Denver Attorneys for Parentage and Unmarried Parents in Colorado

Colorado does not run a second-class track for unmarried parents. Parenting time and decision-making are allocated under exactly the same best-interests standard as in a divorce, and child support runs on the same statewide guidelines. What differs is the front door: before a court can allocate anything, the law has to know who the parents are, and someone has to actually open a case.

That second part is where unmarried parents most often get hurt. Informal arrangements work until they do not, and the day they stop working, there is no order for anyone to enforce. Getting a real order in place while things are amicable is the single most protective step an unmarried parent can take.

How we help

• Establishing legal parentage under Colorado's Uniform Parentage Act, by acknowledgment or through the courts
• Allocation of parental responsibilities petitions when there is no divorce, filed under the same best-interests standard
• Child support for unmarried parents, calculated on the same statewide guidelines as any divorce case
• Parenting plans, schedules, and decision-making for parents who were never a household
• Genetic testing and contested parentage, handled with speed and discretion
• Turning an informal arrangement into an enforceable court order before a dispute starts

Establishing Parentage Under Colorado Law

Legal parentage is governed by Colorado's Uniform Parentage Act, in Title 19 of the statutes. For many families it is settled at the hospital, when both parents sign a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity. Where it is not settled, a parentage case can establish it, with genetic testing available through the court when the facts are disputed.

• A signed voluntary acknowledgment generally establishes legal parentage without a court fight, and it carries real legal consequences, so sign it knowingly.
• Being on the birth certificate is not the same thing as having an enforceable right to time with your child. That takes a court order.
• Presumptions of parentage can arise from circumstances the statute describes, and competing presumptions are resolved by the court.
• Parentage cuts both ways: it is the foundation for parenting time and for the duty of support alike.

Allocation of Parental Responsibilities Without a Divorce

Unmarried parents use the same case type Colorado courts apply after separation of any kind: a petition for allocation of parental responsibilities under C.R.S. 14-10-123, typically filed in the district court for the county where your child lives. The court then allocates parenting time and decision-making under the best interests of the child, exactly as it would in a dissolution.

Until that order exists, neither parent has a schedule anyone can enforce. Colorado law does not hand either parent superior rights, but a right without an order is a conversation, not a protection. If the other parent stops answering the phone, an order is the difference between a remedy and a standoff.

Child Support for Unmarried Parents

Support runs on the same income-shares guidelines as every Colorado case, under the law in effect since March 1, 2026: both incomes, the overnight schedule, and the standard adjustments. Our child support calculator runs the current statute for unmarried parents exactly as it does for divorcing ones.

County child support services units can also establish and enforce administrative support orders, which matters for parents who need support moving before a full parenting case resolves.

Turning an Informal Arrangement Into a Real Order

The best time to formalize is when things are working. Courts readily approve parenting plans both parents sign, the process is far cheaper than a contested case, and the order simply sits there, protecting everyone, until it is needed. We draft these regularly: your existing arrangement, written to hold.

Local courts and where to file

Parentage and APR cases are heard in the same metro district courts as divorces (the courthouse list is on our divorce page), and magistrates commonly handle early stages. When a parentage question and a parenting question arrive together, the cases coordinate so the same facts are not litigated twice.

Last updated August 2026.