Colorado § 19-2.5-611 - Contempt - warrant - legislative declaration.

§ 19-2.5-611. Contempt - warrant - legislative declaration.

(1) Except as otherwise set forth in subsection (3) of this section, any person summoned or required to appear pursuant to section 19-2.5-501 who has acknowledged service and fails to appear without reasonable cause may be proceeded against for contempt of court.

(2) If after reasonable effort the summons cannot be served or if the welfare of the juvenile requires that the juvenile be brought immediately into the custody of the court, a bench warrant may be issued for the parents, guardian, or other legal custodian or for the juvenile.

(3) (a) When a parent or other person who signed a written promise to appear and bring the juvenile to court or who has waived or acknowledged service fails to appear with the juvenile on the date set by the court, a bench warrant may be issued for the parent or other person, the juvenile, or both.

(b) Whenever a parent or guardian or person with whom the juvenile resides, if other than the parent or guardian, who has received a summons to appear fails, without good cause, to appear on any other date set by the court, a bench warrant must be issued for the parent, guardian, or person with whom the juvenile resides, and the parent, guardian, or person with whom the juvenile resides is subject to contempt.

(c) For purposes of this subsection (3), good cause for failing to appear includes but is not limited to a situation where a parent or guardian:

(I) Does not have physical custody of the juvenile and resides outside of Colorado;

(II) Has physical custody of the juvenile but resides outside of Colorado and appearing in court will result in undue hardship to the parent or guardian; or

(III) Resides in Colorado but is outside of the state at the time of the juvenile proceeding for reasons other than avoiding appearance before the court and appearing in court will result in undue hardship to the parent or guardian.

(d) The nonappearance of the parent, guardian, or person with whom the juvenile resides is not the basis for a continuance.

(e) This subsection (3) is not applicable to any proceeding in a case that has been transferred to the district court pursuant to section 19-2.5-802.

(f) The general assembly declares that every parent or guardian whose juvenile is the subject of a juvenile proceeding pursuant to this article 2.5 shall attend any such proceeding.

(g) Nothing in this subsection (3) creates a right for any juvenile to have the juvenile's parent or guardian present at any proceeding at which the juvenile is present.

Source: L. 2021: Entire article added with relocations, (SB 21-059), ch. 136, p. 607, § 2, effective October 1.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 19-2-515 as it existed prior to 2021.