Child Support
C.R.S. 14-10-115 — the schedule is a rebuttable presumption, and support ends at nineteen unless an exception applies
In any action to establish or modify child support, temporary or permanent, the guidelines and the schedule of basic child support obligations in the statute are used as a rebuttable presumption for the amount.
Who handles this in Colorado: legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Colorado directory.
Nineteen, with exceptions. For orders entered on or after July 1, 1997, support ends without either parent filing a motion when the last or only child turns nineteen, unless the parents agree otherwise in writing, or the child is mentally or physically disabled and the court continues it, or the child is still in high school or an equivalent program. Then it runs until the end of the month after graduation, but not past twenty-one. A child who marries or enters active military duty is emancipated.
Overnights with each parent adjust the amount through the statute's parenting time table, and a parent with shared physical care never owes more than that same parent would owe with no overnights at all.
Changing an order. Where applying the guidelines to the parents' current circumstances would change support by less than ten percent a month, that is not a substantial and continuing change of circumstances for modifying the order.
The section runs to dozens of pages of income rules, adjustments and the schedule itself. How it applies to a particular household are questions for a licensed Colorado attorney.
Sources for this section (2)
- C.R.S. 14-10-115 — Child support guidelines
- C.R.S. 14-10-122 — Modification and termination of provisions for maintenance, support, and property disposition
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Colorado attorney.