How Do Family Law Cases Vary From County to County?

The answer to that question is yes and no. There are certain laws that are statewide that you can rely on and it doesn’t matter what county you live in, you will still have the same laws applied to your divorce. The documents you have to disclose and, the factors that are looked at to determine custody are the same statewide. The things that are different from county to county tend to be procedural. Do you have to mediate before your divorce goes to court? Some counties yes you have to mediate, some counties no you don’t have to mediate. At an initial status conference certain things can or can’t be handled at that initial status conference. Again, changes from county to county.

a map showing Colorado counties

There are a number of procedural issues and it is important for your attorney to know the differences between the different counties so that your case can proceed effectively in those counties. But the basic laws will be the same in terms of determining child support, maintenance, parenting time, all of those things will be the same county to county. You can rely on it’s not horrible because you’re in the wrong county, you won’t get maintenance because you’re in the wrong county. It used to be different county to county for maintenance but last year they did a law that put a formula in place for maintenance and now it’s much more the same county to county. I think that you can rely on that you’ll be fine no matter what county you’re in but you better have a lawyer that understands the procedures and process of that county.  For more information about filing for divorce, how divorce works, or any other family law matters in Colorado, call us at (303) 329-3802.