By April D. Jones, Founder and CEO, Jones Law Firm, PC
It is rarely one big thing. It is the exchange that runs an hour late every other week. The weekend that gets canceled by text on Friday afternoon. The child who comes back a day later than the order says, with an excuse you have heard before. On its own, each one feels too small to do anything about. Together, they add up to a parenting order that exists on paper while the other parent treats it as optional.
If that is where you are, you are not powerless. Colorado gives you real tools to enforce a parenting order. This article covers how to know when a violation is worth acting on, how to document it, and what your options are when you decide to bring it to a court.
Start with what your order actually says
Enforcement begins with the exact language of your order. Before you call something a violation, be clear on what the schedule requires, down to the exchange times, the holiday rotation, and who is responsible for transportation.
This matters because a lot of parenting disputes live in the gray areas of a vague order. If the order says exchanges happen “in the evening” without a set time, a 7:30 arrival is hard to call a violation. If the holiday schedule was never spelled out, a disagreement over Thanksgiving is a gap in the order rather than a breach of it. A court enforces what the order says, not the informal routine the two of you drifted into over the years. If your order is vague, that is worth addressing on its own, because a clear order is far easier to enforce.
Document the pattern
A single missed exchange is rarely worth a court filing. A pattern is a different matter, and a pattern is something you have to be able to show.
Keep a simple, factual record. For each incident, write down the date, what the order required, and what actually happened. Save the texts and emails where the other parent cancels, reschedules, or explains a late return. A calendar or a log that you keep as you go carries far more weight than a memory you try to reconstruct months later. Judges see a lot of he-said-she-said, and the parent who walks in with dates and documentation is the one a court can actually act on.
Try to resolve it first, when it is safe to
Courts generally want to see that you made an effort to solve the problem before you filed. A direct, written request to the other parent that lays out the issue is often the right first step, and options like mediation or a parenting coordinator can help where the relationship allows it.
There is an important limit on this. If there is any safety concern for your child, do not delay protective action to look cooperative. The good-faith-effort expectation applies to ordinary scheduling conflicts, not to situations where your child is at risk. When safety is the issue, get advice quickly.
Colorado has a specific tool for parenting time violations
Colorado has a statute that addresses this directly. Under C.R.S. 14-10-129.5, you can file a verified motion telling the court that the other parent is not complying with the parenting time order. This is different from a general complaint or a custody modification. It is a specific procedural tool aimed at one thing, which is enforcing the order you already have.
Two features make this statute worth knowing. The court has to act quickly, generally within 35 days of your filing, by either denying the motion, setting a hearing as soon as the docket allows, or sending the parties to mediation. And if the court finds that a parent failed to provide court-ordered parenting time, the statute directs the court to order that parent to pay the aggrieved parent’s attorney fees, court costs, and associated expenses. A court that finds a violation can also add terms to the existing order, order make-up parenting time, and enter other remedies aimed at the best interests of your child.
When contempt is the right tool instead
Contempt of court is the broader option. It applies to the willful violation of any clear court order, not just parenting time, and it carries heavier potential consequences, including fines and, in extreme cases, jail.
Contempt asks more of you as the person bringing it. You generally have to show a valid order, the other parent’s knowledge of that order, and a willful failure to follow it. It also tends to take longer than a motion under the parenting time statute. Contempt fits a violation that is serious, deliberate, and ongoing. For the everyday pattern of late exchanges and last-minute cancellations, the enforcement statute is usually the faster and more direct route, and an attorney can help you decide which one your situation calls for.
Know the difference between enforcement and modification
These two requests are easy to confuse, and bringing the wrong one costs you time. Enforcement asks the court to make the other parent follow the order that already exists. Modification asks the court to change the order because circumstances have changed.
Sometimes a repeated violation is a sign the schedule itself has stopped working for your family, which points toward modification. Other times the schedule is fine, and the real problem is the other parent’s compliance, which points toward enforcement. Figuring out which one you actually have is the first thing to sort out before you file, because the answer determines what you ask the court to do.
What not to do
Some responses feel justified in the moment and create real problems for you later. Withholding your child from the other parent to even the score is one of them. Stopping child support because your time is being denied is another. Cutting off contact on your own terms is a third.
Colorado treats parenting time and child support as separate obligations. One parent’s failure to meet their obligation does not excuse you from meeting yours. A self-help response can turn you from the parent who was in the right into the one a court views as the problem. The tools to fix this run through the court, and using them is what protects you.
What to do now
If you are dealing with a pattern of violations, here is where to start:
- Reread your order so you know exactly what it requires.
- Start documenting every incident with the date and specifics.
- Keep your communication with the other parent in writing.
- Make a good-faith attempt to resolve it, unless a safety concern makes that unwise.
- Talk to a family law attorney about whether you have an enforcement issue, a modification issue, or both.
Enforcing your order
A parenting order is not meaningless just because the other parent ignores it. Colorado gives you specific, effective tools to enforce it, and handling the problem the right way, through documentation and the proper motion, is what makes those tools work for you.If the other parent keeps breaking your parenting schedule and you are not sure what to do next, we can help you sort out which option fits your situation and take the right step. Schedule a free consultation with our team. We choose sides. Yours.