Revised 6/27/2003
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The following information is provided by Colorado Legal Services. It is intended as general information only, and is not meant as legal advice for any specific situation. If you need legal advice, consult an attorney.

Changing Parental Responsibility
and Child Support Orders

The Situation
A court order exists giving custody of a child to the other parent and ordering you to pay child support. The child is now living with you.

How do I ask the Court to change parental responsibility and child support?
You must fill out and file a Motion to Modify Parental Responsibility (custody) and a Motion to Modify Child Support as soon as possible.

Sometimes the District Court in your county will have a Pro Se office (pro se means that you are trying to represent yourself), a Family Court Facilitator, or a Court Clerk who might be able to assist you in filling out forms and filing your case. Go to the Denver Bar website for a list of the courts Self Help Centers (click here and scroll down to Self Help Centers). The Colorado Judicial Branch (state court website) Self Help Center also has instructions for filling out and filing many of the forms.

Fill out all the forms completely, including the Motion to Modify Parental Responsibility, the Affidavit in Support of Verified Motion to Modify Parental Responsibility, and the Motion to Modify Child Support. You must also file a written Notice to Set. This is needed to set the matter for hearing. The clerk of the court can tell you what courtroom to set it in and what phone number to use.

You must mail a copy of the Motion and the Notice to the other parent, or to their attorney if they have one. You must state in the “Certificate of Mailing” on each form that you have done so. File an original and one copy of each form with the Clerk of the Court. Keep copies of everything you file with the Clerk of the Court for your own records.

You will then call the court on the date you have put in the Notice to Set to get a date for a hearing. You or the court must then mail a copy of the Notice of Hearing to the other parent.

It is important that you go to the hearing at the time set and take a completed Financial Affidavit with you, if you have not already filed one. Even if the other side doesn't go to the hearing, you can go ahead on that date.

If an order exists giving custody of the child to the other parent and ordering you to pay child support, and the child is now living with you, the court may order that parental responsibility and parenting time be changed to provide that the child is living with you, and that the other parent be ordered to pay you child support. This order can go back to the date that the child came to live with you.

If the other party comes to court, the Judge may ask you to talk and see if you can agree about these matters. If you are able to reach an agreement, tell the Judge, so you can say the specific things you agreed to in court. Even if you do not reach an agreement, the court may enter new orders about parental responsibility, parenting time and child support.

You have the right to have the child support to be taken out of the other parent's paycheck by wage assignment. If so, you will need a Support Order (the court would have already issued this) and Order to Withhold Income.

If you need advice on this or any other legal problem, contact an attorney of your own choosing. If you cannot afford an attorney, talk to Colorado Legal Services: 303-837-1321.

Reviewed 9/25/2002
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