Family Rights Articles

When a grandparent-grandchild relationship is disrupted and/or grandparents are prevented from seeing their grandchildren, what rights do Colorado Springs grandparents have to restore and maintain their connection with their grandkids?

Picking up stakes and moving residences has been part of the American story since those Pilgrim families jumped off the Mayflower and moved to Massachusetts. Individuals and families remain mobile to this day, moving for a wide variety of reasons – job opportunities, to be close to relatives, or to be done with cold and snow. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 11.5 percent of the U.S. population – or 35.7 million Americans –  moved between 2013 and 2014 alone.

When parents in Colorado decide to get divorced, their kids don’t get a say in whether their parents’ marriage will end, even though their lives will be upended and forever changed because of it. That doesn’t mean, however, that children don’t have feelings or opinions about the matter, especially about how the divorce will affect their day-to-day lives and how much time they will spend with one parent or the other. But does a child’s opinions and preferences matter to a Colorado judge when making child custody decisions and allocating parenting time and parental responsibilities?

You can be married in Colorado without having a ceremony, a reception, a ring, or a marriage license. The state of Colorado remains one of a handful of states that recognize the institution of “common law” marriage. But like other marriages, common law marriages don’t always work out. When that happens, does the couple simply break up as if they were dating or in a long-term relationship, or can they get a divorce, going through the same legal process and subject to the same laws and rules as other married couples?

The answer is that if you can in fact prove to a court that you are in a common law marriage, you can get a common law divorce.

Preparing for divorce in Colorado Springs can be a difficult task without prior research. Read more to find out the next step for your Colorado divorce.