Colorado custody terms, explained.
Colorado does not say custody. It says parental responsibilities, split into decision-making and parenting time, and the courtroom has a vocabulary of its own: CFI, PRE, majority time, right of first refusal, decision-maker. Here is what the words mean, and which ones move the case.
- 01Three words that carry the case
- 02The schedule, counted in overnights
- 03What “legal custody” became
- 04What the court is actually weighing
- 05The document that holds it all
- 06Roles, and what each one can and cannot do
- 07Statute, or practice?
- →What people ask first
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The 1999 change.
Effective February 1, 1999, Colorado replaced “custody” and its relatives with “parental responsibilities” (C.R.S. § 14-10-103(4)); “visitation” had already become “parenting time” in 1993. The legislature said it did not intend to change the meaning, only the words — the idea being that neither parent “wins” the children and the other “visits.” The old words survive in a few corners of the child-support statute and in every conversation at the kitchen table, so this page translates in both directions.
| What people say | What Colorado says | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Custody | Parental responsibilities | The whole bundle: where the children live and who decides things for them |
| Physical custody | Parenting time | The schedule — when the children are with each parent, counted in overnights |
| Legal custody | Decision-making responsibility | Who makes the major decisions: school, medical, religion, activities |
| Joint custody | Mutual decision-making, and often equal or near-equal parenting time | The two are separate: parents can share decisions and have unequal time, or the reverse |
| Sole custody | Sole (individual) decision-making, usually with majority parenting time | One parent decides; the other still ordinarily has parenting time |
| Custodial parent | The parent with whom the child resides a majority of the time | Used in the statutes for support and modification rules, but never defined |
| Visitation | Parenting time | Same thing; the word changed in 1993 |
| Custody case (unmarried parents) | Allocation of parental responsibilities, an “APR” case | The same orders as in a divorce, without the marriage |
Three words that carry the case.
The schedule, written as a school-year pattern, a summer pattern and a holiday schedule, and counted in overnights out of 365. Under the 2026 amendments every overnight earns a proportional child-support credit, and the count decides which parent the children reside with a majority of the time.
What legal custody became: authority over school, medical, religion, extracurriculars and passports, allocated jointly, to one parent, or by subject (§ 14-10-124(1.5)(b)). One parent can hold medical decisions while both share school, with a tie-breaker for disputes.
Either parent may submit one; if the court approves none, it writes its own (§ 14-10-124(7)). Once adopted, the plan is the order, and every later dispute is measured against it.
The schedule, counted in overnights.
Parenting time is when the children are with each parent. It is decided under the best-interests factors (below), written into the parenting plan as a school-year schedule, a summer schedule, and a holiday schedule, and counted in overnights per year — the court’s parenting-plan form asks each parent to state their overnights out of 365. The count matters for two reasons. It drives child support: under the 2026 amendments every overnight earns a proportional credit on the worksheet (the old cliff at 93 overnights is gone). And it decides who is “the party with whom the child resides a majority of the time,” the phrase the statutes use for the parent whose home is the children’s primary residence — which controls the rules for relocation and for later modifications. Common schedules and what they look like: Parenting-Time Schedules.
What “legal custody” became.
Decision-making responsibility is the authority to make the major decisions for a child. The statute lets the court allocate it “mutually between both parties or individually to one or the other party or any combination thereof” (C.R.S. § 14-10-124(1.5)(b)), and the parenting plan form breaks it into subjects: school and education; medical, dental, and mental health; religion; extracurricular activities; and passports. So the realistic options are not just “joint” or “sole” — one parent can hold medical decisions while both share school, and a plan can name a tie-breaking process for disputes. Day-to-day decisions belong to whichever parent has the children that day, and either parent can authorize emergency medical treatment.
In deciding whether to make decision-making mutual, the court weighs three things in addition to the general factors: credible evidence of the parents’ ability to cooperate and decide jointly; whether their past pattern of involvement shows the values, time commitment, and mutual support that would make them good joint decision-makers; and whether mutual decision-making would promote more frequent contact between the child and each parent. There is one hard limit, rewritten in May 2026: where the court finds by a preponderance that a parent committed domestic violence, child abuse, or sexual assault resulting in the child’s conception, mutual decision-making is not in the child’s best interests over the other parent’s objection unless the court makes specific findings that it can happen without coercion, intimidation, retaliation, or risk of harm (C.R.S. § 14-10-124(1.5)(c)).
What the court is actually weighing.
Every parenting-time decision is made under C.R.S. § 14-10-124(1.5)(a), which lists the factors the court must consider: the parents’ wishes; the child’s wishes if the child is mature enough to express reasoned and independent preferences (there is no fixed age); the child’s relationships with parents, siblings, and others who significantly affect the child; any domestic-violence report from a CFI, PRE, or child’s legal representative; the child’s adjustment to home, school, and community; the mental and physical health of everyone involved, with the caveat that a disability alone cannot restrict parenting time; each parent’s ability to encourage the child’s love and contact with the other parent; whether the past pattern of involvement reflects values, time commitment, and mutual support; the physical proximity of the homes; and each parent’s ability to place the child’s needs ahead of their own. Since 2024 the court must also strive to disregard biased information — about religion, gender, culture, race, disability — from any source.
The roles around the case, CFI, PRE, child’s legal representative, and the other terms you will hear are translated in the full section below.
The document that holds it all.
Either parent may submit a parenting plan, and if the court does not approve one it writes its own (C.R.S. § 14-10-124(7)). A plan addresses the type of decision-making; a practical schedule including holidays and school vacations; how exchanges happen, where, and who drives; how the parents communicate about the child; how each parent communicates with the child during the other’s time; and anything else in the child’s interest. The court’s form (JDF 1113) adds sections on overnights, travel, moving, child support, health insurance, optional expenses, and the tax exemption. Once the court adopts it, the plan is the order — and it is what every later dispute is measured against.
Roles, and what each one can and cannot do.
| Role | What it is | The limit |
|---|---|---|
| Child and Family Investigator (CFI) | A neutral appointed by the court — a lawyer, mental-health professional, or other trained person — who investigates the issues in the appointment order and files a written recommendation (§ 14-10-116.5) | Investigates only what the order says; fee capped by the Supreme Court |
| Parental Responsibility Evaluator (PRE) | A licensed mental-health professional who performs a fuller evaluation, sometimes with psychological testing, and reports options in the child’s best interests (§ 14-10-127) | Longer and costlier; no fee cap |
| Child’s Legal Representative (CLR) | A lawyer appointed to represent the child’s best interests (§ 14-10-116) | Cannot be a witness, need not follow the child’s wishes, cannot also be the CFI |
| Parenting Coordinator (PC) | A neutral who helps parents implement the plan and resolve day-to-day disputes (§ 14-10-128.1) | Assists only — cannot make binding decisions; term limited to two years unless the parents agree |
| Decision-Maker (DM) | A neutral the parents both consent to, with binding authority to resolve disputes about implementing existing orders (§ 14-10-128.3) | Decisions are effective immediately; either parent can ask the court to review within 35 days; two-year term |
| Arbitrator | By consent, decides disputed issues in a written award (§ 14-10-128.5) | Either parent can request a new hearing before the court within 35 days |
How the CFI and PRE processes work, and how to prepare: A Parent’s Guide to CFIs and PREs.
Statute, or practice?
APR case. An allocation-of-parental-responsibilities case — the custody case between parents who were never married, or a nonparent’s case. A nonparent may file only if the child is not in a parent’s physical care, or if the nonparent has had physical care of the child for 182 days or more and files within 182 days after that care ended (§ 14-10-123). Grandparents and great-grandparents have a separate route to “family time” when there is or has been a custody case (§ 14-10-124.4).
Supervised parenting time is a statutory phrase; right of first refusal, step-up plan, and exchange are parenting-plan terms rather than statutes — they mean what your plan says they mean, which is why the drafting matters. See Supervised Parenting Time.
Relocation. A parent with majority time who intends to move far enough to change the child’s geographic ties to the other parent must give written notice as soon as practicable — where, why, and a proposed new schedule — and the hearing gets priority on the docket. The court weighs a separate list of factors on top of the best-interests factors (§ 14-10-129(2)(c)). More: Relocation & Move-Away.
Modification. Parenting time can be modified whenever it serves the child’s best interests, but a change that moves the child’s majority residence requires changed circumstances, and a second such motion cannot be filed within two years of the last one absent endangerment or a planned relocation (§ 14-10-129). Decision-making carries the same two-year bar with exceptions for agreement, integration, consistent consent, and endangerment (§ 14-10-131). Every motion needs an affidavit showing adequate cause. More: Modifications.
Home state. Under Colorado’s version of the UCCJEA, a child’s home state is where the child has lived with a parent for at least 182 consecutive days before the case begins, and that state has the first claim to decide custody (§ 14-13-102). More: Interstate & International Custody.
Legal separation produces the same parental-responsibilities orders as a divorce; only the marriage is treated differently. The child’s wishes are one factor, weighed by maturity, and on motion the court may interview the child in chambers and must explain its decision to do so or not (§ 14-10-126).
What I tell every parent about the vocabulary.
Five terms that decide more than they seem to.
- Decision-making is not time.
Joint decision-making with less than equal time is common. So is the reverse. Argue both, separately.
- Majority time is a label with consequences.
It affects the school, the support worksheet and later modifications. It is worth understanding before you agree to a schedule.
- CFI and PRE are not interchangeable.
One investigates a defined question at a capped cost; the other evaluates in depth at a higher one. The appointment order decides which you get.
- Right of first refusal exists only if the plan says so.
No statute creates it. The drafting decides whether it adds parent time or adds litigation.
- Endangerment is a different standard.
Changing the primary parent, or restricting time, requires more than best interests. Know which motion you are actually filing.
Custody is shaped by the first orders. The first month decides most of it.
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 people ask about the vocabulary.
Why doesn't Colorado use the word custody?
Since February 1, 1999, Colorado law has said parental responsibilities instead of custody, split into parenting time and decision-making responsibility; visitation had already become parenting time in 1993. The legislature said it was changing the words, not the meaning, so that neither parent wins the children while the other visits. Lawyers and judges say APR, for allocation of parental responsibilities; clients still say custody, and everyone understands both.
What is the difference between parenting time and decision-making?
Parenting time is the schedule: when the children are with each parent, counted in overnights out of 365. Decision-making responsibility is the authority to make the major decisions, school, medical, religion, activities, passports, allocated jointly, to one parent, or by subject. They are decided separately. Parents can share decisions with unequal time, or the reverse.
What does majority time mean, and why does it matter?
The parent with whom the children reside a majority of the time, by overnight count. The statutes use the label for child support and for the modification rules without defining it. It affects the school, the support worksheet and later motions: changing which parent has majority time requires changed circumstances and, in most cases, a two-year wait between motions.
What is the difference between a CFI and a PRE?
A child and family investigator is a court-appointed neutral, a lawyer, mental-health professional or other trained person, who investigates the questions in the appointment order and files a written recommendation, at a fee capped by the Supreme Court. A parental responsibilities evaluator is a licensed mental-health professional who performs a fuller evaluation, sometimes with psychological testing, with no fee cap. The appointment order decides which you get; they are not interchangeable.
What is a decision-maker, and how is that different from a parenting coordinator?
A parenting coordinator helps the parents implement the plan and resolve day-to-day disputes; a coordinator assists only and cannot make binding decisions. A decision-maker is a neutral both parents consent to, with binding authority to resolve disputes about implementing the existing orders; the decisions take effect immediately, and either parent can ask the court to review one within thirty-five days. Both serve two-year terms.
Is a right of first refusal required by law?
No. It is a parenting-plan term, not a statute, and it exists only if the plan says so. It means what your plan says it means, which is why the drafting matters: the hours that trigger it and the notice required decide whether it adds parent time or adds litigation.
At what age can a child decide which parent to live with?
There is no fixed age. The child’s wishes are one of the best-interests factors, weighed by whether the child is mature enough to express reasoned and independent preferences, and on motion the court may interview the child in chambers and must explain its decision to do so or not. A child’s preference is considered; it does not decide.
What is an APR case?
An allocation-of-parental-responsibilities case: the custody case between parents who were never married, or a nonparent’s case. It produces the same parenting-time and decision-making orders as a divorce, without the marriage. A nonparent may file only if the child is not in a parent’s physical care, or if the nonparent has had physical care of the child for 182 days or more and files within 182 days after that care ended.
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
Colorado replaced custody with the allocation of parental responsibilities, split into parenting time and decision-making. How each half works, joint versus sole…
Sept 18, 2026Child's Legal Representative in Colorado: A Lawyer for Your ChildIn a hard-fought Colorado custody case the judge can appoint an attorney whose only client is the child's best interests. What a CLR does, how it differs from a…
Sept 17, 2026Can You File for Divorce in Another State If You Live in Colorado?Where a divorce can be filed, where the money can be decided, and where the children's case belongs are three different questions. Colorado's 91-day domicile…
The words decide more than they seem to. Let’s make sure you are arguing the right ones.
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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.