Often, the most serious and personal legal cases are those that come to family courts. A family law case in Colorado has long-term effects on a family’s future and way of life, such as where and with whom children live, and how divorcing spouses divide their marital assets. When facing a family law case, you’re likely to encounter the term “RFO.” Your family law attorney may speak of RFOs in an initial court case or when seeking a post-judgment modification, like when a divorced parent experiences a substantial and long-term change in financial or health circumstances that impact their child support order. So, what is an RFO, and how does it affect your family law case in Colorado?
In family courts, an RFO stands for a request for orders. When a person formally requests action from a judge in family court, they do so through an RFO. Requests for orders require standardized legal forms which are different for different types of family court matters. For example, a person may use a specific RFO to request a child custody arrangement, to divide their community property in a specific way, to request spousal support, to seek emergency protective orders, or to request child support orders. RFOs are also used to request modifications of existing orders after a change in circumstances warrants an alteration. RFOs are the standardized legal forms used for family court cases. After these initial filings, court cases also require a variety of non-standardized documents to support or dispute the request for orders.
Family court judges in Colorado and other states encourage divorcing spouses or others who come to family courts to work out their own agreements, with or without the help of professional mediators as well as their attorneys. For instance, in an uncontested divorce agreement, divorcing spouses arrive at mutually acceptable agreements on all aspects of their divorce like the division of their marital assets, a child custody schedule, their child support orders, and spousal support. In most cases, a judge signs these out-of-court agreements into final orders unless the terms are egregiously unfair to one spouse or the judge suspects that a spouse signed the agreement under duress.
Although forming legal agreements outside of court for a judge to sign is the ideal in family court matters, it isn’t always possible or even advisable. For instance, if one spouse is a danger to the children due to a history of abuse, neglect, or chronic addiction. In these cases, an out-of-court agreement isn’t possible if the parent with a history of abuse seeks full or shared custody. In a case like this, the parent who believes they should have the children in their full custody and protected from the other parent must file an RFO for temporary emergency custody orders, and then go on to file an RFO for permanent custody orders. At the hearing, they must present a compelling case to show that their desired outcome is in their children’s best interest.
An RFO must be completely and correctly filled out and filed in a timely manner. Depending on the nature and purpose of the form, it may also have to be legally filed with the court and served to a respondent in the case. This is necessary in divorce orders and child support orders. Then, subsequent documents are filed only with the respondent and not the court, such as requests for financial disclosures and supporting documents.
A Denver family law attorney from Ciancio Ciancio Brown, P.C. can help with obtaining and correctly filling out and filing RFOs.
