Legal Question in Family Law in Colorado

I have a 16 yr old. On my Parenting Plan (filed in 2008) the section for Travel/Vacation states "Parties agree that should any require out of state or extended travel with child, party will inform the other party of such travel plans". Unfortunately, it doesn't have a definition for extended travel. I took my daughter to mountains (only 1 1/2 hr away) for 3 day weekend and my ex was saying i had to ask his permission to take her out of town. I commented only if we went out of state i needed to inform him of plans but not in-state. He has not came back with the part of "extended travel" being the same as out of town travel but as I live 50 miles from him, out of town could be very diverse.

My question: What is the common definition of "extended travel" with a 16 yr old?


Asked on 7/21/10, 2:34 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

I am not certain there is a "common definition". That being said, I do not believe I have ever appeared in front of a Judge who would consider a 3 day weekend to be "extended travel", regardless of the age of the child. If the 3 day weekend included some of dad's parenting time, he may have grounds to complain, depending on how your orders are written, but not on grounds of the travel plans clause. I am not aware of any hard and fast rule about what duration becomes "extended", but the rule of thumb I have my clients use is if it is a week or more, treat it as "extended". If it will interfere with his parenting time, you likely have other hoops to jump through based on other parts of your order, or else your order does not let you do it without his agreement (meaning you either don't go or you modify the trip so that the child is back for parenting time with dad).

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Answered on 7/28/10, 5:48 pm


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