Grandparent family time in Colorado is court-ordered contact between a grandparent or great-grandparent and a grandchild, governed by C.R.S. 14-10-124.4. It is available only in narrow circumstances, and only to grandparents who can clear a high evidentiary bar. Colorado law does not give grandparents a general right to see their grandchildren. It gives them a limited ability to ask a court, in specific situations, and it starts from the presumption that a fit parent’s decision is the right one.

That is a hard opening, and we would rather be honest with you at the top than let you spend months on a hope the law does not support. There is a path here. It is narrow, and it is uphill.

TL;DR

• Colorado’s grandparent statute moved in 2023. It is now C.R.S. 14-10-124.4, and the legal term is “family time,” not “visitation.”
• Grandparents have no general right to court-ordered contact. Standing exists only in three specific situations.
• Colorado law presumes a fit parent’s decision about grandparent contact is in the child’s best interests.
• To overcome that presumption, a grandparent must show by clear and convincing evidence — a demanding standard — that family time is in the child’s best interests.
• If the parents disagree with each other, only the opposing parent’s presumption must be overcome.
• A petition generally may not be filed more than once every two years absent good cause.

The Hard Truth First: The Parental Presumption

Colorado law presumes that a fit parent’s decision about grandparent contact is in the child’s best interests. That presumption comes from the constitutional protection parents hold over the care, custody, and control of their children, recognized by the United States Supreme Court in Troxel v. Granville, and it is now written directly into C.R.S. 14-10-124.4.

The practical effect is significant. A dispute between a parent and a grandparent is not a contest between equals. The parent starts ahead. The grandparent must displace that presumption before a court will even weigh the merits of their request.

In Colorado, a grandparent family time dispute is not a contest between equals. The law presumes the fit parent is right, and the grandparent carries the burden of proving otherwise.

We say this plainly because grandparents often arrive believing the strength of their bond with the child is the central question. It is relevant. It is not the starting point.

Standing: The Three Doorways Into Court

Before a Colorado court will consider grandparent family time at all, the grandparent must have standing. Under C.R.S. 14-10-124.4, a grandparent or great-grandparent may seek an order only when there is or has been a child custody case or a case concerning the allocation of parental responsibilities. In practice, that means one of three situations:

1. The child’s parents’ marriage has been dissolved, declared invalid, or the parents are legally separated.
2. Legal custody or parental responsibilities have been allocated to someone other than a parent, or the child has been placed outside a parent’s home — excluding a child placed for adoption or whose adoption has been finalized.
3. The child’s parent — the grandparent’s own child — has died.

 

A grandparent in Colorado has standing to seek family time only if the child’s parents divorced or legally separated, parental responsibilities were allocated to a non-parent, or the grandparent’s own child — the grandchild’s parent — has died. Without one of these, a Colorado court cannot order grandparent family time.

This is where many petitions end before they begin. If the child’s parents are together and no custody case has ever existed, a grandparent generally cannot ask the court for family time — no matter how strong the relationship was or how painful the estrangement is. Parents simply living apart is not enough.

 

Whether you have standing is a threshold question, and it deserves a clear answer before you invest in a petition. Talk with our team.

The Clear and Convincing Standard

Even with standing, a grandparent seeking family time in Colorado must overcome the parental presumption by clear and convincing evidence.

That standard matters. Most civil disputes are decided by a preponderance of the evidence — more likely than not, anything past fifty percent. Clear and convincing is meaningfully higher. It is not the criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt, but it is a substantial step above the ordinary civil bar.

 

Clear and convincing evidence sits above the ordinary civil standard. In grandparent family time cases, that gap is often the whole case.

If the presumption is overcome, the court considers the best-interest factors in C.R.S. 14-10-124. The 2023 legislation also authorized courts to appoint a Child’s Legal Representative in contested grandparent family time cases.

When One Parent Agrees, and the Other Does Not

A common scenario in Northern Colorado: the parents have divorced, one parent supports the grandparents’ request, and the other opposes it.

Colorado appellate courts have addressed this directly. When one fit parent supports grandparent family time, and the other opposes it, only the opposing parent’s presumption is at issue. The grandparents must overcome that parent’s presumption. They cannot borrow the supportive parent’s agreement to sidestep the burden, and the supportive parent’s approval does not convert the case into a contest between equals.

This is worth understanding early, because grandparents frequently assume having one parent on their side substantially improves the odds. It does not remove the burden.

For the Parent on the Other Side of the Request

If you are a parent who has received a grandparent family time petition, Colorado law starts from the presumption that your decision is in your child’s best interests. That protection is meaningful, and it is yours by default.

It is not automatic in practice, though. Petitions get filed. Hearings get held. Courts may appoint a Child’s Legal Representative. A parent who ignores a petition or treats it as frivolous can find the process moving forward without their perspective in the record.

There is also a common misconception on this side. Opposing a court-ordered schedule is not the same as opposing all contact — and Colorado courts have recognized parents who maintain warm grandparent relationships while objecting to a court order dictating the terms.

These petitions sit alongside the broader framework of child custody and parental responsibilities in Colorado.

Before Anyone Files: What Families Try First

Litigation between a parent and a grandparent has a cost the statute does not mention. Whatever the ruling, the family has to keep being a family afterward, and a contested hearing can harden an estrangement that might otherwise have softened.

Before filing, families sometimes explore:

• Mediation, with a neutral third party helping structure contact without a court order.
• Written agreements between the parent and grandparent, made voluntarily.
• Rebuilding through the parent, rather than around them — which, given the presumption, is frequently the more realistic route.
• Time and patience, particularly where the estrangement is recent and tied to a divorce that is still raw.

 

Get an Honest Assessment Before You Invest in a Petition

Grandparent family time is one of the few areas of Colorado family law where the honest answer is often “the law is not on your side, and here is exactly why.” We would rather tell you that at the start than after a contested hearing.

We work with grandparents seeking family time and with parents responding to those petitions throughout Fort Collins and Northern Colorado. For grandparents, that means a straight assessment of standing and whether your facts realistically reach the clear and convincing standard. For parents, it means protecting the presumption Colorado law already gives you and making sure your position is properly before the court.

Either way, you should know where you stand before the first filing — not after.

Schedule a consultation with Alexander & Associates.

An Honest Look at a Difficult Petition

Grandparent family time in Colorado exists, and the legislature has acknowledged that grandparents can bring acceptance, patience, stability, and support into a child’s life. But the law places that acknowledgment behind a narrow standing requirement, a constitutional presumption favoring fit parents, and a demanding evidentiary standard.

If you are a grandparent who has lost contact with a grandchild, you deserve to know honestly whether the law offers you a path — and if it does not, to hear that before you spend a year finding out. If you are a parent facing a petition, you deserve to understand the protection the law already affords you.

Contact our Fort Collins team.

People Also Ask

Do grandparents have visitation rights in Colorado?

Not as a general right. Colorado law, now found at C.R.S. 14-10-124.4, allows grandparents to petition for “family time” only in limited circumstances, and courts presume a fit parent’s decision about that contact is in the child’s best interests.

Can grandparents seek family time if the parents are married and together?

Generally no. Standing requires that a child custody or parental responsibilities case exists or existed — typically a divorce or legal separation, an allocation of responsibilities to a non-parent, or the death of the grandparent’s own child.

What standard of proof do grandparents have to meet in Colorado?

Clear and convincing evidence, which is higher than the preponderance standard used in most civil cases. The grandparent must overcome the presumption that the parent’s decision serves the child’s best interests.

How often can a grandparent file for family time in Colorado?

Generally, not more than once every two years, absent a showing of good cause.