Yes. Unless one of you has filed for a divorce or legal separation and absent any other court orders to the contrary, your wife can take your daughter out of state.
No. The divorce action will not go faster, it will probably go slower. Regardless that your husband is in jail, he still has the same statutory and Constitutional protections in a divorce and custody action as he had prior to his arrest. Since he is in jail, the process will be slower since he has a right to attend hearings, and that will require the issuance of a Writ to get the jail to transport him to the hearings. He will have to provide financial information and documentation which he doesn’t have easy access to due to his incarceration. He can get the documentation, but that will take a lot of time and effort.
The filing fee in the divorce case cannot be waived due to your husband’s criminal cases. However, if you are indigent, you might qualify for a waiver.
In Colorado, marital property subject to division includes all property acquired up through the date of dissolution of marriage. It is irrelevant that you and your husband have been separated for 12 years. This doesn’t mean that everything gets split equally, but your husband has a claim to part of the equity in your house and your pension from the city.
The Court has to look at everything including all of your assets, debts, incomes, length of marriage, retirement accounts, and economic circumstances to determine what is fair. Colorado is an “equitable division” state, which means that the Court must do what is fair, which may not necessarily be equal.
Yes, you can get child support. The obligation to pay child support is premised on paternity, not on whether the baby has the father’s last name.
Generally speaking, neither party can relocate the minor child out of state without the consent of the other party or a court order. Your son does NOT get to choose which parent he lives with. Your ex-wife will have to file a motion with the court requesting that she be allowed to relocate with your son. I assume the court will appoint a Child and Family Investigator to conduct an evaluation and make a recommendation. It is likely the court will also order you to mediation. If you cannot reach an agreement, the court will set the matter for a hearing.
