Colorado Child Support
Learning how Colorado judges calculate child support and maintence can often be complex.
Only seasoned attorneys have the tools needed to understand Colorado’s approach to determining income, which is the first step in the analysis. And it’s often contested what the other party’s income really is, especially if they are self-employed, have a business or have a highly compensated job with bonuses, commissions, or other forms of compensation.. In-depth analysis of income streams, the “double dip,” allowable business expenses, variable compensation and income imputation for the purpose of helping the Court craft fair and appropriate support awards.
Child support is formulaic, with rare deviations from the formula but the numbers that go into the formula are often subject to argument. And there is an advisory formula for the calculation of maintenance. For the “normal” case, the Judge can use W-2’s or paystubs to determine the parties’ incomes for the purposes of support calculations. In today’s world, however, many times the W-2/paystub does not contain the entire story or may not even exist.
The determination of parties’ income for support calculations can be very complicated and thus an in-depth understanding of personal and business cash flow is necessary when crafting appropriate support awards. C.R.S. § 14-10-114(8) and C.R.S. § 14-10-115(5) both contain definitions of “income” for the purpose of our support calculations.
Resolving all of these issues is often difficult. Spousal maintenance is often the most contested issue in a dissolution case as it is often one of the most costly for one party and vital issues for the other party. Some cases may involve the need for vocational assessment to determine a spouse’s potential income. Other cases may need an expert to determine how the proposed spousal maintenance, assets and any other retirement will play out for both parties in the future. And, yet still others, may require forensic accounts and business evaluators to determine one spouse’s income or potential income.
Call our seasoned Colorado divorce attorneys today for a free telephone consultation on your high net worth divorce issues at 303-688-3045.
In developing my opinion of value, I have considered three standards to valuation, namely
the Income Approach, the Market Approach, and the Assets Based Approach. Each of the
three standards of value have multiple valuation methods or approaches. I have analyzed the
various methods and approaches and determined the most appropriate valuation methods for
the Company are as follows:
1. Income Approach – Capitalization of Historical Earnings.
2. Excess Earnings – Capitalized Excess Earnings of the Company in excess of a
return on net assets.
3. Market Approach – Multiple of Sales (revenues).
4. Multiple of EBITDA.
