Child Support Deviations and Life Insurance

Are you involved in a divorce or child custody case involving child support? (The Colorado statutory tiles for these are dissolution of marriage and allocation of parental responsibilities). An experienced Colorado Springs divorce and child custody lawyer can guide you through the legal process and assist you in exploring your options. You have one bite at the apple in the court system so make it count. It is important to understand the differences between magistrates and district court judges as well as to be informed about recent changes in the magistrate review process.

Although the support guidelines are presumptive, courts have discretion to deviate where application would be “inequitable, unjust, or inappropriate.” A deviation requires written or oral findings identifying the guideline amount of support, the deviation amount, and the reasons supporting a deviation. Child support deviations are not common, as the guidelines are presumptive. When requesting a deviation, specify the reason for the deviation.

For example, deviation may be appropriate in situations such as:

1. Where one parent spends a substantial amount of time during the day with the child;
2. Extraordinary medical expenses incurred by either parent; and/or
3. Extraordinary parenting time costs.

With regards to income tax credits, deductions or exemptions, many parents alternate the benefits for the child each year. However, a parent is not entitled to claim the child as a dependency exemption for any tax year where the parent is in arrears on child support, which encourages compliance with child support orders.

In order to facilitate child support modifications without court involvement, Colorado statute provides for an annual exchange of information. Parents are required to exchange financial information annually in the event of financial change. The purpose of the exchange is to encourage agreed-upon support modifications and to avoid the necessity of resolving modifications through court proceedings. A court can be requested to order an exchange in the situation where a party does not voluntarily provide financial information; however, the court will not order the exchange if the requesting parent has not regularly exercised parenting time, is in arrears on child support payments, has violated a restraining order, or if there is documented evidence of domestic violence.

In juvenile court actions, prenatal care expense sharing may be ordered. In a juvenile court paternity case, the court can order the father to pay reasonable expenses for pregnancy and delivery costs. This remedy is not available in domestic relations court. Thus, whether to file in juvenile or domestic relations court is sometimes a strategic decision in order to obtain the maximum amount of retroactive support available.

Life insurance is often utilized to secure support payments. This protects children in the situation where the death of a parent eliminates a support income stream to the child. Often the parents can agree to insure the child at the insurance level offered by a parent’s employer, or the parents might agree to a certain amount of coverage as calculated by the total value of the future support payments.

It is a good idea to ask for an annual provision of insurance policy documentation to the receiving parent to ensure that the policy is being maintained. If a failure to comply is not discovered until after the party required to provide insurance dies, there may be no available remedies for continued support.

A highly knowledgeable and experienced Colorado Springs divorce and child custody lawyer can guide you through Colorado Springs divorce and child custody matters by negotiating, mediating and litigating on your behalf. You can focus on moving to a better future instead of spending your time attempting to navigate complex legal rules and procedures.

Sabra Janko from Janko Family Law has more than 20 years of legal experience and has written “the book” on Colorado divorce and family law – “Colorado Family Law With Forms”, published by LexisNexis, which you can find at https://store.lexisnexis.com/products/colorado-family-law-with-forms-skuSKU02903. Contact us at 719-344-5523 or complete our online scheduling request for a free 30-minute informational consultation. We also offer paid one-hour advice sessions for a more in-depth analysis of your case.