Legal Question in Family Law in Colorado
my ex works for the fed government and they are relocating him to DC I live in CO. My 15yr will stay with me. he makes 165k a year I make 47k I receive 244 a month in child support bc I never went back after my income change 4 yrs ago/ He wants to agree to 244 a month when he flys her out and when he doesn't he will pay me 489 a month. he says I am supposed to pay the transpiration for her to go out there since it was a forced move. I do not have enough money for an attorney and he said if I do not accept he will take me to court. Do I have to pay for her to fly out to see him? to have her full time I don't see how that is fair when he make 3x what I make. When she moves here full time there is a lot more driving for me because her school is 20 min away. I don't want to change her schools she needs to be with her friends that she has been with almost her whole life. It will be hard enough on her with her dad leaving. I want her to have as much consistency has she can. I have done the state child support calculators and it says quite a bit more based on what he was making 4 yrs ago. he has refused to give me his last tax's returns the last two years. I'm just scared since I cant offered a lawyer what will happen
1 Answer from Attorneys
The first question is what is the current parenting schedule and how much parenting time do each of you have. That will tell you what he is required to do in order to relocate. This is one of the more complicated areas of Colorado family law, and I would strongly recommend that neither of you attempt to do it without an attorney. Too many bad things can happen that will lead to problems later on that are difficult and expensive and not good for the child. Even if he is not required to file a motion to relocate it sounds like you will probably need some kind of modification of your parenting plan. So if he is not able to work out an agreement with you he would need to get a court order. Otherwise he would not be able to move and presumably would lose his job. Also 14-10-119 allows for an award of attorneys' fees to level the playing field where there is a big difference in income like you say is the case here. He can't use the threat of having more resources to pressure you. Given that, as well as the fact that he is asking you for an accommodation so that he can move and keep his job, I think it is very reasonable for you to ask him to pay your attorneys' fees as a condition to considering his request. As far as disclosure of financial info., that will be required any time one of you files a motion that would change the calculations of maintenance or child support.