The parenting schedule that worked when your child was three can cause constant conflict once they are in school, playing sports, or dealing with your changing work or deployment schedule. What used to be a simple back and forth can turn into missed pickups, constant last minute scrambling, and too many tense messages with your co parent. At some point, it stops feeling like a parenting plan and starts feeling like a problem you are always trying to fix.
Parents across Colorado Springs and Southern Colorado face this all the time. Jobs change, kids grow, families move, and military orders arrive. Yet the court order on paper often stays exactly the same. That gap between real life and what the order says is usually where conflict, stress, and fear of “getting in trouble with the court” start to build. Parenting time adjustments exist to close that gap in a way that is safe and predictable for your child.
At The Gasper Law Group, we work every day with parents in Colorado Springs, including many military families, who need to update their parenting time orders. Colorado law allows parenting time adjustments when there has been a substantial and continuing change in circumstances and when the requested change serves the child’s best interests. Understanding what that means in real life, and how local courts view these requests, can help you decide your next step.
Why Parenting Time Adjustments Matter As Children Grow
Parenting plans are created at a moment in time. Judges and parents do their best to build something that will work for the child and both households, but no one can predict exactly what your life will look like two, five, or eight years down the road. A plan that fit preschool nap times rarely fits around elementary school, homework, and sports. The more your child’s world changes, the more strain an old schedule can place on everyone involved.
We see this clearly with school transitions. A plan built around daycare drop off may become impossible once your child rides a bus across town or once after school care closes earlier than your shift. Activities also create friction. A teenager with practice every afternoon may simply not be home at the times an old order expects. The result is a pattern of late exchanges, missed evenings, or one parent doing all the driving just to keep up.
Many parents try to handle these changes informally. You and your co parent might agree over text to swap weekends or adjust pick up times. That can work for a while, until conflict returns or someone stops cooperating. When that happens, the court will look at the written order, not your messages, and that can leave the more flexible parent at a disadvantage. Parenting time adjustments matter because they bring the legal order back in line with reality, which protects both your rights and your child’s routine.
How Colorado Law Handles Parenting Time Adjustments
Colorado law separates parenting time, which is the schedule for when the child is with each parent, from decision making, which covers major choices like education, medical care, and religion. The standards for changing decision making are stricter and often involve questions about parental cooperation and safety. In this blog, we are focusing on parenting time, because that is where most schedule problems show up and where many families in Colorado Springs seek adjustments.
Courts in Colorado use two key ideas when looking at parenting time modifications. The first is the best interests of the child. Judges consider factors such as the child’s relationship with each parent, the child’s adjustment to home, school, and community, and each parent’s ability to place the child’s needs ahead of their own. The second is whether there has been a substantial and continuing change in circumstances since the last order.
A substantial and continuing change is more than a minor inconvenience. Examples often include a major, lasting work schedule change, a relocation that significantly affects travel time, a child starting school with a very different daily routine, or ongoing difficulties with one parent consistently exercising, or failing to exercise, their parenting time. Changes that are temporary or mostly about a parent’s preferences, such as a new romantic relationship, usually are not enough by themselves to justify a change in parenting time.
When we review a case, we look carefully at what has changed since the last order and how long those changes have been in place. Judges generally want to see a real pattern, not a problem that started last week. Understanding this legal framework helps us give parents realistic guidance about whether to move forward with a motion, keep building their evidence, or consider other approaches first.
Common Life Changes That Can Justify Parenting Time Adjustments
Many parents are unsure whether their situation is “big enough” to ask the court for a change. Looking at common patterns that lead to adjustments can help you gauge where you might stand. One frequent trigger is a significant work schedule shift. For example, a parent who originally worked days might now work nights or rotating shifts, making midweek overnights unworkable. If this new schedule is permanent, that can support a request to realign parenting time with available, consistent hours.
Another common change is your child starting or changing schools. A plan created when exchanges happened at a daycare near your home might not fit once your child takes a bus to a school across town. Travel time increases, after school care may close at times that clash with the old plan, and homework demands grow. If the existing order repeatedly conflicts with school and activities, the court may consider adjustments that reduce chaos and protect your child’s rest and academic performance.
Relocation also drives many modification cases. A move across the city, or out to nearby communities, can stretch travel time to the point that short midweek visits are no longer practical. Larger moves, especially out of state, raise additional legal issues but often lead the court to look at how to preserve meaningful time with both parents, even if that means fewer but longer blocks of time. Chronic interference with parenting time, such as one parent consistently not returning the child on time or regularly cancelling visits, can also support adjustments when documented over time.
In Southern Colorado, military life creates a distinctive set of changes. Deployment, orders to another duty station, or extended training can all make an existing parenting plan unrealistic. Some parents need temporary modifications while they are out of the country, or adjustments that anticipate cycling between deployment and home station. Our proximity to major military installations gives us daily experience structuring parenting time around these realities in a way that keeps the child’s routine intact while honoring the deployed parent’s role.
What Colorado Springs Judges Look For In Parenting Time Modification Cases
When a parenting time adjustment request reaches the courtroom, judges are not focused on which parent is more frustrated. They are focused on what the proposed change will do to the child’s daily life. They look closely at the child’s school schedule, sleep, transportation demands, and emotional adjustment. If your proposed change increases stability, predictability, and access to both parents, it has a better chance of being viewed favorably than a request that would create constant shuttling or last minute changes.
Judges also look at the history of each parent’s involvement. A parent who has consistently exercised their time, attended school events, taken the child to medical appointments, and supported extracurriculars shows the court that they are an active presence. Courts pay attention to which parent helps, or harms, the child’s relationship with the other parent. A parent who encourages contact, shares information, and avoids putting the child in the middle typically appears more aligned with the child’s best interests.
Certain behaviors can seriously undercut a modification request. Withholding court ordered parenting time without a court order, unless there is an acute safety crisis supported by strong evidence, is usually viewed badly, even if the withholding parent believes they are protecting the child. Making unsupported allegations, bad mouthing the other parent to the child, or repeatedly filing motions without new facts can also reduce your credibility. Judges generally prefer solutions that reduce conflict and litigation, not patterns that keep dragging a child back into court.
Because we appear regularly in local family courts, we understand how judges in and around Colorado Springs tend to weigh these factors. When we prepare a case, we work with parents to frame their requested change in a way that focuses on the child’s school, health, and relationships, instead of letting the case turn into a list of grievances between adults. That difference in presentation can matter as much as the facts themselves.
Evidence That Helps Support A Parenting Time Adjustment
Many parents feel strongly that their schedule is not working but struggle to explain it clearly to a judge. Courts make decisions based on evidence, not just feelings. Helpful evidence in parenting time adjustment cases usually shows patterns over time. A simple but powerful tool is a calendar or log that documents late pickups, missed visits, or regular schedule conflicts with school or activities. Seeing a pattern over several months can be much more persuasive than general statements that “it keeps happening.”
School and activity records are also important. Report cards, attendance records, notes from teachers, and schedules for sports or clubs can show how the current parenting plan affects your child’s performance and stress level. For example, if your child is consistently late every Monday because the Sunday drop off is far from their school, that pattern, tied to the existing order, gives the court something concrete to work with. Likewise, extra long commutes for short visits may be hard on younger children, and that can be shown through timelines and transportation details.
Employment documents and military orders often form the backbone of modification requests. A letter or schedule from your employer confirming a permanent shift change, or official deployment or transfer orders, can demonstrate that your circumstances have changed in a way you cannot control. When these documents are paired with a proposed schedule that still preserves meaningful contact with the other parent, judges tend to have more confidence that you have thought through the impact on your child.
At The Gasper Law Group, we use secure technology so clients can share calendars, screenshots of messages, school emails, and orders with us, whether they live in Colorado Springs, are training elsewhere in the state, or are deployed abroad. We help parents organize this information into timelines and exhibits that make sense in a courtroom. That organization shows the judge you are approaching the adjustment thoughtfully and with your child’s needs at the center.
Steps To Request A Parenting Time Adjustment In Colorado Springs
Once you understand that your situation may justify a change, the next question is how to move forward. The process usually starts with a careful review of your existing parenting plan and any later orders. We look at what the court has already decided, what language might already anticipate future changes, and where your current reality conflicts with the written schedule. At the same time, you should begin gathering the documentation we discussed so we can see whether there is a substantial and continuing change.
Before jumping straight into court, it is often helpful to see whether some level of agreement is possible. Structured communication or mediation can sometimes produce a revised schedule that both parents can live with. In many family law cases in this region, courts encourage or require mediation, and if parents reach a full or partial agreement, that stipulation can be submitted to the judge for approval. Even if mediation does not resolve everything, it can narrow the issues for a later hearing.
If informal efforts or mediation do not solve the problem, a formal modification usually involves filing a motion or petition to modify parenting time with the appropriate Colorado court. The other parent must be properly served and given a chance to respond. The court may set a status conference, additional mediation, or an evidentiary hearing, depending on the complexity of the issues and the level of disagreement. In more urgent situations, such as upcoming moves or deployments, the court might consider temporary orders while the full case proceeds.
Timing matters more than most parents realize. If you know that your work schedule will change in a specific month, or that your child will start a new school year with a very different routine, filing well in advance typically gives the court more flexibility to hear the case and adjust the plan before the change hits. Because many parents worry about the cost of legal help for this process, we offer low retainers and interest free payment plans so it is more realistic to move forward with guidance, instead of trying to navigate the system alone.
Avoiding Costly Mistakes With Parenting Time Changes
When a parenting plan stops working, it is tempting to fix it yourself. Some parents start withholding time, unilaterally changing exchange locations, or announcing that “this schedule is over” without a new order in place. Even if your motivations are good, these types of self help changes can backfire in court. Judges generally expect parents to follow existing orders until a new one is entered, unless there is an immediate safety crisis supported by strong evidence.
Another common mistake is moving a significant distance without first addressing parenting time and potential relocation issues with the court. If your move makes the existing schedule impossible, the judge may view your unilateral action as placing your preferences above the child’s need for stable contact with both parents. That can affect how the court views both your credibility and any future requests you make.
Relying entirely on informal agreements is also risky. Many parents spend months or years using a “new” schedule that exists only in their text messages. When conflict eventually returns, the other parent can insist on reverting to the old court order, and the judge is likely to enforce that written plan unless and until a modification is granted. That can erase hard won adjustments and put you right back into a schedule your child has outgrown.
We regularly talk with parents about safer ways to protect their children and their rights. Often this means continuing to follow the order while quickly gathering evidence and filing for appropriate temporary or permanent changes, instead of acting first and hoping the court will agree later. Getting legal advice before making major changes in parenting time, location, or school can help you avoid missteps that are difficult to undo.
How The Gasper Law Group Supports Parenting Time Adjustments Colorado Springs
Parenting time adjustments are not just legal exercises. They shape your child’s daily life and your relationship with them for years at a time. At The Gasper Law Group, we start by listening to what your days actually look like now, what has changed since your last order, and where the friction and stress are coming from. We then compare that real world picture to your existing parenting plan and Colorado’s standards to see whether a modification request is likely to move the court.
We work with parents throughout Colorado Springs and Southern Colorado, including many in military families. Service members face unique challenges with deployments, training, and transfers. We build parenting time strategies that acknowledge those realities while focusing on your child’s need for consistency and strong relationships in both households. Our use of technology allows us to stay in close contact whether you are nearby, temporarily out of the area, or deployed.
Because cost can be a real barrier in family law matters, we offer low retainers and interest free payment plans. That approach reflects our commitment to prioritizing people over profit and makes it more practical for parents to seek a proper parenting time adjustment instead of relying on risky workarounds. If your current parenting schedule no longer fits your child’s life, you do not have to stay stuck. A careful review and a thoughtful, child centered strategy can open the door to a better plan.
To talk about parenting time adjustments in Colorado Springs and how the law applies to your family, contact The Gasper Law Group. We can review your existing order, the changes in your life, and your options for moving forward. Call (719) 212-2448 today.