Parenting Education Requirement

A note before we begin: This content is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. For advice about your specific situation, consult a qualified Colorado family law attorney.

Your Situation

If you're a divorcing or separating parent in Colorado with a child under 18, you'll almost certainly need to complete a parenting education class as part of your case. This isn't a punishment or a judgment on your parenting — it's a required step built into Colorado's family law process. The class teaches you about how separation and divorce affect children and gives you practical co-parenting skills so you can keep raising your kids cooperatively, even while the two of you are no longer together.

The stakes here are real but manageable. Completing this requirement is one of the concrete things standing between you and finishing your case — courts set a deadline for it, and proof of completion often has to be filed before your parenting plan hearing. This guide will help you understand what the class is, why Colorado requires it, how to find an approved provider, and how to make sure the court has what it needs from you on time.

What the Law Requires

Colorado law allows a court to order a parent whose child is under 18 to attend an educational program about the impact of separation and divorce on children. This applies when you're a named party in a range of cases — dissolution of marriage, legal separation, allocation of parental responsibilities, parenting time, post-decree parenting matters, and protection order proceedings.

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If you have a child under 18 and you're a party to one of these cases, the court can order you to complete a parenting education program, and in many Colorado courts this is a required step before your parenting plan hearing.

The law's purpose is specific: the legislature recognized that children of divorce can suffer academically, socially, and psychologically when they're exposed to ongoing parental conflict or when a parent disengages. The programs are designed to teach you about the divorce process and to build cooperative co-parenting strategies.

On cost: the program is paid for by the participating parents according to each parent's ability to pay. That means there isn't one flat fee that applies to everyone — if your financial resources are limited, don't assume you'll be charged the same as a higher-earning parent. Each judicial district administers its own program or contracts with private providers.

The law also treats this class as a tool for enforcement. If a parent violates a parenting time order, a court can order the non-complying parent to attend a parental education program — at that parent's own expense, not the other parent's. The court can allocate the cost of a class between the parties by percentage.

What Courts Typically Do

In practice, Colorado courts handling cases with minor children require parties to complete a court-approved parenting class and then file a certificate of completion. The specific deadline is usually set in the court's case management order rather than being a fixed number of days — so the timeline comes from your own case, not from a one-size-fits-all rule.

Requirements and local logistics vary by judicial district. Some courts require the class fees to be paid at the time of filing when children are involved. Some courts publish approved-provider lists; others direct you to the clerk's office. Courts have discretion over exactly how and when to impose the requirement, so the details in your case may differ from a neighbor's or a friend's. The common thread across the state is that if you have minor children, you should expect to complete this class and prove it to the court.

Step by Step: What to Do

1. Confirm the requirement applies to your case. Check your case management order or the paperwork the court provided at filing. If it's not clear, contact the clerk's office in your judicial district to confirm the requirement and the deadline.

2. Find an approved provider. Colorado publishes a list of approved parenting classes through the courts' self-help resources, and your local clerk's office can give you a list of approved providers in your area. Local providers may include programs such as Fisher Divorce Seminars or Parenting After Divorce — but always confirm with your court that a specific program is approved before you enroll and pay.

3. Ask about cost based on ability to pay. Because fees are set according to each parent's ability to pay, ask the provider and, if needed, the court how that applies to you. Don't assume a flat fee.

4. Complete the class by your deadline. The deadline is the one set in your court's case management order, so treat that date as firm.

5. File your certificate of completion. After you finish, a certificate of completion must be filed with the court. Note that some providers submit the certificate on your behalf — confirm whether your provider does this or whether you need to file it yourself.

6. Let the paperwork be handled for you. When your case requires forms — including filing proof of completion alongside your other documents — the guided wizard on this site will prepare and pre-fill the correct Colorado court forms for your situation, so you're not hunting down blank forms or guessing which one to use.

What Research Shows Can Help

The reasoning behind Colorado's parenting education requirement rests on research findings that the legislature itself recognized: children of divorce can experience decreased academic, social, and psychological functioning when their parents expose them to ongoing conflict, or when a parent disengages from the child's life. Research of this kind is why the programs focus on reducing conflict and on keeping both parents meaningfully involved.

The practical takeaway the programs emphasize is cooperative co-parenting — learning strategies to continue raising your children together despite the separation. Taking the class seriously, rather than treating it as a box to check, is the approach most aligned with what this research points to as helpful for kids' long-term adjustment.

What to Do Today

• Pull out your case management order or filing paperwork and look for whether — and by when — a parenting class is required.
• If it's unclear, call your local clerk's office to confirm the requirement, the deadline, and how to get the approved-provider list.
• Look up the approved parenting classes through the Colorado courts' self-help resources and note a provider you can realistically enroll with.
• Ask the provider how cost is set based on ability to pay, so there are no surprises.
• Start the guided wizard so your court forms — including the certificate you'll need to file after completing the class — are prepared correctly for your case.

Related Issues to Be Aware Of

Creating the parenting plan. The parenting class is designed to prepare you for exactly what comes next: building a workable parenting arrangement. Colorado courts allocate parenting time and decision-making based on the child's best interests, with the child's safety paramount, so the co-parenting skills the class teaches connect directly to how your parenting plan gets decided.

High-conflict communication. A key goal of parenting education is reducing conflict between parents — and your parenting plan will set out how you communicate about your child, including methods and frequency. If conflict is a serious concern in your case, it's worth understanding how to handle high-conflict communication, since the plan can build in specific communication rules and both parents carry obligations like sharing address changes and children's health care provider information.

Understanding the divorce process. The parenting class is one step within the larger structure of a Colorado divorce — a process that involves residency and waiting-period requirements and has issues decided by a judge rather than a jury. Seeing how the overall process fits together can help you place the class requirement in context and plan your timeline.