Colorado

Family Law

Family Law

Section 14-13-305 – Registration of child-custody determination

(1) A child-custody determination issued by a court of another state may be registered in this state, with or without a simultaneous request for enforcement, by sending to the appropriate district court in this state:

(a) A letter or other document requesting registration;
(b) Two copies, including one certified copy, of the determination sought to be registered, and a statement under penalty of perjury that to the best of the knowledge and belief of the person seeking registration the order has not been modified; and
(c) Except as otherwise provided in section 14-13-209, the name and address of the person seeking registration and any parent or person acting as a parent who has been awarded custody, allocated parental responsibilities, or granted visitation or parenting time in the child-custody determination sought to be registered.
(2) On receipt of the documents required by subsection (1) of this section, the registering court shall:

(a) Cause the determination to be filed as a foreign judgment, together with one copy of any accompanying documents and information, regardless of their form; and
(b) Serve notice upon the persons named pursuant to paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of this section and provide them with an opportunity to contest the registration in accordance with this section.
(3) The notice required by paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of this section must state that:

(a) A registered determination is enforceable as of the date of the registration in the same manner as a determination issued by a court of this state;
(b) A hearing to contest the validity of the registered determination must be requested within twenty-one days after service of notice; and
(c) Failure to contest the registration will result in confirmation of the child-custody determination and preclude further contest of that determination with respect to any matter that could have been asserted.
(4) A person seeking to contest the validity of a registered order must request a hearing within twenty-one days after service of the notice. At that hearing, the court shall confirm the registered order unless the person contesting registration establishes that:

(a) The issuing court did not have jurisdiction under a provision of law adopted by that state that is in substantial conformity with part 2 of this article;
(b) The child-custody determination sought to be registered has been vacated, stayed, or modified by a court having jurisdiction to do so under part 2 of this article; or
(c) The person contesting registration was entitled to notice, but notice was not given in accordance with standards substantially in conformity with the standards set forth in section 14-13-108, in the proceedings before the court that issued the order for which registration is sought.
(5) If a timely request for a hearing to contest the validity of the registration is not made, the registration is confirmed as a matter of law and the person requesting registration and all persons served must be notified of the confirmation.
(6) Confirmation of a registered order, whether by operation of law or after notice and hearing, precludes further contest of the order with respect to any matter that could have been asserted at the time of registration.

C.R.S. § 14-13-305

Amended by 2014 Ch. 208,§ 3, eff. 7/1/2014.
L. 2000: Entire article R&RE, p. 1531, § 1, effective July 1. L. 2012: (3)(b) amended, (SB 12-175), ch. 208, p. 834, § 37, effective July 1. L. 2014: IP(4) amended, (HB 14-1347), ch. 208, p. 769, § 3, effective July 1.

This section is similar to former § 14-13-117 as it existed prior to 2000.

OFFICIAL COMMENT

This remainder of this part provides enforcement mechanisms for interstate child custody determinations.

This section authorizes a simple registration procedure that can be used to predetermine the enforceability of a custody determination. It parallels the process in UIFSA for the registration of child support orders. It should be as much of an aid to pro se litigants as the registration procedure of UIFSA.

A custody determination can be registered without any accompanying request for enforcement. This may be of significant assistance in international cases. For example, the custodial parent under a foreign custody order can receive an advance determination of whether that order would be recognized and enforced before sending the child to the United States for visitation. Article 26 of the 1996 Hague Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition and Cooperation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children, 35 I.L.M. 1391 (1996), requires those States which accede to the Convention to provide such a procedure.