Practice Area · Children & Parenting
Relocation & move-away cases.
In my clientele the relocation case usually starts with good news — a promotion, an acquisition, a headquarters move. Then it becomes the hardest question in family law: what happens to the parenting plan when one parent's life is in another city.
Two Different Doors
When you ask changes what the court asks.
Colorado treats relocation differently depending on timing. In an initial allocation, Spahmer v. Gullette requires the court to accept each parent's chosen location and allocate parenting accordingly — it cannot order a parent to live somewhere. After a decree, Ciesluk v. Ciesluk governs: a relocation is a modification decided on the child's best interests, with no presumption for or against the moving parent and no burden-shifting between them. Same family, same move — two different legal frameworks. Knowing which door you're standing at is the first strategic fact of the case.
The Statutory Factors
What the court is required to weigh.
For post-decree moves, Colorado's statute directs courts to consider, among other factors: the reasons for the proposed relocation and the objection to it, the history and quality of each parent's relationship with the child, the educational opportunities at each location, the presence of extended family, advantages of the child remaining with the primary caregiver, anticipated impact on the child, and whether a reasonable parenting schedule can be fashioned across the distance. These factors aren't a checklist to recite — they're the outline of the evidence you build.
Notice & Timing
You cannot simply move.
A parent intending to relocate in a way that substantially changes geographical ties must give the other parent written notice as soon as practicable, including the new location, the reason, and a proposed revised parenting plan. Moving first and litigating later is the single most damaging mistake in these cases — courts read it as placing your plans above the child's stability. Whichever side you're on, the calendar is strategy: relief sought early, hearings requested promptly, interim arrangements negotiated before positions harden.
Building the Record
Distance cases are evidence cases.
For the moving parent: the concrete life waiting at the destination — the school enrollment, the neighborhood, the travel plan with real flight schedules and costs, the technology routine that keeps the other parent present. For the staying parent: the depth of the existing routine — coaching, homework, pediatrician visits, the web of daily involvement a move would sever. Judges decide these cases on which parent has thought hardest about the child's actual week. I make sure that parent is my client.
Executive Transfers
When the move isn't optional.
A corporate relocation adds a layer: the employer's timeline rarely respects the court's. I coordinate both — negotiating start-date flexibility and remote periods with counsel-to-counsel discretion while the parenting case proceeds, and structuring interim schedules that don't prejudice the final outcome. The goal is a plan that survives the move, not a victory that collapses the first time a flight cancels. Related reading: parenting time and modifications.
The rest of this chapter.
Parental responsibilities and parenting time under Colorado's best-interests standard, support that reflects real income, and the hard cases: relocation and custody across state lines.
- Parental Responsibilitiesbest interests, decided on credibility→
- Parenting Timeschedules engineered for real life→
- Child Supportthe 2026 guidelines, and owner income→
- Relocation & Move-Awaytwo doors, different rulesYou are here
- Interstate & International Custodywhich state decides, before what it decides→
- Custody for Executives & Business Ownersparenting plans for demanding careers→
- CFI & PRE Guidepreparing for the evaluator→
- False Allegationsdefending against abuse claims→
- Supervised Parenting Timewhen it is ordered, and how it ends→
- Colorado Custody Termsthe vocabulary, translated→
- Parenting-Time Schedulesthe common arrangements and their trade-offs→
Engagement
A move is coming, or one is being proposed to you. Either way, the calendar has started.
A consultation is a scheduled working session — in person in Greenwood Village or by video — in which we go through your situation and I tell you what I would do. It is a paid meeting, not a free call and not a sales pitch; my assistant quotes the consultation fee when you schedule. There is no chatbot here: the contact form and the phone both reach my office, my assistant reviews every inquiry personally, and the meeting goes on my calendar. Please hold the confidential details until we have run a conflicts check.