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Colorado Springs Family Attorneys

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MORAN, ALLEN & ASSOCIATES FAMILY LAW ATTORNEYS

We represent clients in divorce, parental responsibilities, child support, civil protection orders, post-decree matters and family law appeals throughout El Paso County and Teller County. Our offices are in Colorado Springs and Woodland Park.

This page summarizes each service, how Colorado law handles it, and who on our team does the work. Each section links to a fuller page on that topic.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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HOW WE WORK

A family law case is not a filing problem. It is a decision-making problem under pressure, and the quality of the decisions you make in the first sixty days tends to shape the rest of the case.

Our attorneys handle the full lifecycle of a domestic relations matter: the initial consultation, the petition and service, the financial disclosures required by Rule 16.2 of the Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure, temporary orders, negotiation and mediation, contested hearings, and the permanent orders that follow. Our practice is for the attorney who prepares a case for trial to be the one who tries it.

Our attorneys work across both El Paso County and Teller County. Several came to the firm from prosecutors' offices, where they handled contested hearings, evidentiary objections and cross-examination.

We aim to keep each attorney's caseload manageable so that clients are not handed off. You will know which attorney is handling your case.

DIVORCE AND DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE

Colorado is a no-fault state. Under C.R.S. 14-10-106, the only ground for dissolution is that the marriage is irretrievably broken, and the court does not weigh who caused the breakdown when deciding whether to grant the decree.

Two timing rules control the front end of every case. At least one spouse must have been domiciled in Colorado for 91 days before the petition is filed. The court cannot enter a decree until at least 91 days have passed since it gained jurisdiction over the respondent, whether through service, the respondent joining the petition, or the respondent's appearance in the case.

Colorado divides marital property equitably under C.R.S. 14-10-113, not under a community property standard, and equitable does not mean equal. The court divides marital property without regard to marital misconduct, after considering all relevant factors, including each spouse's contribution to acquiring it (homemaking included), the value of the property set apart to each spouse, each spouse's economic circumstances, and any increase, decrease or depletion of separate property during the marriage.

Property owned before the marriage, or received by gift or inheritance, is generally separate, but the increase in its value during the marriage is treated as marital property. Maintenance and the division of retirement accounts, equity compensation and business interests are handled in the same proceeding, and getting the characterization right at the disclosure stage often matters more than argument at the final hearing.

Learn more about divorce in Colorado Springs

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MILITARY DIVORCE

Fort Carson, Peterson Space Force Base, Schriever Space Force Base and the United States Air Force Academy put a large service-member and military-spouse population in our area. These cases carry rules that do not appear in a civilian dissolution.

Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, a service member who has notice of a civil case, including a custody proceeding, can ask for a stay of at least 90 days by explaining how current military duties materially affect the ability to appear and providing a letter from the commanding officer. A stay can change the case schedule.

The Uniformed Services Former Spouses' Protection Act, 10 U.S.C. 1408, allows a Colorado court to treat disposable military retired pay as marital property. For decrees that became final after December 23, 2016 and before the member retires, the retired pay that can be divided is calculated from the member's retired pay base and years of service on the date of the decree, increased by later cost-of-living adjustments.

One persistent misunderstanding is worth stating plainly. The so-called 10/10 rule governs only whether the Defense Finance and Accounting Service will pay a former spouse's share directly. It is not a threshold for whether retired pay can be divided at all.

Survivor Benefit Plan coverage, TRICARE eligibility, housing, and how the parenting plan handles deployments are worth working through while the decree is being drafted, rather than after it is entered.

Learn more about military divorce

HIGH NET WORTH AND COMPLEX ASSET DIVORCE

When the marital estate includes a closely held business, professional practice, real estate portfolio, restricted stock, deferred compensation or a pension with a long service history, the case turns on valuation and characterization rather than on argument about fairness.

We work with business valuators, forensic accountants and vocational evaluators where the record requires it. Tracing separate property into commingled accounts, identifying marital appreciation of a premarital business, and valuing goodwill in a professional practice are all issues that need to be developed through discovery, not raised for the first time at permanent orders.

Tax treatment matters as much as the headline number. An account with a stated balance and an account with the same balance and a deferred tax liability are not equivalent assets, and a division that ignores that difference can leave one spouse with less than the numbers suggest.

Learn more about high net worth divorce

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UNCONTESTED DIVORCE

Where the parties agree on the division of property and debt, on maintenance, and on a parenting plan, the case can move through the court on the statutory timeline without contested hearings.

An uncontested case is still a case. The separation agreement and parenting plan become court orders, and a poorly drafted provision on relocation, which parent claims the children for tax purposes, retirement division, or the mechanics of a property equalization payment is difficult and expensive to fix afterward.

We handle uncontested matters at a predictable cost and draft each agreement with enforceability in mind.

Learn more about uncontested divorce

ALLOCATION OF PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Colorado's domestic relations statute replaced the word custody with the allocation of parental responsibilities, which has two distinct components: decision-making responsibility for matters such as education, health care and religious upbringing, and parenting time, meaning the schedule under which the child is with each parent.

The governing standard under C.R.S. 14-10-124 is the best interests of the child, giving paramount consideration to the child's safety and the child's physical, mental and emotional conditions and needs.

The factors the court considers include the wishes of the parents, the wishes of a child who is sufficiently mature to express reasoned and independent preferences, the child's relationships with parents and siblings, the child's adjustment to home, school and community, the mental and physical health of everyone involved, each parent's ability to encourage the child's relationship with the other parent, and the physical proximity of the parties.

Where there are allegations of domestic violence or child abuse, the analysis changes. A parent's actions to protect the child from witnessing domestic violence, or from abuse or neglect, are not held against that parent on the factor about encouraging the child's relationship with the other parent.

HB26-1309, which took effect May 27, 2026, goes further. If the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that a party committed domestic violence, child abuse or neglect, or a sexual assault that resulted in the child's conception, the safety and well-being of the child and the abused party become the court's primary concern, and the court may not order mutual decision-making over the other parent's objection unless it makes specific findings that it can occur without coercion, intimidation, retaliation or risk of harm.

The online 2025 compilation of the statutes does not yet show these changes, and these cases call for careful evidentiary preparation rather than treatment as a scheduling negotiation.

Parents who were never married can file their own petition to allocate parental responsibilities under C.R.S. 14-10-123, and the court determines legal parentage as part of that case.

Child custody and parenting time | Allocation of parental responsibilities

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CHILD SUPPORT

Colorado calculates child support under an income shares model in C.R.S. 14-10-115. The parents' adjusted gross incomes are combined, the basic support obligation is drawn from the statutory schedule, and the obligation is then divided between the parents in proportion to their incomes.

Overnights affect the number. Since March 1, 2026, under HB25-1159, the old threshold of more than 92 overnights a year is gone, and a parent receives credit for every overnight the child spends with that parent. Disputes over a handful of overnights per year can therefore be disputes about money, and they should be handled with that in mind.

The basic obligation is then adjusted for work-related and education-related child care costs, health insurance, extraordinary medical expenses and other extraordinary expenses. A parent's legal responsibility for children from another relationship is handled through an adjustment to that parent's gross income.

The same act updated the support schedule. Orders calculated under the prior schedule may produce a different figure today, so if your order predates the change, it is worth having the calculation re-run before you assume the number is still correct.

Learn more about child support

CIVIL PROTECTION ORDERS

Under C.R.S. 13-14-104.5, a Colorado court may issue a civil protection order to prevent assaults and threatened bodily harm, domestic abuse, emotional abuse of the elderly or of an at-risk adult, sexual violence, and stalking. The process usually runs in two stages: a temporary protection order, which may be issued at a hearing without the other party present, followed by a hearing on whether the order should be made permanent.

The standard for a temporary order changed on January 1, 2025. The legislature replaced the requirement that a petitioner show "imminent danger" with a finding that a risk or threat of physical harm, or a threat of psychological or emotional harm, exists. Older pages online still describe the former standard, so check the date of anything you read.

A permanent civil protection order generally remains in place until a court modifies or dismisses it. Under C.R.S. 13-14-108, a restrained party may move to modify or dismiss it two years after the order was issued, or two years after a prior motion was decided. There are exceptions, including a bar where the restrained party has been convicted of certain crimes against the protected person, and the court will not consider the motion without a fingerprint-based criminal history check done within 90 days before filing.

Protection order cases carry consequences well beyond the order itself. They can affect firearm rights, housing, employment, security clearances, and the parenting time allocation in any related domestic relations case, and because they are often heard on short notice, it helps to get advice early.

We represent both petitioners and restrained parties. Learn more about protection orders

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POST-DECREE MODIFICATIONS AND ENFORCEMENT

A decree is not permanent in every respect. Under C.R.S. 14-10-122, child support may be modified on a substantial and continuing change in circumstances, and only for payments that come due after the motion is filed. A recalculation that changes support by less than 10 percent is deemed not to meet that test, and a change of 10 percent or more is generally treated as meeting it.

Parenting time and decision-making are treated differently from one another. Under C.R.S. 14-10-129, a parenting time modification is generally decided on the child's best interests, but a change that substantially alters parenting time and also changes which parent the child lives with most of the time faces a stricter test. Restricting a parent's time requires a finding that the parenting time would endanger the child's physical health or significantly impair the child's emotional development, and modifying decision-making responsibility faces its own higher bar under C.R.S. 14-10-131.

Relocation with a child is its own category, governed by a specific set of statutory factors and by Colorado Supreme Court authority holding that the court starts with each parent on equal footing and may not presume that a move helps or harms the child. Court-ordered maintenance can generally be modified on a showing of changed circumstances so substantial and continuing that the existing terms are unfair, but under C.R.S. 14-10-112 a separation agreement can limit or rule out modification of maintenance, which is one more reason the drafting stage matters.

Where an existing order is being ignored, enforcement runs through contempt proceedings, income assignment and judgment on arrears. In parenting time cases, a verified motion under C.R.S. 14-10-129.5 can lead to remedies such as make-up parenting time, a civil fine and an award of attorney fees.

Learn more about post-decree modifications

FAMILY LAW APPEALS AND MAGISTRATE REVIEW

Many domestic relations matters in the Fourth Judicial District are heard by a magistrate rather than a district judge. In El Paso County, the domestic relations case management order assigns every domestic case to both a magistrate and a district court judge when it is filed. That distinction controls how an adverse ruling must be challenged.

For magistrate orders issued on or after January 2, 2026, the first step is a petition for review filed with the district court, generally within 28 days after the order becomes reviewable under Rule 7 of the Colorado Rules for Magistrates. The Judicial Branch has a plain-language guide to magistrate review.

If the parties consented to the magistrate, the district court confirms that consent was properly given and then directs the parties to the Court of Appeals. An appeal generally cannot be taken unless a timely petition for review was filed and decided, so missing that step can forfeit the issue.

Appeals from a district court order proceed to the Colorado Court of Appeals on a strict notice-of-appeal deadline. Appellate review is confined to the record made below, which means the outcome often depends on whether the issue was preserved, an offer of proof was made, and a ruling was obtained.

We handle appeals from our own trials and accept appellate and magistrate review referrals from other firms.

Family law appeals | Magistrate order review

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ADDITIONAL FAMILY LAW MATTERS

  • Parentage and paternity actions under Colorado's Uniform Parentage Act, including genetic testing, establishment and disestablishment
  • Adoption, including stepparent and kinship adoption
  • Prenuptial and marital agreements under Colorado's Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act, including enforceability review of an agreement drafted elsewhere
  • Common law marriage determinations, which Colorado courts analyze under the test the Colorado Supreme Court refined in 2021
  • Legal separation and conversion of a separation decree to dissolution
  • Grandparent and great-grandparent family time (formerly called grandparent visitation) and non-parent allocation proceedings
  • Name changes for adults and minors
  • Contempt and enforcement of existing family law orders

THE COURTS WE PRACTICE IN

El Paso County. Domestic relations matters for Colorado Springs, Fountain, Monument, Palmer Lake, Falcon and the surrounding county are heard at the El Paso County Combined Courts in downtown Colorado Springs, in the Fourth Judicial District.

Teller County. The Colorado Judicial Branch lists one court location for Teller County: the Teller County Courthouse at 101 West Bennett Avenue in Cripple Creek. There is no district courtroom in Woodland Park, so in-person hearings in a Teller County dissolution or protection order case are held in Cripple Creek, roughly 26 miles from Woodland Park by way of US-24 to Divide and then south on Highway 67, and in winter the stretch of Highway 67 south of Divide is the part of the drive to plan around.

Both counties are in the Fourth Judicial District, where a district-wide order requires mediation before a court hearing in domestic cases, with a waiver available by motion where abuse is claimed. El Paso County's case management order also sets its own deadlines for disclosures, the initial status conference and the parenting class. We follow those local requirements from the first filing.

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OUR ATTORNEYS

Michael Thomas Allen, Esq.

Partner

Mike Allen leads the firm's family law practice. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Oregon and his Juris Doctor from the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis in 2017, and he is licensed to practice in Colorado.

In private practice he has built a litigation and negotiation practice spanning dissolution, allocation of parental responsibilities, civil protection orders and contempt proceedings. He has been selected by TESSA, the Colorado Springs domestic violence and sexual assault services organization, to serve as one of its protection order prosecutors, and he serves as municipal prosecutor for the City of Manitou Springs. He is a member of the El Paso County Bar Association.

"Transparency, creativity, and loyalty are my core values as an advocate. I view every case not as a case number but as a person with aspirations and a future that must be protected."

Please note: Attorney Michael Thomas Allen of Moran, Allen & Associates is a private family law attorney in Colorado Springs. He is not affiliated with, and should not be confused with, the elected District Attorney for Colorado's Fourth Judicial District, who has a similar name.

Full profile

Michael Warren Moran, Esq.

Senior Partner

Mike Moran has practiced as a trial lawyer in Colorado Springs since 1994 and is a Southern Colorado native. He attended the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and completed law school at the University of Denver.

From 1995 through 1998 he served as Municipal Court Judge for the City of Victor, Colorado. He sits on the First Appearance Committee at the El Paso County Combined Courts, and serves as a Commissioner of the Office of the Alternate Defense Counsel in Denver, which oversees the appointment of court-appointed attorneys to indigent defendants.

He serves as a Mentor Lawyer for Teen Court at the Colorado Springs Municipal Court, has served on a University of Colorado Colorado Springs presidential search committee, and lectures regularly at the Colorado Springs Public Defender's Office. He has handled protection order matters on both sides for more than three decades and accepts protection order cases in El Paso, Teller, Fremont, Pueblo and Douglas Counties.

Full profile

Chelsea Hayes, Esq.

Family Law Attorney

Chelsea Hayes served in the United States Air Force beginning in 2003 as a Geospatial and Operations Intelligence Analyst before changing careers. She earned her Bachelor's degree in History from American Military University in 2016 and her Juris Doctor from the Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law in 2022.

She began her legal career as a Deputy District Attorney in the Fourth Judicial District, handling a wide range of criminal matters in the County Court division, and joined the firm in May 2023. Her practice covers family law and criminal matters, and as an Air Force veteran and a current military spouse, she brings direct familiarity with the issues that arise in military divorce.

Full profile

Ryan Skajewski, Esq.

Family Law Attorney

Ryan Skajewski earned bachelor's degrees in Political Science, Law and Society, and Economics from Drake University in 2017, also studying at the University of Queensland in Australia, and received his Juris Doctor from the University of Kansas School of Law in 2021. Before law he worked as a divemaster, a mountaineering guide in Alaska, and a full-time firefighter and EMT.

He spent nearly five years as a prosecutor, serving primarily as the felony prosecutor for Teller County, where he handled matters ranging from traffic offenses through domestic violence and homicide. He joined the firm in April 2026.

He is a member of the American Bar Association House of Delegates, the Colorado Bar Association, the El Paso County Bar Association, and the Inn of Court. Locally he serves on the Woodland Park Advisory Board for Parks and Recreation and is a member of Teller County Search and Rescue.

Full profile

Konnor Matthew Manley, Esq.

Family Law Attorney

Konnor Manley earned his Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Avila University in Kansas City in 2019 and his Juris Doctor from the University of Kansas School of Law in 2022, where he concentrated his studies on litigation and trial advocacy.

He began his legal career at the Fourth Judicial District Attorney's Office, where he tried traffic, misdemeanor and felony matters to verdict. He joined the firm in October 2023 and handles family law, civil protection order and criminal matters.

Full profile

Justin Lindsay, Esq.

Family Law Attorney

Justin Lindsay served ten years in the United States Army as a Military Police officer, earning a Master's degree in International Relations and Statistics from the University of Oklahoma in 2015 through night school while serving. He holds a Bachelor of Science in History from Drexel University and earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 2024 with a Certificate in Trial Advocacy and advanced study in International and Comparative Law.

His prior practice included children and family intervention, civil litigation, real property disputes and estate matters. He joined the firm in January 2026 and practices family law and civil protection orders, and his service background gives him a working understanding of the command structures, deployment cycles and benefits questions that shape a military family's case.

Full profile

Kate Zacharias, Esq.

Family Law Attorney

Kate Zacharias earned her Bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Texas in 2018 and her Juris Doctor from DePaul University College of Law in 2021, where she served as Managing Editor of Lead Articles for the Business and Commercial Law Journal.

She began her career at Legal Services of Southern Missouri, focusing on individual rights, evictions and federal housing law. She joined the firm in March 2025, and her practice is devoted to family law.

Full profile

Most of the work that moves a case forward happens between hearings. Disclosures, financial affidavits, subpoenas, exhibit preparation and court filings are handled by a paralegal team familiar with the local filing requirements.

Ashton Baker, Senior Paralegal. Ashton holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Colorado Denver and completed the paralegal program at Arapahoe Community College. She spent five years at the Fourth Judicial District Attorney's Office, rising to Lead Legal Assistant for the County Court division and receiving an Award of Excellence before joining the firm in 2022. Profile

Talina Malhani, Paralegal. Profile

Mattea Correll, Paralegal. Profile

Stella Johns, Legal Assistant. Stella is pursuing an Associate of Science in Paralegal Studies and works with the attorney team to keep client cases moving through the court system. Profile

Meet the full team

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TWO OFFICES, ONE TEAM

Colorado Springs
220 E Costilla St
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
(719) 447-0762

Woodland Park
300 Sunny Glen Ct, Unit 307
Woodland Park, CO 80863
(719) 686-7554

We serve clients throughout El Paso County, including Colorado Springs, Fountain, Monument, Palmer Lake and Falcon, and throughout Teller County, including Woodland Park, Divide, Green Mountain Falls and Cripple Creek.

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Bring what you have. A recent pay stub, a list of accounts and debts, any existing court orders, and a short written timeline of what has happened will let us give you a realistic assessment in the first meeting rather than a general one.

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This page provides general information about Colorado family law as of October 2026 and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Outcomes depend on the specific facts of each case.

USEFUL OUTSIDE RESOURCES

Michael T. Allen

Author

Michael T. Allen

Partner at Moran, Allen & Associates

Colorado Bar # 51125

When a family is facing a legal crisis, clients need more than legal knowledge. They need a lawyer who is prepared, steady under pressure, and honest about the road ahead. My experience as a felony prosecutor helps me evaluate difficult cases and advocate effectively, while my family law practice keeps the focus where it belongs - on the people whose lives will be shaped by the outcome.

Last reviewed: October 22, 2026

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