Special Needs Children

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

Your Situation

Raising a child with a physical, developmental, or emotional disability shapes almost everything about a divorce — not just how parenting time works day to day, but how support is calculated, how long that support lasts, who makes medical and educational decisions, and how extraordinary costs get divided. The financial and caregiving stakes are higher and longer-lasting than in a typical case, because your child's needs may extend well past the age at which support normally ends.

The good news is that Colorado law takes these situations seriously and gives courts the tools to address them. Support can continue past the usual cutoff age for a child who cannot support themselves. Extraordinary medical costs, therapy, special schooling, and even equipment and home modifications can be built into a support order. And the law explicitly recognizes that a parent who cuts back work hours to care for a disabled child isn't "choosing" a lower income. This guide will help you understand what the law provides, what judges actually do, and the concrete steps to protect your child's long-term interests.

What the Law Requires

Colorado law allows a court to order child support to continue past the usual age-19 emancipation point when a child is mentally or physically disabled and unable to support themselves. That continued obligation can include medical expenses and insurance, and it lasts for as long as the disability lasts. Importantly, a private agreement between parents to end support at a set age does not strip the court of its power to keep protecting a dependent child who cannot support themselves — an incapacitated adult child may simply not be considered emancipated.

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If your child cannot support themselves because of a disability, the duty of parental support can continue beyond the normal emancipation age for the duration of that disability.

Colorado defines "extraordinary medical expenses" broadly for children (and adults) with disabilities who qualify for long-term services and supports and aren't emancipated. These can include medically necessary equipment, home and vehicle modifications, recommended therapeutic activities, and reasonable respite care — plus minor, provider-recommended expenses to manage chronic conditions. A few important rules govern how these are handled:

• Extraordinary medical expenses must be uninsured to qualify. If a treatment is adequately covered by insurance, a court generally won't order a parent to pay for an out-of-network alternative absent a finding the plan's coverage was inadequate.
• These expenses are divided between parents in proportion to each parent's adjusted gross income and added to the basic support obligation — even if parents had earlier agreed to split them equally, and even if the child's condition was already known.
• A child's psychiatric or psychological therapy can be included as an extraordinary medical expense — but generally only where there's a diagnosed mental disorder. Without that diagnosis, a parent typically cannot be made to share therapy costs.
• A child's own income (for example, from benefits) is not automatically deducted from the support obligation if it doesn't actually reduce the need for parental support.

The law also provides pathways that go beyond support. A court can appoint a representative for the child whose job specifically includes addressing the special needs of a parent or child. And for a young person who will need ongoing care, a guardianship can be ordered to extend to the child's 21st birthday rather than ending at 18. If your child has significant income or owns assets, managing that money generally requires a separate conservatorship — a guardianship alone does not authorize it.

What Courts Typically Do

In practice, Colorado courts treat a disabled child's actual needs as the touchstone. When a parent reduces work hours to care for a child with a serious disability — taking the child to medical and therapy appointments and providing hands-on care — courts have declined to treat that parent as "voluntarily underemployed" and have refused to impute full-time income to them.

Courts can order the sharing of expenses for special or private schooling that addresses a child's particular educational needs, and may include certain public-school mandatory fees as well. Courts also handle disability-related benefits carefully: when SSDI benefits or payee designations are involved, a court is expected to weigh the dependent child's needs, resources, and earning ability rather than simply reshuffling the money. And where a family has an adopted special-needs child receiving an adoption subsidy, courts generally treat that subsidy as a supplement to meet the child's needs, not as something that lowers a parent's support duty.

Outcomes vary case to case because judges have broad discretion and are guided by the child's best interests. What's consistent is that courts expect to see documented, specific needs — and they expect both parents' homes to be prepared to meet them.

Step by Step: What to Do

1. Gather documentation of your child's disability and needs. Collect medical and psychological diagnoses, treatment plans, IEP or special-education records, therapy recommendations, and records of equipment, modifications, or respite care. A current physician's letter documenting the disability is often essential, especially if you may later need a conservatorship or a settlement approval.

2. Track every uninsured, extraordinary cost. Keep a clear record of out-of-pocket medical, therapy, equipment, modification, and respite expenses, and note what insurance did and did not cover. Because these must be uninsured to qualify and are divided by income share, good records matter.

3. File your case and address support and expenses in your paperwork. You don't need to hunt down and hand-fill blank forms — the guided wizard on this site will interview you about your situation and prepare and pre-fill the correct Colorado forms for you, including those raising extraordinary medical expenses and continued support for a disabled child.

4. Raise the disability exception if support termination comes up. If the other parent moves to terminate support at age 19, affirmatively raise the applicable exception for a child who cannot support themselves. The wizard can help prepare your response.

5. Ask about a representative for your child. A special needs child is a recognized basis to request appointment of a representative who can investigate and make recommendations tailored to your child. If this fits your situation, you can raise it with the court.

6. Build special needs into your parenting plan as its own goal. Document the child's specific needs — allergies, medications, treatments, accessibility, therapy schedules — and commit both parents to notify each other in writing of changes. A parent unfamiliar with the child's care should arrange training from the child's support professionals.

7. Plan ahead for adulthood where needed. If your child will need ongoing care past 18, consider whether an extended guardianship (to age 21) or a conservatorship to manage benefits or assets is appropriate. If your child receives government benefits like SSI or owns property, a separate conservatorship is generally required.

What Research Shows Can Help

The guidance materials here speak most directly to practical parenting arrangements rather than long-term clinical studies, so the research-based findings available are limited. What they emphasize is this: children with disabilities do best when both households are genuinely equipped to meet their needs. That means each home is physically safe and accessible, each parent understands the disability's short- and long-term effects, and a parent who is unfamiliar with the child's care takes the initiative to get trained by the professionals involved.

The materials also stress treating special needs as a distinct planning goal rather than an afterthought — building specific, written provisions into the parenting plan so that both parents know their responsibilities and keep each other informed of changes. Consistency and clear communication across two homes is the throughline.

What to Do Today

• Start a single folder (physical or digital) with your child's diagnoses, treatment plans, IEP, therapy recommendations, and a current physician's letter.
• Begin a running list of uninsured extraordinary expenses — therapy, equipment, modifications, respite care — and note what insurance covered.
• Start the guided wizard so your petition and support paperwork are prepared correctly and raise your child's needs from the outset.
• Write down the specific accommodations your child needs in each home, so you can build them into a parenting plan.
• If your child receives benefits or owns assets, make a note to look into whether a conservatorship or extended guardianship will be needed.

Related Issues to Be Aware Of

• Decision-making for your child: For a special needs child, decisions about educational placements, IEPs, and medical treatment are especially consequential. Colorado courts allocate decision-making issue by issue based on best interests — so think carefully about whether joint or sole authority over medical and educational choices best fits your family. Note that in a true medical emergency, either parent may get necessary treatment without violating the order.

• Mental and physical health as a factor: A parent's or child's health is a factor in parenting time decisions, but Colorado law is explicit that a disability alone cannot be used to deny or restrict a parent's time with the child. If health concerns are raised, courts look at the full context and how it actually affects the child.

• Child support basics: Support is built from both parents' combined incomes, then adjusted for extraordinary medical expenses and allocated by income share — so understanding the core calculation helps you see how your child's extra needs get layered on.

• Emancipation and termination of support: Support normally ends automatically at age 19, but a child's disability is a key exception. Know this cold, because if the other parent files to terminate support, you'll need to raise the exception.

• College and post-secondary support: If your child's path includes a college or career/technical program, parents can agree in writing to contribute, and courts can order contributions within statutory limits. Note that a court generally cannot order both ordinary child support and post-secondary support for the same child for the same period.