has violated that court order. A violation of that court order means that you could get attorney’s fees against the other parent, or sanctions against that other parent. The police typically are not going to act unless a judge in Colorado has issued an order saying that a parent has violated a lawful Colorado order that a child not be kidnapped, removed or abducted.

One other important feature to mention. An abduction of the child is actually two things. The wrongful taking of the child. Let’s suppose you have parenting orders and it says every other weekend, and the other parent shows up and takes the child out of school on a Wednesday. That’s an abduction. Let’s say that the other parent is supposed to return the child to your care on Christmas Eve at 4:00 and that parent says, “Forget it. I’m not giving the child back.” That’s called a wrongful retention of a child and that’s also an abduction of a child and you should hire an attorney to immediately file an emergency motion to get the child back.

Information About Attorney Conduct

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Lots of clients ask questions about, “What do I do when I’ve had an attorney working on my case and the attorney is not returning my phone calls, not sending me email responses, and I have no idea what’s going on in my case?” It could be a divorce case, a legal separation, a child custody case, what have you.

My response to that is this. Whenever you’re hiring an attorney in any of these kinds of matters, you need to be comfortable with your lawyer, and you need to discuss, going into the case, how that lawyer operates. Is the lawyer going to return emails promptly? What happens if the lawyer is in court or mediation? How will I get my questions answered?

At The Law Office of Gordon N. Shayne, we offer a 24/7 phone line, and I have very experienced staff and a paralegal who’s been involved in family cases for many, many years, who will answer a lot of the questions that clients have while I’m in court or unavailable, and if you are not getting the proper service from your attorney, or your attorney is telling you what to do rather than you telling your attorney what you want to see happen, maybe it’s time to consider changing lawyers to someone you’re more comfortable with or can work with.

If you are in that situation and you are looking to hire an attorney to jump in and take over your case, remember to bring as many of the court documents with you when you see the new lawyer, so that that lawyer is not surprised by any of the litigation history or upcoming court dates.

Contact us today for more infomation or to schedule a free consultation.

Abduction/Parental Kidnapping

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I want to talk to you a little bit about what you should do when you have child custody orders from another state. Let’s say that the parent who has visitation is here in Colorado and the other parent is not returning the child. What do I do then?

You’ll find that the police here in Colorado are not going to act on another court order from another state unless a Colorado judge has authorized the police to do something. We’ve been very successful in getting children back to their lawful custodial parent when this happens. The process involves registering a foreign decree, that’s what it’s called, from another state into Colorado so that a Colorado judge can take what they call judicial notice of the child custody orders and enter orders for the police to assist you in getting the child back. It’s a two-step process. Step one is to register the foreign decree from the other state, and two, to seek the Colorado courts’ ruling that would allow you to use law enforcement in the state to help you get the child back.

Contact Shayne Law if you have any questions.