Colorado doesn't use the word "custody." It splits the concept into "parenting time" (where the child is) and "decision-making responsibility" (who decides big things), together called the allocation of parental responsibilities.

Instead of "custody," the law (C.R.S. § 14-10-124) talks about the "allocation of parental responsibilities," or APR, which has two parts. Parenting time is the schedule of when the child is with each parent (the old "physical custody" and "visitation"). Decision-making responsibility is the authority over major issues, (e.g., education, non-emergency health care, religious upbringing, and extracurricular activities). Either can be shared between the parents or given primarily to one.

In practice, Colorado courts often have parents share decision-making, and they favor keeping both parents meaningfully involved in the child's life. Shared decision-making and a 50/50 schedule are entirely separate questions, and you can have one without the other. All of this gets written into a detailed parenting plan that becomes part of the decree.

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Colorado

Colorado, USA