Legal Question in Family Law in Colorado

I am in Colorado. Ever since the parenting plan was agreed to several years ago, the biological father of my son has not followed it. It has been close to a year since he has seen or talked to the child. He has not paid child support in over a year and a half. He is also very emotionally abusive to my son. The last several times he talked to the child it was full of screaming and curse words until my son dissolved into tears. Those weren't the only instances. What do I need to do to get this destructive man removed from my child's life permanently? I don't necessarily care about child support, I just want my son to be free of this person. I don't want him to be able to saunter back in to only wreck havoc and cause pain. What should I do? Will I have to have a lawyer? Thank you.


Asked on 10/30/16, 9:49 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Harkess Colorado Legal Solutions

The only way to permanently remove the father from the child's life is if there is another person who is willing to adopt the child. If you have a husband or wife who is willing to adopt and you can establish that the biological father has not provided emotional or financial support for more than a year, you should be able to have his parental rights terminated. You and the adoptive parent would then be the child's only legal parents. It would be a good idea to work with an attorney.

Short of adoption, you can modify the parenting plan to reduce his parenting time, but if he actually makes the effort to connect with the child a court is unlikely to cut him out completely.

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Answered on 10/31/16, 11:29 am


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