When a family law, child custody, or divorce case involving children in Colorado is resolved, there will be a court-ordered parenting plan that gets entered, which sets forth the decision-making allocation as well as the parenting time schedule (which is also called, in many states, the “custody” order).  The order can either be decided by the parties themselves, if they settle the case, or, if parties can’t reach an agreement on the issue, the court would make the decisions and enter its own order.

After a case is closed, either party can request that the case be reopened by requesting a modification of the parenting plan.  The statute in Colorado puts some limitations on what requests can be made, and when, but barring those circumstances, any party can request to modify parenting orders in a case if the child or children are still minors.

Before one decides whether to reopen their case to request a modification of the parenting plan, careful consideration needs to be made of the potential drawbacks in doing so.  If you have questions about whether to make such a request in your case, please feel free to contact us right away.