Colorado

Family Law

Section 14-5-317 – Communications between tribunals

A tribunal of this state may communicate with a tribunal outside this state in a record, or by telephone, electronic mail, or other means, to obtain information concerning the laws, the legal effect of a judgment, decree, or order of that tribunal, and the status of a proceeding. A tribunal of this state may furnish similar information by similar means to a tribunal outside this state.

C.R.S. § 14-5-317

Amended by 2015 Ch. 173,§ 24, eff. 7/1/2015.
L. 93: Entire article R&RE, p. 1594, § 1, effective January 1, 1995. L. 2003: Entire section amended, p. 1254, § 24, effective July 1, 2004. L. 2015: Entire section amended, (HB 15-1198), ch. 173, p. 553, § 24, effective July 1.

COMMENT

This section explicitly authorizes a state tribunal to communicate with a tribunal of another state, foreign country, or in a foreign nation state not defined as a foreign country. It was derived from UCCJA § 110 authorizing such communications to facilitate a fully informed decision. The amendment in UIFSA (2008) not only expands the authorization to worldwide scope, i.e., “outside this state,” but specifically adds email to the select modes of communication. Broad cooperation by tribunals is strongly encouraged in order to expedite establishment and enforcement of a support order. American judges are very familiar with this procedure. It remains to be seen whether overseas communication between judges will be received with similar cooperation.