Custody for executives and business owners.
A demanding career is not a strike against you in a Colorado custody case, but it is a fact the schedule has to be built around. Travel weeks, late nights and a spouse who did most of the school runs are all in the record. The plan that works is the one drafted for the job you actually have.
- 01Three things that decide these cases
- 02A plan built around the calendar
- 03Nannies, au pairs, grandparents, and the…
- 04When one parent runs a company
- 05How a CFI or PRE treats the high-earning…
- 06Support above the guidelines, school, and…
- 07Keeping the company out of the custody file
- →Co-parenting apps
- →What people ask first
Talk to us about your case.
303-507-5529One call. A real person picks up, hears you out, and tells you how we would handle what you are facing and what to do first. No phone tree, no sales pitch, no obligation. Your first conversation is with our intake paralegal, who will get you to Aaron fast.
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Involvement, not income, in either direction.
Colorado allocates parenting time and decision-making under the best-interests factors of C.R.S. § 14-10-124(1.5): the wishes of the parents and the child, the child’s adjustment to home, school, and community, the physical proximity of the two homes, each parent’s ability to put the child’s needs first, and — the factor that decides most of these cases — each parent’s past pattern of involvement with the child, including the time commitment that pattern reflects. Income is not among the factors. A high income does not buy parenting time, and it does not disqualify anyone from it. What the court looks at is the record: who went to the pediatrician, who knows the teacher’s name, who was there on the ordinary Tuesday. The first thing I do with an executive parent is build that record honestly, from calendars, school portals, and messages, before the other side characterizes it.
The parent who built a company or runs a division is told, sooner or later, that the job is the problem. Colorado law does not say that.
Three things that decide these cases.
Week-on, week-off is a poor fit for a parent in another city eight days a month, and a bad plan is worse than an unusual one: it will be violated, documented and used. A repeating two-week pattern with fixed travel windows, longer summer blocks, defined make-up time and video contact written into the order, drafted to be enforceable.
The other side’s script is that the executive parent will hand the children to paid help. The answer is to show what the help is for: the same care that existed during the marriage, so the children’s routine survives the divorce. A right of first refusal cuts both ways, and its threshold is negotiated, not conceded.
School, medical and religious decisions are allocated jointly or by subject, and a business owner’s judgment is a strength there. I draft the mechanics too: a co-parenting app the court can read, response deadlines, a decision-maker for the disputes that recur.
A plan built around the calendar.
A week-on, week-off schedule is a poor fit for a parent who is in another city for eight days a month, and a bad plan is worse than an unusual one: it will be violated, documented, and used. The alternatives are well established — a repeating two-week pattern with fixed travel windows, longer blocks in the summer, a right of first refusal so that the other parent, not a sitter, covers a trip, make-up time that is defined rather than negotiated, and video contact written into the order. Judges accept plans like these when they are specific and when the parent’s history shows the time will be used. I draft them to be enforceable, because a plan that depends on goodwill is not a plan.
Nannies, au pairs, grandparents, and the argument about them.
The other side’s script is that the executive parent will simply hand the children to paid help. The answer is not to deny the help but to show what it is for: the same care that existed during the marriage, in the same house, so the children’s routine survives the divorce. A parent who has always relied on a nanny for the after-school hours and is present for dinner, homework, and weekends has a pattern the court recognizes. A right of first refusal cuts both ways here, and I negotiate its terms — the number of hours that triggers it, the notice required — rather than accept a version that turns every business dinner into a hearing.
When one parent runs a company.
Colorado separates parenting time from decision-making responsibility, and the second is where a business owner’s judgment is an asset rather than a liability: school choice, medical decisions, and religious upbringing are allocated jointly or to one parent by subject. Joint decision-making with a clear tie-breaking process is usually right for two capable parents; sole authority over a subject is right when the record shows one parent has always handled it. I also draft the mechanics — a co-parenting application the court can read, response deadlines, a parenting coordinator or decision-maker for the disputes that recur — because an executive parent’s time is better spent on the children than on litigating the next argument.
How a CFI or PRE treats the high-earning parent.
In a contested case the court will often appoint a Child and Family Investigator or order a Parental Responsibilities Evaluation, and the evaluator will see the executive parent through the same lens the court does: schedule, involvement, and the ability to separate the children’s needs from the conflict. Preparation matters. The parent who arrives with a clear account of a typical week, the names of the teachers and the coach, and a realistic proposed schedule reads very differently from one who arrives with a lawyer’s talking points. I prepare clients for these interviews personally, and when a report is wrong, I cross-examine the evaluator — work I have done for thirty years. How to prepare the record, and the current fee caps: A Parent’s Guide to CFIs and PREs.
Support above the guidelines, school, and the extras.
Child support in these households usually runs at or above the top of Colorado’s schedule, which the 2026 amendments extended to $40,000 of combined monthly income; above it, support is discretionary with a floor, and the fight is over what counts as income for an owner or an executive with equity. Private school, tutoring, travel sports, and a 529 plan are negotiated as extraordinary expenses, allocated by income share or agreed outright, and I put them in the order rather than leave them to annual argument. Where a business is the source of income, the custody case and the money case arrive together, and I try both. See Child Support and Income Determination.
Keeping the company out of the custody file.
A custody case generates a record — an evaluator’s report, financial affidavits, sometimes testimony about how a business is run. Colorado court files are generally public, and a company’s customers and investors have no business reading them. Protective orders, sealed exhibits where the standard is met, and settlement documents that do not recite more than they must are part of how I run these cases from the first filing. More on the limits and the tools: Privacy & Discretion.
Before anyone files.
Start the record today: a calendar of the time you actually spend, the school and medical contacts you handle, the messages that show it. Do not change the children’s routine to make a point. Do not move out without a written interim schedule — the status quo that forms in the first months becomes the temporary order, and the temporary order becomes the argument at permanent orders. And talk to me before the travel calendar for next quarter is set; the plan is easier to build around a schedule than to repair after one.
In a contested case the evaluator will see you through the same lens the court does: schedule, involvement, and the ability to separate the children’s needs from the conflict. I prepare clients for those interviews personally. Where a business is the source of income, the custody case and the money case arrive together, and I try both.
The co-parenting apps: OurFamilyWizard and TalkingParents.
Judges in the Denver-metro districts, parenting plans and decision-makers routinely require that all non-emergency communication between parents go through a co-parenting application, and they usually name one of these two or let the parents choose between them. Both do the same basic thing: every message is timestamped, marked when it is read, and cannot be edited or deleted, so the record of what was said, when, and by whom is kept by a third party neither parent controls. Here is what each does, what it costs, and how the record is used in court.
OurFamilyWizard
ourfamilywizard.com →- Documented messaging: timestamps record when each message was received and read; messages are stored unalterably.
- ToneMeter and a writing assistant that flag hostile or emotional phrasing before a message is sent.
- A shared parenting calendar with color-coded time, holiday scheduling and yes/no trade requests.
- An expense ledger with receipts, stated splits (50/50, 80/20) and in-app payments; a running balance.
- Documented in-app calls, an information bank for medical, school and insurance records, and a login history.
Records are exported as certified reports. Free professional accounts let your lawyer, a child and family investigator or a parenting coordinator view the activity and download the records directly, which removes any argument about what was produced.
As of September 2026: a paid subscription for each parent, billed annually, about $110 a year for the basic plan; about $150 for the most-used plan, with 45 minutes of calls a month, the writing assistant, expense tracking and GPS check-ins; about $216 for unlimited calls, storage and certified records; about $300 with call recording and transcription. One parent may pay for both. Free or discounted subscriptions for parents in financial need, and a military rate.
TalkingParents
talkingparents.com →- Secure messaging with timestamps and read status; every message and call is permanently saved and cannot be edited or deleted.
- Accountable Calling: calls placed through the app, documented, with minutes that scale by plan.
- A shared calendar, an information library, and Accountable Payments for reimbursements between parents.
- Vault storage for documents, photos and video; a personal journal that the other parent cannot see.
- A sentiment scanner and writing assist on the top plan.
Unlimited PDF records on every plan, and a printed, certified records package for a hearing, included on the top plan and available for a fee on the others. The records carry the timestamps and read status the court needs.
As of September 2026: a paid subscription (the free tier ended March 30, 2026), $7 a month for messaging, calendar, information library, 30 minutes of calls and unlimited PDF records; $16 for more calling and storage; $32 for unlimited calls, the sentiment scanner, priority support and one printed records package. Eight percent off when paid annually. Fee waivers for parents who qualify on financial-hardship or domestic-violence grounds.
How the record is used as evidence.
- Get it into the order. A parenting plan or temporary order that requires the app is what makes going around it a violation. Without the clause, texts and voicemails continue and the record is fragmentary.
- Write every message for the judge. They will read it. Short, factual, about the child, no adjectives. The tone tools exist because one heated paragraph outweighs a year of good ones.
- Never go around it. A parent who texts, calls or emails outside the app after the order has undercut the record and given the other side an exhibit. Emergencies are the exception the plan defines.
- Use the calendar and the ledger. An exchange requested and declined in the calendar, or a reimbursement posted with a receipt and never paid, is the exhibit in an enforcement or contempt motion. Screenshots of a text thread are not.
- Export the record, do not photograph it. A certified or PDF record with timestamps and read status is produced by the app, not by a phone; the other parent’s own messages come in as statements of a party, and the app’s records address authentication.
- Give the professionals access. A CFI or PRE who can read the app sees the whole pattern rather than the excerpts each parent chooses; so does a decision-maker. That transparency is itself persuasive.
How it gets into your order.
A parenting-plan clause, agreed or ordered, along these lines:
All non-emergency communication between the parents concerning the children shall occur through a co-parenting application (OurFamilyWizard or TalkingParents). Each parent shall maintain an active subscription, check the application at least once daily, and respond to a request within forty-eight hours. Emergencies concerning a child’s health or safety may be communicated by telephone and shall be confirmed in the application.
The clause also names who pays, what counts as an emergency, whether new partners may be given access, and that the record is admissible for enforcement and modification. In a high-conflict case I ask for it at temporary orders, so that the record exists for the permanent-orders hearing rather than beginning after it. Neither app makes anyone a better co-parent; both make the record of who was.
Features and prices are as stated on the companies’ own sites in September 2026 and change; confirm before subscribing. OurFamilyWizard and TalkingParents are trademarks of their owners, used here to identify the products. I have no relationship with either company and receive nothing from either.
What I tell every executive parent.
Five things, before the first hearing.
- Draft the plan for your real calendar.
A schedule you cannot keep is worse than a smaller one you can. Travel weeks, board meetings and earnings season go into the plan, in writing.
- Involvement is proven, not asserted.
The school knows one parent’s name. The pediatrician has one parent’s cell. Change that now if it is not you.
- Delegation is not parenting.
A nanny, a grandparent or a new partner covering your time is evidence about the schedule, not about your involvement. Be there for the time you ask for.
- Money is not a factor. Time is.
The bigger house does not decide custody. The history of who did the caregiving is written into the statute.
- Build the right of first refusal carefully.
It can give you time you would otherwise lose to a caregiver, or it can become the most litigated paragraph in the plan. Draft it with the job in mind.
Custody is shaped by the first orders. Start the record before anyone files.
Start with a confidential conversation: tell me what is at stake →
The other parent is not following the schedule? That is enforcement, not modification.
Colorado has a statute built for withheld parenting time: a verified motion under C.R.S. § 14-10-129.5, decided on the papers within thirty-five days, with make-up time of the same kind and length as the time lost, attorney fees the court must award against the parent who withheld or failed to exercise the time, and contempt as one remedy among several. Make-up time, not jail, is usually the point. A single withheld weekend supports make-up time and fees under this statute even where it would not support contempt.
The parenting-time enforcement motion →Enforcement of Orders →Contempt of Court →
The questions executive parents ask first.
Will my travel schedule cost me custody?
Not by itself. Colorado allocates parenting time under the best-interests factors, and income and job title are not among them. What the court looks at is the record of involvement: who went to the pediatrician, who knows the teacher’s name, who was there on the ordinary days. A demanding career is a fact the schedule has to be built around, and a plan drafted for the job you actually have, with travel windows, make-up time and video contact written in, is one judges accept when the history shows the time will be used.
Is a week-on, week-off schedule realistic for me?
Often not, and a bad plan is worse than an unusual one: it will be violated, documented and used. For a parent who is in another city eight days a month, the alternatives are a repeating two-week pattern with fixed travel windows, longer blocks in the summer, a right of first refusal so the other parent rather than a sitter covers a trip, and defined make-up time. The schedule is drafted to be enforceable, because a plan that depends on goodwill is not a plan.
The other side says I'll just hand the kids to the nanny. How do I answer that?
Show what the help is for: the same care that existed during the marriage, in the same house, so the children’s routine survives the divorce. A parent who has always relied on a nanny for the after-school hours and is present for dinner, homework and weekends has a pattern the court recognizes. Delegation is evidence about the schedule, not about your involvement; be there for the time you ask for.
What is a right of first refusal, and should I agree to one?
A plan term, not a statute, under which a parent who cannot personally care for the children for a stated period must offer the time to the other parent before using a caregiver. It cuts both ways: it can give you time you would otherwise lose to a sitter, or it can become the most litigated paragraph in the plan. The hours that trigger it and the notice required are negotiated with the job in mind, not conceded.
Does being a business owner help or hurt on decision-making?
It usually helps. Colorado separates parenting time from decision-making responsibility, and school, medical and religious decisions are allocated jointly, to one parent, or by subject. A business owner’s judgment is an asset there. What matters is the mechanics: a co-parenting application the court can read, response deadlines, and a decision-maker for the disputes that recur, so that disagreements are resolved in days rather than in court.
How will a custody evaluator see a high-earning parent?
Through the same lens the court uses: schedule, involvement, and the ability to separate the children’s needs from the conflict. The parent who arrives with a clear account of a typical week, the names of the teachers and the coach, and a realistic proposed schedule reads very differently from one who arrives with talking points. I prepare clients for those interviews personally, and when a report is wrong I cross-examine the evaluator.
Will child support be based on the guideline if my income is very high?
The 2026 amendments extended Colorado’s schedule to $40,000 of combined monthly income; above that, support is discretionary with the top of the schedule as a floor, and the fight is over what counts as income for an owner or an executive paid in equity. Private school, tutoring, travel sports and a 529 plan are negotiated as extraordinary expenses and put in the order rather than left to annual argument.
Can I keep my company's information out of the custody file?
Largely, yes, with planning from the first filing. Financial statements and financial documents are suppressed from public access under the judicial branch’s access directive, protective orders are available for specific exhibits, and settlement documents are drafted not to recite more than they must. Colorado court files are otherwise public, and a company’s customers and investors have no business reading them.
Where to go next.
The next page in this chapter, the pages that belong with it, and the blog posts on the same question.
From the blog, on this topic
Bonuses not yet paid, awards not yet vested, deferred comp not yet distributable: property to divide, or income to share? For executives, the grant documents…
Sept 16, 2026RSUs, Bonuses, and Deferred Comp in a Colorado DivorceExecutive pay does not fit neatly into "property" or "income." Colorado law apportions unvested equity, allocates bonuses to when they were earned, and expects…
Your calendar is the case. Let’s build a plan you can actually keep.
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.
Talk to us about your case.
303-507-5529One call. A real person picks up, hears you out, and tells you how we would handle what you are facing and what to do first. No phone tree, no sales pitch, no obligation. Your first conversation is with our intake paralegal, who will get you to Aaron fast.
Rather write? Send a short note and during business hours we call you back within the hour.