Colorado Support Orders

• Colorado's judicial branch offers parents worksheets and support order forms to help them petition the state's courts for an order allocating parental child support responsibilities. The court-ordered child support obligations are based upon Colorado's Child Support Guidelines formula.
  
  

Colorado's Child Support Guidelines

• Factors used to determine the guideline amounts include the income of each parent, the needs and ages of their children and the number of overnight visits each parent has with their children. In 2002, the state legislature passed a new law raising the guideline limits and allowing parents with lower incomes to use a "low income adjustment" when they earn less than $1,850 monthly.
  
  

Termination of Child Support

• Colorado requires its parents to continue financially support their children until their children reach the legal age of emancipation. Based upon the legal notion that support terminates when children reach adulthood, Colorado's legislature sought to provide children with necessary support until they became financially independent. In Colorado, the age of majority is 19. However, Colorado provides exceptions to this general age of emancipation.
  
  

Exceptions to Termination at Age 19

• Under Colorado law, parents can enter into written agreements to continue paying support after their children reach age 19, but they are only legally binding if the parents entered into the agreements after July 1, 1991. Prior to 1991, Colorado's age of emancipation was 21. The second exception is when children reach age 19 but are still in high school or in an equivalent high school program. In this case, termination of child support ends the month after the child graduates from the alternative high school program or from high school. The laws provide default rules when a child leaves high school but decides to re-enroll. In this case, child support continues until the child graduates from high school or from the alternative high school program but only until the child reaches age 21. Lastly, courts can continue child support beyond age 19 if the child is disabled.
  
  

Termination of Child Support Before Age 19

• Child support can terminate in Colorado before age 19 in certain circumstances. If the child receives a legal emancipation, marries, is working and not living with either parent or joins the military, parents can petition the court for termination of their child support obligations. The Colorado judicial system allows courts discretion in deciding whether to terminate child support or whether there are extenuating circumstances requiring parents to continue paying child support until the age of emancipation.
  
  

Considerations

• Since family laws can frequently change, you should not use this information as a substitute for legal advice. Seek advice through an attorney licensed to practice law in your jurisdiction.