Colorado Grandparents' Rights: Family Time Law After the 2023 Recodification

A fit parent's decision about a grandparent's contact with a grandchild is presumed correct under Colorado law, and grandparents do not have an automatic right to what Colorado now calls «family time.» Anyone researching this topic in Colorado needs to know one thing before anything else: the law was substantially rewritten in 2023, and older sources citing the previous statute numbers are describing repealed law.

Information last verified on 2026-08-12. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

The 2023 Recodification: Why Old Citations No Longer Apply

Colorado's legislature recodified its entire grandparent-visitation framework through House Bill 23-1026, signed May 23, 2023, and effective August 7, 2023. The bill did two things at once: it repealed the older Title 19 sections, Colo. Rev. Stat. Sections 19-1-117 and 19-1-117.5, and it moved the substantive law to Title 14, alongside Colorado's other domestic-relations statutes. The recodification also changed the terminology itself, from «visitation» to «family time,» a shift that matters when searching for the current law or reading older Colorado family-court paperwork.

Anyone who finds a source, a form, or an older article citing Section 19-1-117 for grandparent visitation is looking at repealed law. The statute that actually governs a petition filed today is Colo. Rev. Stat. Section 14-10-124.4, with enforcement addressed separately in Section 14-10-124.5.

What the Current Law Requires

Under Section 14-10-124.4, the court must presume that a parent's own determination about grandparent family time serves the child's best interest. A grandparent or great-grandparent seeking to overcome that presumption must do so with clear and convincing evidence, a genuinely demanding standard. Standing to file is tied to specific circumstances: a pending divorce or separation, the absence of an operative custody order, or the death of a parent. Colorado's law does not give grandparents an open-ended right to petition at any time the way some states do.

This presumption structure is Colorado's own answer to the same constitutional concern the U.S. Supreme Court raised in Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000): a fit parent's own judgment about who spends time with the child deserves real legal deference, not a court's independent guess at what would be nice for the child. Colorado wrote that deference directly into both the old and new versions of its statute, which is part of why the 2023 recodification was a legislative modernization rather than a response to a court striking the law down.

Custody Is a Separate Track, With Its Own Colorado-Specific Statute

Unlike most states in this cluster, Colorado gives grandparents a purpose-built custody statute rather than forcing them to rely only on general nonparent custody law. Colo. Rev. Stat. Section 14-10-123.3 lets a grandparent seek an allocation of parental responsibilities, with the court required to weigh any credible evidence of the grandparent's own history of child abuse or neglect. A separate, more general route exists at Section 14-10-123 for any nonparent who had physical care of the child for 182 days or more, provided the custody action is filed within 182 days after that care ended. Even with a dedicated statute, custody remains a legally distinct and generally harder track than family time. For more, see Can Grandparents Get Custody? and Colorado child custody laws.

What Happens if the Grandchild Is Adopted

Section 14-10-124.4(3)(b) excludes a child who has been placed for adoption, or whose adoption has been legally finalized, from at least one of the statute's standing triggers, which indicates that adoption generally cuts off standing to file under that provision. Whether Colorado law carves out a stepparent-adoption exception, the way several nearby states do, was not confirmed for this guide; the cross-referenced general custody-allocation section could not be independently accessed during research. Treat this as an open question rather than a settled rule, and confirm the current text with an attorney if this scenario applies to your family.

How to Petition for Grandparent Family Time in Colorado

A grandparent family-time or custody case is filed in District Court, domestic relations division, and filing is conditional on one of the standing circumstances above rather than an open, any-time petition. No official statewide fee schedule was located for this filing, so confirm the current cost with the district court where you plan to file.

Colorado's district courts generally expect the parties to attempt mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution before a contested family-time hearing, consistent with the state's broader family-law practice, and a grandparent should expect that step regardless of how strong the underlying facts are. At a contested hearing, the grandparent bears the burden of producing clear and convincing evidence, which typically means detailed, specific testimony and documentation about the prior relationship rather than general statements about wanting more contact.

The clear-and-convincing presumption in Colorado's current law is a real barrier, and mediation or a direct conversation with the parent is worth attempting before filing anything, both to save time and expense and because contested litigation is adversarial toward the child's parent by nature. If a family does move forward, a family-law attorney licensed in Colorado can confirm the case is grounded in the current Title 14 statute rather than the repealed Title 19 provisions, and explain realistically what the clear-and-convincing standard will require.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about Colorado grandparent family-time and custody law. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Case outcomes depend heavily on individual facts. Verify current statutory text and consult a licensed Colorado family-law attorney before relying on anything here for a specific situation.

Related Articles

• Grandparents' Rights by State
• Grandparent Visitation Rights
• Can Grandparents Get Custody?
• Colorado Child Custody Laws
• Colorado Divorce Laws

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Last updated: 2026-08-12.