HOW DOES PARENTING TIME WORK IN COLORADO?
Parenting time is Colorado's term for the schedule of when a child is with each parent. A Colorado parenting time plan sets that schedule, and the court approves or writes it based on the child's best interests under C.R.S. 14-10-124.
Colorado has no statewide "parenting time guidelines" and no default schedule. Parents can build almost any schedule that serves the child, and if they cannot agree, a judge decides using the statutory best interests factors.
This guide covers the schedules families use, how holidays, distance and military service fit in, when time is supervised or restricted, and how parenting time orders are enforced and changed. For the bigger picture, see our overview of Colorado custody laws.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Common Colorado Parenting Time Schedules
- Matching the Schedule to the Child's Age
- Holidays, School Breaks and Summer
- Long-Distance and Military Schedules
- Supervised and Restricted Parenting Time
- Enforcing a Parenting Time Order
- Modifying Parenting Time
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Talking With a Colorado Springs Family Law Attorney
- Sources
COMMON COLORADO PARENTING TIME SCHEDULES
None of these schedules is preferred by statute. The right one depends on the child, the distance between homes, and each parent's work hours.
| Schedule | How it works | Trade-offs to weigh |
|---|---|---|
| Alternating weeks | The child spends a full week with each parent, with the exchange on the same day each week. | Few exchanges, but the child goes a full week between stays with each parent. |
| 2-2-3 | Two days with one parent, two with the other, then three with the first; the next week reverses, so weekends alternate. | The child never goes more than three days without seeing each parent, but there are frequent exchanges and the homes need to be close. |
| 5-2-2-5 | Each parent has the same two weekdays every week, and the parents alternate the weekends attached to those days. | Predictable school nights and fewer exchanges than 2-2-3, with a five-day block for each parent every other week. |
| Every other weekend plus midweek | One parent has most school nights; the other has alternating weekends and a midweek evening or overnight. | One home base during the school week, but less time for the other parent unless the plan adds summer or holiday time. |
| Long-distance | The school year is mostly in one home; the other parent has extended summer time and a share of school breaks. | Works across distance, but it depends on regular phone or video contact and clear travel terms. |
Step-Up Plans
A plan can schedule changes in advance, such as adding overnights as a young child grows, so parents do not have to return to court for each stage. The statute supports this: when parenting time is contested, the plan must be as specific as possible to address the family's needs and the current and future needs of the child.
MATCHING THE SCHEDULE TO THE CHILD'S AGE
Colorado law sets no age-based schedule. Instead, the best interests factors ask about the child's adjustment to home, school and community, the child's relationships with each parent, and the wishes of a child who is sufficiently mature to express reasoned and independent preferences.
In practice, the questions change with age. With a very young child, parents usually focus on routines, child care and how long the child goes between seeing each parent. With school-age children, the school calendar, homework and activities tend to drive the schedule.
Teenagers bring jobs, sports and driving into the picture, and a mature teenager's preferences are part of the analysis. There is still no age at which a child decides; see whether a child can choose which parent to live with in Colorado.
HOLIDAYS, SCHOOL BREAKS AND SUMMER
The statute lists a practical parenting time schedule, including holidays and school vacations, among the things a parenting plan may cover. The Judicial Branch's Parenting Plan, JDF 1113, has separate sections for the school year (Section 10), summer (Section 11), and holidays and special occasions (Section 12).
On that form, the holiday schedule takes priority over the school-year and summer schedules unless a holiday is left blank. Our guide to splitting holidays in Colorado explains how to fill in that section and what to define.
LONG-DISTANCE AND MILITARY SCHEDULES
One of the best interests factors is the physical proximity of the parties as it relates to the practical side of parenting time. When parents live far apart, a plan can move more time into summer and school breaks, and it should spell out phone or video contact, travel costs, and who travels with the child.
If a parent with majority parenting time plans a move that substantially changes the child's geographic ties to the other parent, special notice rules and factors apply under C.R.S. 14-10-129. Our guide to child relocation cases in Colorado covers that process.
When a Parent Deploys
Colorado has adopted the Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act, C.R.S. Title 14, Article 13.7. Where there is an existing custody order, a deploying parent must notify the other parent in writing within 12 calendar days after receiving deployment orders, or as soon as reasonably possible if prevented, and each parent must share a plan for the deployment period.
On the deploying parent's motion, a court may grant caretaking authority to an adult family member or another adult with a close and substantial relationship with the child, if that serves the child's best interests. Unless the other parent agrees, that time cannot exceed the time the deploying parent had.
Once a parent receives notice of deployment, a court may enter an interim order, but it may not enter a permanent order granting custodial responsibility without the deploying parent's consent. A court-ordered interim grant ends 35 days after the deploying parent gives notice of return, unless an agreement ending it has been filed.
With Fort Carson, Peterson and Schriever Space Force Bases, and the Air Force Academy nearby, these rules come up often in El Paso County. Our page on military divorce in Colorado Springs covers related issues.
SUPERVISED AND RESTRICTED PARENTING TIME
Outside the emergency procedure described below, a court generally may restrict a parent's time, including by requiring supervision, only after a hearing and a finding that the parenting time would endanger the child's physical health or significantly impair the child's emotional development. Any order imposing a restriction must state specific factual findings supporting it.
Supervision also follows from findings of abuse. Under the 2026 amendments in House Bill 26-1309, if the court finds that a party committed domestic violence, child abuse or neglect, or sexual assault resulting in the child's conception, the safety of the child and the abused party becomes the primary concern. The court must then impose conditions on parenting time that protect them, which can include supervised parenting time, exchanges in a protected setting, restricted overnights, and a ban on alcohol or controlled substances during parenting time or for 24 hours before it.
A good supervision order says who may supervise, where visits happen, who pays, and what the restricted parent must do to move toward unsupervised time. The court may list conditions the restricted parent could meet to seek a change. When time was restricted under the abuse provisions, the restricted parent can file a verified motion to modify; within 35 days the court must decide from the papers whether there has been a substantial and continuing change of circumstances, then deny the motion or set a hearing as soon as possible.
Emergency Restrictions
If a child is in imminent physical or emotional danger, a parent can file a motion under subsection (4) of C.R.S. 14-10-129. The court must hear and rule on it within 14 days, and parenting time until then must be supervised by an unrelated third party the court deems suitable or by a licensed mental health professional.
The risk runs both ways: if the court finds the motion substantially frivolous, groundless or vexatious, it must order the moving parent to pay the other parent's reasonable attorney fees and costs. Our guide to emergency custody orders in Colorado explains the emergency motion to restrict parenting time.
ENFORCING A PARENTING TIME ORDER
When the other parent will not follow the schedule, start by keeping a written record of each missed or refused exchange and communicating in writing. Then you can file a verified motion under C.R.S. 14-10-129.5.
Within 35 days after the motion is filed, the court must decide whether there has been, or is likely to be, substantial or continuing noncompliance. It then denies the motion, sets a hearing, or orders mediation. If it finds a violation after a hearing, its order may include, among other things:
- Additional terms and conditions consistent with the existing order, or a modification that serves the child's best interests.
- Parenting classes or family counseling at the violating parent's expense.
- A bond or other security for future compliance.
- Makeup parenting time of the same type and length as the time denied, generally within six months, or within one year if it cannot be made up in six months, at a time the wronged parent chooses if that serves the child.
- A finding of contempt of court, which can carry a fine or jail.
- A civil fine of up to $100 per incident of denied parenting time.
- A hearing to modify the allocation of parental responsibilities.
The court must also order a parent who failed to provide, or failed to exercise, court-ordered parenting time to pay the other party's attorney fees and costs for the motion. If the responding parent did not violate the order, the court may make the parent who filed pay that parent's costs instead.
Child support stays separate. The statute directs the court to keep support and parenting time apart and not to condition support on parenting time.
MODIFYING PARENTING TIME
Which standard applies depends on what kind of change you are asking for. C.R.S. 14-10-129 sets out three:
- Most schedule changes: the court may modify parenting time whenever the change would serve the child's best interests.
- Restrictions: the court must find that the parenting time would endanger the child's physical health or significantly impair the child's emotional development.
- A substantial change that also changes the majority-time parent: the court needs facts arising since the prior order, or unknown to the court then, showing a change in circumstances, and a finding that the change is necessary to serve the child's best interests. It keeps the existing schedule unless the parents agree, the child has been integrated into the moving parent's family with the other parent's consent, the majority-time parent is relocating, or the child's present environment endangers the child and the advantage of a change outweighs the harm.
The Two-Year Rule
The two-year rule is narrower than it is often described. It is triggered only by a motion for a substantial modification of parenting time that also changes the party with whom the child lives a majority of the time. Once that kind of motion has been filed, granted or not, another such motion generally cannot be filed until two years after the first one is decided.
There are two exceptions. The court may allow an earlier motion if it finds from affidavits that the child's present environment may endanger the child's physical health or significantly impair the child's emotional development, or that the majority-time parent intends to relocate in a way that substantially changes the child's geographic ties with the other parent.
How to Ask for a Change
If you and the other parent agree, the Judicial Branch's change parenting time page lists a stipulation (JDF 1423), a proposed order (JDF 1424) and a new parenting plan (JDF 1113). If you do not agree, the motion is JDF 1406, and the other parent can respond with JDF 1315.
The Judicial Branch's list of fees shows $105 for a motion to modify filed more than 60 days after the order, as published in January 2025 and subject to change. The court may require mediation or a hearing, and in El Paso and Teller counties a Fourth Judicial District order generally requires mediation before a hearing in domestic cases. Our post-decree modifications page covers the process in more detail.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Does Colorado Have Statewide Parenting Time Guidelines?
No. Colorado has no official guideline schedule; courts apply the best interests factors in C.R.S. 14-10-124. The Judicial Branch's parenting plan form, JDF 1113, is a form to fill in, not a default schedule.
What Is a 2-2-3 Parenting Time Schedule?
The child spends two days with one parent, two days with the other, and three days with the first, and the pattern reverses the next week. Each parent has the child every other weekend, and the child never goes more than three days without seeing each parent.
Can I Keep My Child From the Other Parent If Child Support Is Unpaid?
No. Colorado law treats child support and parenting time as separate issues, and denying court-ordered parenting time can lead to makeup time, fines, contempt and an order to pay the other parent's attorney fees.
What Happens If the Other Parent Does Not Use Their Parenting Time?
If the other parent brings an enforcement motion under C.R.S. 14-10-129.5, the court must order a parent who failed to exercise court-ordered parenting time to pay the other party's attorney fees, costs and expenses for that action. A consistent pattern of unused time may also be relevant if either parent later asks to change the schedule.
How Is Makeup Parenting Time Scheduled?
When the court orders makeup time after finding a violation, it must be the same type and length as the time denied and is generally made up within six months, or within one year if it cannot be made up sooner. It takes place at the time and in the manner the wronged parent chooses, if that serves the child's best interests.
TALKING WITH A COLORADO SPRINGS FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY
A parenting time plan should fit your child's real week, not a template. If you are drafting a schedule, dealing with missed exchanges, or thinking about a change, a lawyer can help you understand which standard applies and what to file.
Moran, Allen & Associates Family Law Attorneys represents parents in El Paso and Teller counties. Call (719) 447-0762 in Colorado Springs or (719) 686-7554 in Woodland Park, or schedule a free consultation. You can also read about our child custody representation in Colorado Springs or browse our answers to common Colorado child custody questions.
This article is general information about Colorado law as of October 2026 and is not legal advice. Laws and court procedures change, so speak with a licensed Colorado attorney about your own situation.
SOURCES
- C.R.S. 14-10-124, Best Interests of the Child
- C.R.S. 14-10-129, Modification of Parenting Time
- C.R.S. 14-10-129.5, Disputes Concerning Parenting Time
- C.R.S. Title 14, Article 13.7, Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act
- C.R.S. 14-13.7-105, Notification Required of Deploying Parent
- C.R.S. 14-13.7-302, Proceeding for Interim Custody Order
- C.R.S. 14-13.7-306, Grant of Caretaking or Decision-Making Authority to Nonparent
- C.R.S. 14-13.7-404, Termination by Operation of Law of Interim Grant
- Colorado General Assembly, HB26-1309, Abuse in Cases of Separation (signed May 27, 2026)
- Colorado Session Laws 2026, Chapter 163 (HB26-1309 as enacted)
- Colorado Judicial Branch, Parenting Plan (JDF 1113)
- Colorado Judicial Branch, Change Parenting Time (self-help)
- Colorado Judicial Branch, List of Fees
- Fourth Judicial District, Blanket Order to Alternative Dispute Resolution/Mediation in Domestic Cases (FCF 300A)