Lakewood Family Law Blog

Landlords and tenants in Colorado often have complicated relationships. Landlords may worry about the damages a tenant can do to their property, while tenants worry about that ability of a landlord to infringe on their rights or affect their daily stability.

The law has to take a very careful, nuanced approach to issues between landlords and tenants. All the legal concerns of those renting real estate have to be balanced against the concerns of those who own rental real estate. Understanding this approach may make it easier for you to understand the purpose and uses of a security deposit.

Police in Colorado have a standardized means for testing whether someone is driving while intoxicated by alcohol. Tests for drunk driving include field sobriety tests to observe a person's behavior and ability to perform basic tasks. They also include Breathalyzer, urine and blood tests to measure the driver's blood alcohol content. Not only that, but most responsible drivers have a general sense for whether they can safely drink an alcoholic beverage or two and get behind the wheel without being over the .08 percent BAC limit in Colorado.

But what about marijuana and THC? Many driver's don't know how many puffs of marijuana or how many marijuana candies they can consume and still safely drive.

Divorced parents who raise their children separately usually run into some rough patches along the way, especially if the divorce was particularly difficult. It's a tale as old as child custody law itself, where parents who dislike each other or hold grudges from their marriage use their children to punish or reward behavior in each other.

Primarily, this is unfair and destructive to the child. Any parent who excuses this behavior in themselves needs to take a close look at his or her priorities and ask themselves if they truly believe that the child is unaware of this game.

The modern trend in child custody cases throughout the United States is to award divorcing parents with 50-50 legal custody, also known as "joint legal custody." Legal custody, in this context, refers to the decision-making authority of both parents to direct important matters relating to the upbringing of their children. For example, co-parents with 50-50 custody will need to agree on matters of schooling, religion, medical care and other parenting concerns.

This is the trend as it applies to legal custody. When it comes to physical custody, Colorado parents may find that family court judges are more inclined to award physical custody -- i.e., the parent the child lives with -- to just one parent. If parents can agree outside of court to split physical custody 50-50, a judge is likely to go along with the parent's wishes. However, if the parents cannot agree on this issue, the judge is more likely to select only one parent to receive physical custody.