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The Boney Law Firm, 8400 E. Crescent Parkway, 6th Floor, Greenwood Village, CO (2026)

12/22/2022

Abdicating your responsibilities as a parent can cost you Arnold and Mary had two teen-aged children, Alex and Alice. Because of many circumstances, Arnold had caused the children to come to think their mother was dangerous (otherwise known as parental alienation). At Arnold and Mary’s divorce hea...

12/22/2022

Intent to commit a crime is most often key to your guilt This week’s criminal trial provided a good example that proving a defendant’s intent to commit a crime usually provides the best chance to stay out of jail, even when it might seem the prosecution has you dead to rights. That was the case ...

11/11/2022

A bit of Friday morning levity:

A dog walks into a butcher shop with $25 and a note requesting 10 pork chops. The butcher, curious about the situation, fills out the order and gives it to the dog, who grabs the bag and exits the shop.

The butcher decides to follow the dog out of the shop. The dog exits the shop, turns right, goes around the corner, and stops at the bus stop. The amazed butcher continues to follow the dog. The dog views the bus schedule, then lets a few buses go by, until the southbound bus arrives. The dog checks the number of the bus, then gets on board, still carrying the bag of pork chops, and offers the bus driver the bus pass in the dog’s collar. The dog sits in the open handicap area of the bus.

Now even more amazed, the butcher gets on the bus to continue following the dog. After several stops, the dog gets on his hind legs, reaches up with his paws, and hits the button to request the bus stop. The dog then exits the bus still carrying the bag of pork chops.

The butcher continues to follow the dog until the dog reaches a particular house. The dog drops the bag of pork chops on the front porch, then excitedly starks barking and scratching at the front door. A large man opens the front door, then starts yelling and cursing at the dog.

The butcher runs up to the man and says “What are you doing?! Your dog just went shopping for pork chops. Your dog is a genius!”
"Genius my ass!” exclaims the man. “This is the third time he forgot his keys!”

11/07/2022

Remain silent if police confront you

Law enforcement can lie, cheat and threaten to get you to give them information

We've all been taught since we were kids that the police are your friends. That's true most of the time, but not when they confront you about a possible crime. In order to help prosecutors make their case, police officers often try to intimidate people to get information that can be used against you at trial.

The United States Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement must read you your rights upon your arrest, but they don't have to do this until you are in custody. It's during this pre-arrest time they'll try to trick you or intimidate you into into spilling the beans or consenting to otherwise illegal searches. So, let's run through an example of what to do when confronted by the police by using a real-life scenario that happened to Derrick, one of my softball teammates who perhaps drank too much during one of our games.

As Derrick drove away from one of our games, a patrol officer immediately pulled him over suspecting he was driving drunk. After requesting Derrick's license and insurance, the office began asking whether Derrick had been drinking and how much. Derrick, who fortunately paid attention during the tutorial I provided my teammates about interactions with the police, Sat in stone silence not saying a word. He maintained his silence even after the officer demanded he open the trunk of his car. Derrick just politely refused.

Apparently, the officer felt he didn't have probable cause to arrest Derrick, so Derrick was allowed to drive away without arrest. Had Derrick not kept his mouth shut, he would have told the officer he'd consumed more than a six pack in the past hour. Had he consented to the search, the officer would have found ma*****na (still illegal in Colorado at that time) in his trunk. His silence kept from facing DUI and possession charges. It's too bad my client Lisa didn't follow the same plan when she was pulled over. Instead of remaining silent, she literally told the patrol office "I've been drinking all night at a bar. I don't know how many I've had, but I probably shouldn't be driving." As you might imagine, her DUI trial did not go well given that admission.

But how do you know whether you're in custody? It's simple -- if you're not in handcuffs, you're not in custody. This means you don't have to say anything to the officer nor do you have to follow his/her instructions.

If you are in handcuffs, then you're in custody. Make sure the officer reads you your rights. And make sure the only thing that comes out of your mouth if you're in custody is "I want to talk to my lawyer."

10/22/2022

I just learned about a huge win in Court today for me and one of my clients!

Dad, who had been ignoring the Court’s orders regarding custody, was found to be in contempt and was ordered to pay a $5000 bond to the Court to make sure he doesn’t ignore the Court’s orders in the future. And he’s likely going to have to pay my client thousands of dollars of her attorney fees still.

It’s been a long road to this point. Kudos to Denise (not my client’s real name) for hanging in there and not letting her ex beat her down.

10/18/2022

SOMETIME THE JUDGE REALLY DOES HAVE TO SEE TO BELIEVE

In a recent case, I had an opposing party claim he was blind in order to get a better division of property and to get maintenance (alimony) to which he would not otherwise have been entitled. He would not have been able to make this claim had the divorce hearing in this case been originally scheduled in person.

About the Case: In early December, the opposing party / husband claimed he made $7,200 per month. In late December, he suddenly issued documents claiming he had gone blind from the stress of the divorce and could no longer work. He claimed he lost his job, and his income was $0.

My client (the wife) and I, of course, were very skeptical. In my 16+ years of practice, I have never had anyone involved in a divorce go blind from the stress of the case. The only way the husband would have a chance of pulling this off is because his late-January hearing was by Webex and not in person, thus allowing him to potentially sit behind a camera and “sell” his blindness via streaming video. However, his attorneys withdrew at this late-January hearing, forcing him to reschedule.

This time (I think because the judge also was skeptical), the judge rescheduled the hearing in person. Now, the husband would be required to physically come to the courthouse and make his case, with no option of hiding behind a video camera.
So, only three months after claiming he had gone blind, the husband shows up in the courtroom without a cane or even reading glasses. He claimed to have found a similar job to what he had supposedly lost back in December.

This is the perfect example of why it’s important to have your hearings in person in front of a judge. Roughly 90% of the information humans project is nonverbal, which is why it’s important that your judge be able to see this in the courtroom so they can assess the credibility of any witnesses.

And, in some cases, make sure the opposing party can’t claim they’ve gone blind.

10/18/2022

WE DON'T NEED 9 PEOPLE TO COME AND TESTIFY YOU'RE A GOOD MOM!

It's the quality of your witnesses, not the quantity. As an attorney, some of the biggest decisions I must make are which witnesses I need to call during a hearing.

This is no small matter because, in nearly every hearing, the presiding judge sets time limits on each party’s presentation of their case. This means we’re literally on the clock. Every witness called is going to eat into that time limit, therefore, each witness called literally needs to be worth my client’s time.

Some witnesses – child and family investigators, vocational experts, eyewitnesses to domestic violence or child abuse – are no-brainers. Of course, they will make any case stronger and are sometimes crucial to the best interests of the children involved, etc. It’s more difficult, however, to determine the value of so-called “character witnesses,” who are often pushed on me by my clients.

For example, a client will demand to call his girlfriends or his mother to testify as to what a great father he is, and also sometimes, as to what a terrible mother the opposing party is. Unfortunately, I think this is because too many clients have watched too much television, and therefore, too many fictional lawyers on the small screen.

“Character witnesses” have little to no value. This situation occurred during my custody hearing yesterday. Mother (not my client) called multiple family members, all of whom said she was a great mom and that Father (my client) was a real heel. So, of course, my client demanded I call an equal number of his family members to counter what Mother’s witnesses were saying. As I typically do, I refused to call such witnesses, instead using that precious time to conduct a deeper cross examination of Mother as to why she thought she didn’t have to work to her full income potential.

At the end of the hearing, the judge made two relevant comments – that Mother would be imputed a higher income than she wanted, thereby lowering my client’s child support obligation, and that Mother’s witnesses provided little useful information because the judge expected them to sing Mother’s praises. The moral to the story here is that it’s the quality of your witnesses, not the quantity, that wins cases.

So, listen to your lawyer when deciding whom to call as a witness. He / she will know best.

10/18/2022

THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! WELL, ACTUALLY IT IS JUST THAT - MY BUSINESS, TOO,

If you won a business and your married, you might be surprised to know that your spouse owns that business, too,

Under Colorado law, a business is marital property, meaning your spouse owns it as much as you do. And how such a business is divided in a divorce is one of the most complex subjects in the divorce business.

Colorado law, while not providing an exact formula on dividing such property, does provide some guidelines for the judge in reaching a decision.

In any Colorado divorce, a spouse’s ownership or partnership interest in a business is considered marital property. So, just as the judge must decide how to divide the value of a house purchased during the marriage, so must the judge also decide how to divide the value of the business. Unfortunately, Colorado law does not provide a bright line rule as to how a judge is either to assess the value of the business or to assess the percentage to which each spouse is entitled. Because of the many various ways a divorce judge can apportion business ownership between spouses, it is common to hire a an expert to conduct a business evaluation to provide the judge some guidance on the matter.

Colorado law, while not providing an exact formula on dividing such property, does provide some guidelines for the judge in reaching a decision. They are as follows:

· How much did either spouse invest in the business? – This is the key question in determining the percentage each spouse may be entitled to once the overall value of the business has been determined. Whether the investment is financial or it involves putting a lot of time and work into growing the business will be taken into consideration when dividing that business in a divorce. This includes a spouse’s contribution to the marriage as a homemaker.

· Did the business increase in value during the marriage? – If a business began during the marriage, the amount that business has appreciated in value over the marriage – if any – is essential for the judge to figuring out whether there are shared interests in the business (i.e., the business should be considered a marital asset) or not (i.e., the business should remain a person’s asset and, therefore, won’t be divided in the divorce proceedings).

· On what date did the business begin? – Whether the business started before or during the marriage is important for the judge to decide how to divide the business, primarily as to how the value of the business appreciated during the marriage.

· How much is the business worth? – A popular method is the excess earnings method, which attempts to determine the present value of the business that includes both tangible assets and intangible assets, such as business goodwill.

· What liabilities does the business have? – Not all businesses are profitable. Business debts and long-term obligations can lessen the business’s overall value.

Therefore, a flourishing business co-owned and operated by both spouses that began during the marriage will provide each spouse a greater and equal value than a business started near the end of the marriage built by only one spouse.
The case most often cited in divorce business divisions is In re Huff, 834 P.2d 244 (Colo. 1992). This case set the excess earnings method as the generally accepted method for dividing a business. It also clearly established that awarding a spouse a portion of the business does not preclude that spouse from also being awarding spousal maintenance. And it set as the standard for dividing a business interest that the division be fair and equitable, not simply a mathematical formula. The effect of this ruling is that a judge need not take into account any ownership or partnership agreement that sets out the value of someone leaving the business as the absolute business value.

All this means that division of a marital business is a huge gray area, making having a good lawyer to argue the merits of you keeping more of the business a crucially important decision.

10/18/2022

RESPECT MY AUTHORITY!!! WHY SHOULD I?

This is probably the most basic question about courts, judges and the legal system. What gives a judge the right to make you do stuff any more than your neighbor or your bartender? The answer is jurisdiction, and it's one of the things we lawyers fight over all the time.

A court must have jurisdiction over the legal issue and over the parties to hear a case. This means that you must choose the right court in which to file your case. These are the two types of jurisdiction – jurisdiction over the parties’ legal issue and jurisdiction over the parties themselves. Jurisdiction gives a Court the authority to make a decision in a case. The first type of jurisdiction concerns location.

In order to obtain a Colorado divorce, there is a domicile requirement and a waiting period. The domicile requirement is fulfilled if at least one of the parties to the divorce has lived in Colorado with the intent to remain for at least 90 days prior to filing. This “abode” requirement can be tricky. Does residing at a hotel for three months count as an abode? What about staying for three months at your aunt’s house while your new house is being built? What if those two structures are in different counties? This is why it’s important to have a lawyer who can fight to make sure your divorce or custody case is in the best court for you.

The second type of jurisdiction the court must have is personal jurisdiction, which is required in order for a Colorado court to dissolve a marriage, order a party to pay spousal support or maintenance, or to divide marital property. A court must have personal jurisdiction to award attorney’s fees to a requesting party. Jurisdiction is straightforward when both parties are domiciled in the state. However, jurisdiction can become more complicated if one of the parties does not live in the state. If one party does not reside in the state of Colorado that party can still consent to jurisdiction here. Even when one party does not live in the state and does not consent to jurisdiction here, jurisdiction can still be found if that party is served in the state or if the marriage occurred in the state.

Colorado, like many other states, has a “no-fault” dissolution legal standard. The “no-fault” standard for Colorado divorce is “irretrievable breakdown of the marriage.” Only one party need assert that the marriage is irretrievably broken to initiate divorce proceedings.

Colorado’s residency requirement is pretty short. - only 90 days. Most states are six months to a year. Also, Colorado is a signatory to the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act, which was enacted to stop “forum shopping,” which is when one parent who doesn’t like the Denver judge’s decision moves to Cheyenne and files a case there. UCCJEA jurisdiction resolves around where the child has resided for the last six months. I’ve had circumstances where one court in Colorado had jurisdiction over the spouses for their divorce based on their move four months ago, but not over kids because another state had jurisdiction over the kids because they had not resided in Colorado for six months.

I’ll address the UCCJEA and all its complex rules in a future blog.

Questions about jurisdiction? Call me at 303-819-8789 for a free consultation.

The Boney Law Firm

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Tuesday	8am - 6pm
Wednesday	8am - 6pm
Thursday	8am - 6pm
Friday	8am - 6pm