The Arapahoe County Justice Center in Centennial, where Littleton’s Arapahoe County family cases are heard — Arapahoe County Justice Center, Centennial · where Littleton’s Arapahoe County cases are heard

Divorce and custody counsel for Littleton, Columbine Valley, Bow Mar and Ken Caryl.

A Littleton mailing address covers three counties, and the first question in a divorce here is which courthouse the case belongs in. The second is the house: a Columbine Valley or Bow Mar lot, a Ken Caryl home bought before the valley filled in, usually with one family’s money somewhere in it. I try those cases in both courthouses, from an office fifteen minutes up Belleview.

01What a Littleton divorce is usually about
02Two courthouses, one postal address
03Custody along the county line
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What a Littleton divorce is usually about.

The neighborhoods that carry a Littleton address and show up in my office are not the city of Littleton so much as the towns and enclaves around it: Columbine Valley and Bow Mar on their lakes, Heritage Greens along the golf course, Ken Caryl against the hogback, Polo Reserve, the acre lots off Bowles. The common thread is a house that is worth more than everything else combined, bought a decade or two ago, often with a down payment from one family or a prior sale, and improved since with marital money. Colorado divides marital property equitably, keeps separate property separate, and treats the increase in value during the marriage as marital, so the first month of a Littleton case is spent on the closing statement, the gift letter and the remodel invoices — the tracing — before anyone argues about who keeps it. I have written about that on Separate Property & Tracing and Real Estate Division.

The income side is engineers and executives. Lockheed Martin Space in Waterton Canyon is the county’s largest private employer, and the Tech Center is twenty minutes east, so the compensation in a Littleton file is base salary plus restricted stock, a pension or a 401(k) that took twenty-five years to build, and sometimes a security clearance that limits what a spouse can say about the job. Retirement money is divided with a qualified domestic relations order, drafted correctly, or the tax bill lands on the wrong spouse; unvested stock is divided by a formula that depends on when it was granted and why. More on QDROs & Retirement Plans and Equity Compensation.

Two courthouses, one postal address.

Littleton is the rare place where the courthouse depends on which side of a street you live on. Columbine Valley, Heritage Greens, Polo Reserve and most of the city of Littleton are in Arapahoe County, so their cases go to the 18th Judicial District at the Arapahoe County Justice Center in Centennial, fifteen minutes east on Dry Creek. Ken Caryl, Columbine and everything west of the Platte are in Jefferson County, so their cases go to the 1st Judicial District at the Jefferson Combined Court in Golden, thirty minutes north. Bow Mar straddles the line. A divorce is filed in the county where either spouse lives, and when the spouses have separated across that line the choice is a real one: Arapahoe has a dedicated family bench — three judges who hear only domestic cases, four domestic magistrates, facilitator-run status conferences by Webex — while Jefferson spreads domestic cases across every district judge and, by standing order, sends relocation motions and prenup challenges to a judge rather than a magistrate. In my experience both courts order mediation before nearly every contested hearing, and in both the disclosure clock under C.R.C.P. 16.2 starts at service, not at the first hearing. The detail on each is on the Denver Metro Family Courts page.

Arapahoe County · 18th Judicial District · Columbine Valley, Heritage Greens, Littleton city

Arapahoe County Justice Center

7325 S. Potomac Street, Centennial, CO 80112
(303) 645-6600
Monday–Friday, 7:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

The bench. Three district judges who hear only domestic relations cases, four domestic magistrates and a child-support magistrate; four family court facilitators run the initial status conferences by Webex. Attorneys must e-file in every case type.

Parking. Free surface parking in the lots around the Justice Center. Weapons and tools are screened out at the door, and food and drink may be inspected.

Directions in Google Maps · Official court page (Colorado Judicial Branch)

Jefferson County · 1st Judicial District · Ken Caryl, Columbine, west of the Platte

Jefferson Combined Court

100 Jefferson County Parkway, Golden, CO 80401
(720) 772-2500 · domestic relations (720) 772-2510
Front counter Monday–Thursday, 7:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m.; Friday, 7:30 a.m.–noon

The bench. No separate family bench: every district judge carries domestic cases alongside civil and criminal, magistrates handle preliminary domestic matters, and two family court facilitators run the initial status conferences. Relocation motions, prenup challenges and motions to reopen for nondisclosure go to a district judge by standing order.

Parking. Free parking in the county complex lots. Note the Friday noon counter closing; the atrium drop box stays open until 5:30 p.m.

Directions in Google Maps · Official court page (Colorado Judicial Branch)

Littleton at a glance

County: Arapahoe (Columbine Valley, Heritage Greens, Polo Reserve, most of the city), Jefferson (Ken Caryl, Columbine), or both (Bow Mar)
Court: Arapahoe County Justice Center, Centennial, or Jefferson Combined Court, Golden
Schools: Littleton Public Schools or Jeffco Public Schools, depending on the neighborhood
To the courthouse: About 15 minutes to Centennial; about 30 to Golden
To my office: About 15 minutes up Belleview to Greenwood Village; video available

Custody along the county line.

A parent who stays in Columbine Valley and a parent who moves to a townhome in Ken Caryl are ten minutes apart and in two school districts and two counties, and a Littleton parenting plan has to be written with that in mind: which school, which exchange point, and which court hears the modification three years from now. Colorado’s best-interests factors include the physical proximity of the parents’ homes and each parent’s past pattern of involvement, and I build plans around both — and around a parent whose shift at the plant or travel schedule rules out a conventional week-on, week-off calendar. When one parent proposes moving the children out of the district or the state, the relocation rules decide the case and they are strict; in Jefferson County that motion goes straight to a district judge. More on Parenting-Time Schedules and Relocation & Move-Away.

If you are in Littleton, Columbine Valley, Bow Mar or Ken Caryl, start with a confidential conversation.

A consultation is a working session, in person in Greenwood Village or by video: we go through your situation and I tell you what I would do. Your note reaches my office directly; during business hours we call you back within the hour, run the conflicts check, and set the meeting.