Graham.Law Blog

Since Colorado enacted the Uniform Dissolution of Marriage Act more than 50 years ago, dissolution of marriage cases have been “no-fault.” (See this blog post for more details about Colorado no-fault divorces and grounds for dissolution of marriage). One spouse’s misconduct or “fault”, including for domestic violence, was generally irrelevant…

Protecting children from potential child abuse in Colorado has long been the goal of judges in custody cases. In our Domestic Violence & Child Custody article in the Colorado Family Law Guide, there are several ways which courts are already required to consider allegations of spousal or child abuse, sexual…

Family law decisions at the U.S. Supreme Court are rare, since domestic relations law is almost entirely governed by state law, not federal law. But there are enough areas of federal interest (military retirement, Hague Convention international child custody issues, and ICWA, or the Indian Child Welfare Act) that we…

Parents owe their children a duty of support – this has long been recognized in Colorado’s child support statute (), and in every family law case imaginable. But can psychological parents, or other third party nonparents owe child support? Three years ago, in a groundbreaking decision, the Colorado Court of…

Sadly, domestic violence and child abuse are facts of life for some families. And as we discuss in our Domestic Violence article in the Colorado Family Law Guide, as well as in a prior blog about the impact of violence on child custody, violence and abuse have very real impacts…

Victims of Domestic Abuse Domestic abuse is a serious matter, both in terms of child endangerment, and on the parent/victim. If you have been the victim of domestic violence, your first call should be to the police. Domestic violence is first and foremost a crime, and should be handled by…

Court-Enforced Social Distancing? We may see mandated social distancing in a divorce sooner rather than later, and not the way you might expect. An 81 year old New York woman recently filed a motion asking the Court to ban her estranged (and soon-to-be-ex) husband from returning to their home after a…

Domestic Violence Increases During Stay-at-Home As many people around the world are ordered to stay in their homes during the Covid-19 pandemic it seems that domestic violence rates are on the rise.  Unfortunately, this is not surprising – when people are forced to spend most of their time together in…

What is Jurisdiction? For a case to be decided in Court, that court needs to have jurisdiction over the people in the case (“personal jurisdiction”), and the type of case at issue (“subject-matter jurisdiction”). These rules can be complicated, especially in the area of child custody jurisdiction, and are the…

What Is Child Abuse? Child abuse will get a parent in trouble, not only in child custody cases, but with the potential for action from the Colorado Department of Human Services (DHS) or even law enforcement (child abuse is a crime per (1)(a)). However, (1)(a) also recognizes that physical force may…