Divorce and custody counsel for Parker.

What a Parker divorce is usually about.

A contractor’s company, a dental or medical practice near Parker Adventist, a franchise, a consulting business run from a home office on acreage: much of Parker’s wealth is in businesses that are still young enough that the founder is the business. Colorado divides marital property equitably, and a company started during the marriage is marital even if only one spouse ever set foot in it, so the first question is what it is worth and the second is how one spouse keeps it while the other is paid fairly. The house is usually the other large asset, often with real equity after a decade of appreciation and a mortgage that neither spouse can carry alone. Those two problems have to be solved together.

The other constant is income that does not fit on a pay stub. Owner draws, distributions, a spouse who was paid through the company, a truck and a phone on the business account: Colorado determines income for maintenance and child support from what a person actually earns, and in an owner’s case that takes records and, sometimes, a forensic accountant. I have written about how that analysis works on Business Owner Divorce and Spousal Maintenance.

Douglas County District Court, Castle Rock.

Parker sits in Douglas County, so a case filed here goes to the 23rd Judicial District at the Douglas County Courthouse in Castle Rock — about twenty minutes from Parker and half an hour from my office in Greenwood Village. The district is new: on January 14, 2025 Douglas, Elbert, and Lincoln Counties left the 18th District and became the 23rd. Its domestic docket is two judges and two magistrates, and a separate family court facilitator division runs the initial status conference, where the 42-day disclosure deadline is set. That deadline matters more in Parker than most places, because the county’s job base is professional services and owner-run companies, and an owner’s disclosure under C.R.C.P. 16.2 means business returns, the general ledger and the loan applications, not a pay stub. In my experience the magistrates handle temporary orders, and mediation is ordered before nearly every contested hearing. The detail, and every other metro courthouse, is on the Denver Metro Family Courts page.

Custody when the schools are the reason you moved here.

Most Parker parents chose the town for the schools and the yard, and most custody cases here are about keeping the children in both while two households take shape. Colorado’s best-interests factors include the physical proximity of the parents’ homes and each parent’s past pattern of involvement, and I build parenting plans around both — and around a parent who runs a business and cannot promise a conventional week-on, week-off schedule. When one parent is thinking about moving closer to town or out of state, the relocation rules decide the case, and they are strict. More on Parenting-Time Schedules and Relocation & Move-Away.

Related: Business Owner Divorce  ·  High-Asset Divorce  ·  Real Estate Division  ·  Income Determination  ·  Parental Responsibilities
Nearby: Castle Rock  ·  Castle Pines  ·  Highlands Ranch  ·  Lone Tree  ·  Denver Metro Family Courts