Aurora Colorado Divorce Attorney

Aurora Colorado Divorce Lawyer

If you are heading toward divorce – or even considering the possibility of divorce – you are facing a significant transition that will significantly affect you and your children’s futures for many years to come. Working closely with an experienced Aurora divorce lawyer near you will help ensure that you obtain divorce terms that protect your rights under Colorado family law and that work for you and your children.

Your Child Custody Arrangements

If your divorce involves children, your children’s ongoing health, happiness, and well-being are likely your primary concern. Divorce is hard on everyone, but because children don’t have the maturity to effectively process this drastic change in their lives, it is often hardest on them. Your custody arrangements are obviously critical, and while these arrangements can vary, the basics typically include:

1. Both parents share legal custody, which means that both of you will share the parental right and responsibility of making important decisions on behalf of your children. These decisions generally focus on issues related to your children’s health care, education, religious upbringing, and extracurricular activities.
2. Both parents share physical custody, but one parent becomes the primary custodial parent, which means the children live primarily with that parent in that parent’s home.
3. The other parent has a visitation schedule with the children.

If you and your divorcing spouse can’t agree on child custody arrangements that you can both agree to, the court will do so on your behalf. While the children’s best interests are always the court’s focus, the judge involved naturally doesn’t know your children and their specific needs the way you, as their parents, do. Your respective divorce attorneys will help you explore all your options and attempt to find a middle ground (mediation is an option) if child custody becomes a sticking point.

Child Support

Both parents are charged with sharing the responsibility of financially supporting their children, and child support is the legal mechanism for leveling the financial playing field in this respect. The parent who has primary physical custody is generally considered to be in fulfillment of his or her financial responsibility – by providing for the children on a daily basis. As such, the parent with the visitation schedule typically pays child support to the other parent. The amount of child support paid is based on state child support calculation guidelines.

The Division of Marital Property

After child custody arrangements, the division of marital property is typically the next most hotly contested component of divorce. Your marital property is that property that you and your spouse acquired together as a married couple. If the asset was purchased – or the debt was acquired – during the course of your marriage, it usually qualifies as marital property. This is regardless of who made the purchase or signed the lease in the first place. There are, however, a few exceptions to this rule. If the property was an inheritance or gift in your name alone, for example, that property remains your separate property. In Colorado, marital property is divided in a manner that is deemed equitable, which means in a manner that is fair under the circumstances involved – rather than being divided straight down the middle.

Spousal Support

Spousal support refers to what you may think of as alimony, and while it isn’t a component of most divorces, it does play an important financial role in some. If one of you has financial needs as you move forward into your post-divorce life and the other of you has the financial means to assuage that need, the court may deem spousal support appropriate. A wide range of factors is considered in the allocation of spousal support, including:

1. Each of your separate financial resources
2. The lifestyle you achieved during the course of your marriage
3. The distribution of your marital property
4. Your incomes and personal employability (and employability reasonably obtainable via additional education and/or training)
5. The length of your marriage
6. The relative overall health and age of each of you
7. If either of you significantly contributed to the other’s advancement (supporting the family while your spouse attends graduate school, for example)

Consult with our Experienced Aurora Colorado Divorce Attorneys Today

If you’re going through a divorce, you and your family are going through a difficult time, but the Aurora divorce lawyers at CNL Law Firm, PLLC, are dedicated with the experience, resources, and compassion to help you move forward with greater confidence. You are looking for the best divorce attorney on your side, so please don’t hesitate to contact us online or call us at (720) 370-2171 for more information today.