Understanding the Latest Child Support Statute Updates | Episode 239

Colorado has implemented the most significant child support statute updates in over a decade. In this episode of Divorce at Altitude, co-host Amy Goscha is joined by associate attorney Kate Mulh for a clear, practical breakdown of House Bill 25-1159 and upcoming guideline changes that will impact parents across the state.

From medical expense reimbursement rules to IRS-driven tax credit requirements, retroactive child support factors, and revised parenting-time calculations, this episode explains what has changed, what’s coming next, and how these updates affect real families navigating divorce, child support orders, and post-decree modifications in Colorado.

Guest Information: Kate Mulh

Kate Mulh is a family law attorney at Kalamaya | Goscha, where she focuses on divorce, child support, parenting time, and post-decree matters. She regularly works with clients on complex child support calculations and statutory updates, helping families navigate changing legal and financial circumstances with clarity.

Episode Outline

Major Overhaul of Colorado’s Child Support Statute

• An overview of House Bill 25-1159, the largest update to Colorado’s child support framework in more than ten years, and why changes were needed to reflect modern families and economic realities.

Medical Expense Updates (Effective May 31, 2025)

• How the statute eliminated the $250 reimbursement threshold, clarified ordinary versus extraordinary medical expenses, and established clearer reimbursement timelines.

Child Support and Tax Credits Under IRS Rules

• What parents need to know about dependency claims, the IRS definition of “custodial parent,” equal parenting time scenarios, and the required use of IRS Form 8332.

Retroactive Child Support Changes (Effective February 1, 2026)

• An explanation of retroactive child support, newly revised statutory factors, and how courts may now evaluate parental conduct, communication, and financial agreements.

New Child Support Guidelines and Overnight Credits (Effective March 1, 2026)

• How updated child support schedules, expanded income ranges, self-support reserve adjustments, and a graduated overnight credit system address the “cliff effect” and better reflect real parenting costs.

What is Divorce at Altitude?

Ryan Kalamaya and Amy Goscha provide tips and recommendations on issues related to divorce, separation, and co-parenting in Colorado. Ryan and Amy are the founding partners of an innovative and ambitious law firm, Kalamaya | Goscha, that pushes the boundaries to discover new frontiers in family law, personal injuries, and criminal defense in Colorado.

To subscribe to Divorce at Altitude, click here and select your favorite podcast player. To subscribe to Kalamaya | Goscha's YouTube channel where many of the episodes will be posted as videos, click here. If you have additional questions or would like to speak to one of our attorneys, give us a call at 970-429-5784 or email us at info@kalamaya.law.

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DISCLAIMER: THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS ON THIS PODCAST IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT AND INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL ADVICE. CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE OR AREA TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE ON ANY OF THESE ISSUES.

Transcript

Amy Goscha (00:38)
Welcome back to another episode at Divorce at Altitude. I'm Amy Gosha and I am the co-host of this podcast with my law partner, Ryan Kalamea, who is not with us today. I do have my esteemed associate, Kate Moll. Hi Kate, how are you doing?

Kate Mulh (00:53)
Hi Amy, I'm great, how are you?

Amy Goscha (00:55)
Great, so why don't you tell our listeners today what are we talking about?

Kate Mulh (01:00)
Yeah, today we're going to talk about the updates to the child support statute. As we all know, 1410.115 is the statute that outlines what child support is and does in Colorado.

House Bill 25-1159 is the biggest overhaul of Colorado's child support framework in over a decade. There were some much needed updates that needed to be made to update the data with cost of living, recognizing low income costs, as well as updating some things with medical expenses and also the IRS's directions on tax credits. So that's what we're gonna talk about today.

Amy Goscha (01:35)
Great, yeah, so for

all of our listeners, we've had several episodes in the past about child support. So in Colorado, we have a child support statute, but it's also a child support worksheet where there are certain inputs to figure out, you know, like how much a parent is going to be paying for child support. So we've talked about income, we've talked about...

you know, like overnights, which Kate will get into. But essentially there's been some changes and let's start with like the first set of changes, which actually became effective as of May 31st, 2025. Is that correct, Kate?

Kate Mulh (02:15)
Yeah, that's correct. So in May of 2025, the statute was updated with two really important changes with medical expenses. The first one is that prior to this, there was a $250 threshold that each parent would have to meet in order to be reimbursed for extraordinary medical expenses. The statute also is now defining what is an ordinary expense versus an extraordinary expense. And so now that we've gotten rid of that $250 threshold,

Now we know that all extraordinary medical expenses are going to be reimbursed without having to meet that $250 threshold. An extraordinary medical expense includes things like co-payments, deductibles, uninsured out-of-pocket expenses, prescription medication, medical equipment, orthodontia, dental treatment, and things like that. Ordinary medical expenses include over-the-counter meds, hygiene items, first aid basics,

and things like that unless a child's doctor has provided specific directions on why this is medically necessary. And so under the statute now, we split all of these proportional to income, regardless of having to meet that $250 cap upfront. We also can add ongoing and consistent medical expenses on the worksheet itself. And so that can be calculated in calculating child support as well.

Amy Goscha (03:36)
So

just for our listeners, Ryan and I use Melanie Wolf and Eric Wolf as a scenario. Can you please explain under before May of 2025, what that would mean for Eric and Melanie Wolf and then after May of 2025, how that would change as to calculating these extraordinary expenses and how they're paid.

Kate Mulh (03:59)
Yeah, so before the statute updated, what would have had to have happened was each Eric and Melanie would have to spend $250 of their own money on children's extraordinary medical expenses before they would be reimbursed. So someone like Melanie would have to say she's taking her kids to the doctor, there's co-pays, she has to reach that $250 threshold before she can start asking for those things like co-pays to be reimbursed.

Now, they eliminated that $250 threshold. So now, if Melanie goes to the doctor and she has to get an expensive prescription for one of the children, now that will be just split proportional to income with Eric paying for his proportion and his half in proportion to income and Melanie would pay the rest in proportion to her income.

Amy Goscha (04:54)
Great, yeah, no, that really helps. And I think what's really helpful is to understand maybe the impetus, at least from what I think why there was this change is that before we, know, like I think having it in the statute provides more clarity. And I think the $250 threshold just created a lot of confusion for clients because they would be like, well, does that mean that each of us has to do it? Or because I'm the majority time parent that I'm only the one that has to

do the 250 and what kind of information and documentation do I need to give to my co-parent? So I think that the language really just was meant to kind of clean this up. And I would say we're pretty good in our agreements defining it. But sometimes when we get cases that we haven't drafted the agreements, what do you think, Kate, would be helpful now with?

the statute really defining what these expenses are.

Kate Mulh (05:54)
Yeah, I think one benefit now, like you said, is that not all agreements have exactly what is an extraordinary medical expense or an ordinary medical expense. A lot of agreements don't even have how they're going to split it proportional to income and what that proportion is. So I think it's really important that we are using the language from the statute to make sure that it's super clear to all the parties exactly what they're responsible for. That way we can prevent problems before they happen. And the statute also provided

some guidelines on deadlines for reimbursement as well. So under the statute, the party seeking reimbursement has to provide proof within a reasonable time after incurring the expense. But failure to provide proof by July 1st of the following year in which the expense was occurred would result in a waiver of reimbursement. So it's also creating some predictability for families that they know what they're supposed to be reimbursing and when they need to provide that by.

Amy Goscha (06:50)
Yeah, because

I've had cases in the past where someone might hold on to an expense for several years and then they're coming back to try to ask for reimbursement. That can be pretty onerous financially on someone, a parent that wasn't expecting like...

know, a bunch of reimbursement expenses that they owe that could be thousands and thousands of dollars. So I think that's really helpful to at least have some baseline in there. What would you say, Kate, like in our agreements? I know that this provides for like kind of a cleanup, shore up for expenses for a year.

you know, what would you just say in general would be a good recommendation, kind of best practices that we would put in our agreements as far as like the reimbursement procedure.

Kate Mulh (07:36)
Yeah, we usually put in our agreements or reimbursement procedure that says that the party that's incurring the expense has a certain number of days to provide proof of payment and the invoice to the other side. And then the side that's receiving the invoice has a certain number of days to provide reimbursement. But we also put in very clear language about what is to be reimbursed and what's not, whether it needs to be agreed upon in writing, or if it's something that one party can move forward unilaterally.

early

with. So I think it's really important to have also clarity on exactly what's being reimbursed. We also have sometimes included language that says that each month the parties are going to exchange a spreadsheet where they essentially figure out what the difference is and what each of them have paid so they're not going back and forth with tons of payments, especially when you have multiple kids, multiple doctors appointments, extracurriculars and all of those other things. It can be really helpful to just keep track of it.

and exchange that on a monthly basis rather than going back and forth.

Amy Goscha (08:35)
Yeah, sometimes

I even see with providers like

You know, this does include a clarification on mental health, like therapy expenses. You know, sometimes it can also be helpful to arrange with the provider if you can for each parent to pay, you know, their proportion as well. So that's kind of a practice tip that sometimes I know that parents, know, co-parents try to implement. Well, let's move to the infamous, you know, our agreement used to say dependency exemption. So tell us,

what are the updates related to tax credits in Colorado now?

Kate Mulh (09:11)
Yeah, so the statute was updated based on new direction from the IRS. You can specifically reference publications 501 and 504 for information on filing taxes for divorced individuals and claiming dependents. The statute allows the court to allocate the income tax dependency exemption and any resulting tax benefit for the child. Parties can also reach their own agreements on that. The important update in the statute is that the IRS specifically in publication 501

uses a term custodial parent, and that doesn't necessarily mean the same thing in a family law case. For IRS tax purposes, the custodial parent is the one who's able to claim the child as a dependent, and that just means the parent that exercises the most overnights. But if the overnights are equal between the parties, then the quote unquote custodial parent is going to be the parent with the higher adjusted gross income. And so the IRS provided specific direction

that they require and now the statute authorizes the court to order that whoever is considered the custodial parent for IRS purposes has to execute a specific form to the non-custodial parent if the non-custodial parent is claiming the children for tax purposes. And currently this form is form 8332 and it has to be attached to the non-custodial parent's tax return. So I think the big takeaway is that we can't just say that one

parent is going to claim a child or another parent is going to claim the child, we need to look at who is considered the custodial parent under the IRS's definition of custodial parent. And if the non-custodial parent is claiming for tax purposes that year, we need to make sure that that form is completed and attached to the non-custodial parent's tax return. So we should make sure that we have that in any agreement so it's super clear what needs to be provided and when.

Amy Goscha (11:04)
Yeah, so in

taking again, just for people that learn by example, Melanie and Eric Wolf, they're divorced. Can you please explain the difference now, you know, in that scenario for the tax credit?

Kate Mulh (11:18)
Yeah, so if we take Eric and Melanie Wolf, we know that Eric has a higher adjusted gross income. So prior, we would have an agreement where we would say Eric claims the children in odd years, Melanie claims the children in even years, but there wasn't clear direction on.

on how to comply with the IRS's requirements for that and what forms need to be completed. Now we know that if they're exercising equal overnights, then we know that the quote unquote custodial parent would be Eric just because he has the higher adjusted gross income. And we would have to make sure we put in the agreement and make sure that Eric knows that any time that Melanie is going to claim the children as a dependent that year, he needs to complete that form and provide it to Melanie so it can be attached to her tax return.

Yeah.

Amy Goscha (12:06)
Yeah, I

think the biggest thing I've seen when we're doing tax language is

updated in parenting plan is we don't just refer now to the dependency exemption. If it's a good agreement, sometimes you will have language that says that the parent has to sign this form 8332. But I agree with you that I think we just have better direction as to when that form needs to be provided. And in a joint 50-50 plan, who is actually considered the custodial parent, depending on-

their income. So that's really, really helpful and I think at best practice that's something that we have updated our language in the parenting plan and separation agreements to make sure it's in compliance and conformance. Anything else related to I guess tax credits? You know that would be noteworthy. I guess one thing I think about is just can you please explain what happens if the obligor who is paying child support

What happens if they're not in compliance with paying their child support obligation to the obligee? Like for instance, if Eric, you know, owed Melanie child support of $1,000 per month, but he hasn't paid it for several months, does that affect the tax credits?

Kate Mulh (13:23)
It's kind of tricky right now because the statute authorizes the court to place reasonable conditions on a party's right to claim an allocation, including a requirement that they're in compliance with their child support obligation. However, IRS publication 501 specifically prohibits this and says that when signing that form, that form must release the custodial parent's claim to the child without any conditions and specifically says it can't be dependent on the non-custodial parent paying support. So at the end of the day,

As family law attorneys, we do the best to stay on top of these developments with the tax code, but it's really important to consult a tax expert to determine if there are circumstances that affect your specific situation.

Amy Goscha (14:03)
Yeah, and I've had

cases where if someone claims the children, it could flag the returns for the IRS, you know, to have to amend them or redo them. So it is something that you need to consult with your, you know, your CPA or, you know, like tax specialist on, but also to hopefully be on the same page with your co-parent because that could flag your return to have to be amended.

Okay, well let's move on to what are some updates that are upcoming in the new year starting in February of 2026, specifically February 1st.

Kate Mulh (14:40)
February 1st, 2026, one of the statutes that discusses retroactive support is going to be updated. It's 19-4-116. Up until now and up until the statute is updated in February, there's a certain number of factors that the court can consider in determining whether retroactive child support is appropriate. You can review the statute to see exactly what those factors are. But for example...

Amy Goscha (15:05)
Yeah, one. Yeah, sorry. One question that

I have just to make sure that we that the listeners understand. Can you please explain what is retroactive support?

Kate Mulh (15:15)
Yeah, retroactive support means child support going back in time. Typically in a pre-decree case, they're not usually looking at whether or not there's child support going back because they're looking at that time. However, typically, you know, the time between when you're filing your divorce case until you actually have final orders, there's a lot of unknowns during that time and there's no guarantee that you're actually getting support during

at time so the court has the authority to order retroactive support. That also can come up in the post-decree sphere as well because child support is retroactive to the date that you file a motion to modify child support. So it also comes up in that context as well.

Amy Goscha (15:59)
Great, thanks.

Okay, so you had talked about the factors. So effective in February, what are some of the factors that have been rewarded or removed?

Kate Mulh (16:09)
Yeah, so one of the factors that was reworded was it previously said one of the factors the court can consider is the standard of living the child would have enjoyed had the parents been married. That one has now been reworded, so it now says. The standard of living the child would have enjoyed had the parents been an intact family, so I think this shows that the statute is trying to update itself.

to be more modernized and understand that families come in a lot of different ways and it's not always that a family is married before. So this shows that they're trying to show, they're trying to update the statute to be more in line with the modern realities of families and raising children.

Amy Goscha (16:47)
Yeah,

anything else you'd like to highlight?

Kate Mulh (16:49)
I would just highlight that there's a lot more factors now that the court can consider. Previously, it really focused on the financial resources of each parties, the earning abilities of the parents, the age of the child.

values of services contributed by each parent, and then the child support guidelines. Now it talks about some other things, including evidence of efforts to restrict access to the child from the other parent, evidence that the parents had a financial agreement during the retroactive time period.

efforts of the parents to contact each other and communicate the needs of the child, including requests for financial support. So I think there's a lot more things that the court knows that they can look at now just to make sure that they're making orders in the best interest of the child.

Amy Goscha (17:31)
Yeah, I

think one thing to make sure listeners understand before we go on to updates in March, the child support guidelines in Colorado, we have maintenance guidelines and child support guidelines with the child support guidelines. We usually follow them unless there's a specific specific reason to agree to deviate from those guidelines. And the guideline is very clear about what that is. And I think you'll be talking about.

the commission and the study. we'll go into that. But I just wanted people to understand, you know, like what the guidelines are. And maybe you'll talk further about this with the updates in March. So let's talk about the updates that are effective March of 2026, specifically March 1st.

Kate Mulh (18:16)
Yeah, so starting on March 1st, 2026, the child support schedule is updated. This is updated by the Child Support Commission on a periodic basis using different studies, adjusting for cost of living. And this one specifically, they're expanding the schedule to include monthly incomes up to $40,000. So this is supposed to help also families that are low income. And so there's some specific considerations for that. But most importantly, this really wants to address the reality

of raising children right now, especially in Colorado and adjusting for inflation and economic conditions.

⁓ I'll start with discussing the self-support reserve. The self-support reserve is essentially designed to help the person who is paying child support, so the obligor, ensuring that they have sufficient funds for their own expenses, but it also wants to maintain stability and consistency with payments. So the self-support reserve, or the SSR, is defined as the minimum wage on the state level times 29 hours per week times 50 weeks per year.

Amy Goscha (18:52)
Yeah.

Kate Mulh (19:20)
And an important note here is that minimum wage rates vary county to county in Colorado, but the statute specifies that for purposes of the self-support reserve, the calculation uses the state minimum wage amount. And then there's also a phase-in approach for low-income earners that is addressed in the statute because they want to make sure that they address the different levels of incomes under the self-support reserve.

Amy Goscha (19:44)
Yeah, and I think to give people like a visualization when you actually pull up the statute, which is 1410-115, there's this like rubric of numbers that you can look through. So essentially there's been studies done depending on like various income levels as to what is like the basic, you know, child support obligation to support, you know, a child. And so essentially those are getting updated.

what are some of the other updates, Kate, that are coming into play in March? ⁓

Kate Mulh (20:15)
The other big update coming into play in March is adjustments to the way that overnights are calculated for child support. So as you talked a little bit earlier, we use worksheets and we put certain numbers in on the worksheet. Right now we have a worksheet A, which means one party has less than 93 overnights. And then we have a worksheet B if both parties have at least 93 overnights. And so this created a rigid cross credit formula that used a multiplier on worksheet B to calculate.

child support and they learned that this created something called the cliff effect, meaning that the party exercising fewer than 93 overnights wasn't necessarily receiving credit for expenses incurred during their time. So now they have this graduated curve, which credits overnights without needing to reach that 93 overnights to get a credit. So for example, if one party has 25 % of overnights, they're getting a 13 % credit for their overnights.

reflect the realities of raising a child even if you don't have more than 93 overnights like providing and furnishing a bedroom, meals during your parenting time, toys and books at their house, and hygiene supplies. There's also updates to make sure that even if you have children on different parenting time schedules, you can just use one worksheet. And I think one thing that's really important for family law practitioners is that a lot of the software platforms that family law attorneys use were part of these conversations with

commission so that way they can update their software to reflect these changes as soon as they go into effect.

Amy Goscha (21:48)
Yeah, that's

great. And just to use Melanie and Eric Wolf. So essentially where it's at right now until March is we have a worksheet A, which is not a shared parenting schedule. That would mean that, let's say that Eric, if he had 92 overnights, zero to 92 overnights, he would be paying the same child support amount on the worksheet A versus like starting in March.

If he had 25 % of the overnights, he would be getting credit for those overnights. So it's just, as Kate had mentioned, showing that this cliff effect that Eric is incurring expenses for having 25 % of the overnights. And that could be vice versa if Melanie had 25 % and Eric had 75%. So it's updating the realities of expenses and what parents are dealing with.

And I should mention now we have a worksheet B, is 93 overnights to, you like you get credit for the number of overnights will change the amount of support.

⁓

Kate Mulh (22:49)
One thing

that I also, one thing I think is also important to mention here, in the discussions that the commission has had, and a lot of family law practitioners are talking about is that this statute change would serve as a basis to modify child support because of these changes. So I think that that's something that family law practitioners should be looking for, but also people that are, parents and have, kids and have child support obligations should be looking at whether or not these updates.

would change their child support amounts.

Amy Goscha (23:20)
Yeah, and also

I've noticed, you know, one thing for practitioners to note and also for people that are going through divorce, we have what are called JDF forms, which are forms on the court, like the court website that a lot of times as practitioners we will look at or people will use. And I have noticed that those forms don't have the updated language when it comes to the $250.

So just be aware with these changes that are coming in that have already come in in May, that there might be some lag time for those court forms to get updated because it just takes some time. And we've been changing our child support sections in our standard agreements. And it's something that practitioners need to be aware of, also people who are going through divorce need to be aware of. But I think overall these changes are-

helpful, it's modernizing what the statute is coming up to speed with, you know, what people are dealing with now when it comes to income and overnights and expenses. You know, so it is very, very helpful, I believe. Anything else, Kate, you know, that we need to be considering with these updates or any kind of last thoughts that you have?

Kate Mulh (24:35)
I just think it's really important as a family law practitioner that we are all staying atop of these updates because they do impact our clients and it can impact their clients outcomes. But also the statute is, you know, recognizing these real parenting costs and trying to streamline medical expense handling aligned with the IRS's direction on tax credits. And all of this is aimed at producing more predictable, realistic and enforceable child support orders. So I think it's really important.

that we take advantage of these changes and make sure that we are updating our language and our agreements to reflect these and that we're just aware of these changes.

Amy Goscha (25:12)
Yeah, well

thank you Kate for ⁓ highlighting those changes that have come and are about to come in the new year. Thank you everyone for listening today. We appreciate feedback. You can give that to us on Divorce at Altitude. If you have any questions, you can email Kate or I. Our information is online. Until next time, thank you for listening to Divorce at Altitude.