Divorce is not an easy process, and not having a basic understanding of Colorado divorce law can make it very difficult.
But that’s where this article comes in.
After reading this, you will have a good understanding of Colorado law and the divorce process so that you can proceed with a clear picture of what to expect and be well prepared.
Grounds for Divorce in Colorado
Colorado is a no-fault divorce state, meaning that the only requirement for divorce is that the marriage is irretrievably broken.
You do not need to cite reasons or prove anything like infidelity, domestic violence, or desertion.
This simplifies the process, allowing couples to part ways without assigning blame.
Divorce Law: Residency Requirements
Before filing for divorce in Colorado, certain residency requirements must be met:
Divorce Without Children
At least one spouse must have lived in Colorado for 91 days or more.
Divorce With Children:
The children must have lived in Colorado for 182 days or more. If the children are younger than six months, then they must have lived in Colorado since birth.
Steps to Divorce in Colorado
While each divorce has its own nuances and needs, the following steps are common in most cases.
Filing the Petition
To start the divorce process, you must file a divorce petition with the court and have your spouse either sign a waiver of service or be served divorce papers by a process server.
The party being served, the Respondent, has 21 days to file a response to the petition.
If you think you need to file before your spouse files, you don’t. It does not matter which spouse files the Petition for Dissolution of Marriage first.
Alternatively, you can both file together as co-petitioners.
The Initial Status Conference
This is a short conference where the Court will set deadlines and hearing dates. The Court will also want to know whether you require expert witnesses, such as appraisers or business valuations.
During this conference, a Temporary Orders hearing may be scheduled to address more immediate issues. However, not every case has urgent needs that need to be addressed.
The court will issue a case management order (CMO).
The CMO outlines the procedural steps and timelines that both parties must follow throughout the divorce process.
Providing Financial Disclosures
Both spouses are required to complete financial disclosures.
Disclosures are due 21 days after the due date for the Respondent’s response to the petition.
This means that both parties must provide detailed information about their finances, including income, expenses, assets, and debts.
By disclosing this information, it ensures that both parties and the Court are fully informed and that any financial agreements or court orders are based on complete and accurate information.
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The Discovery Process
This is an optional step that can be taken by either party to obtain additional information from the other side to ensure all relevant facts are disclosed and evaluated.
If Discovery is served on one of the parties, they have 35 days to answer the discovery questions. The cut-off date for providing answers to Discovery is 28 days before the Permanent Orders hearing.
There are several methods the parties can use to obtain additional information during the discovery process.
Interrogatories:
Written questions that one party sends to the other, which must be answered in writing under oath. These questions can cover a wide range of topics related to finances, employment, lifestyle, and more.
Requests for Production of Documents:
These are formal requests for specific documents related to finances, assets, debts, and other relevant matters. These can include bank account statements, investment portfolios, property deeds, and business records.
Depositions:
This is oral questioning of a party or witness under oath, typically conducted by the opposing attorney. The testimony is recorded by a court reporter and can be used in court.
Subpoenas:
These are legal documents that can be served on a person or entity that requires them to provide documents or testimony. Subpoenas can be issued to third parties such as employers, banks, or business associates.
Requests for Admission:
Statements that one party asks the other to admit or deny in writing. These can help narrow down the issues that need to be addressed in court.
For example, you could request that the opposing party admit that they are capable of earning a certain amount of income based on their qualifications and employment history.
If the parties agree on the earning capacity, that number can be used to calculate spousal support and/or child support.
Temporary Orders Hearing
Some divorce cases need to have temporary orders put in place. These orders are designed to maintain the status quo and provide temporary solutions during divorce proceedings for issues including but not limited to:
- Immediate living arrangements
- Child custody
- Child support
- Spousal support
- How bills are paid
- Use of martial property (i.e., a vehicle)
These orders remain in place until the final divorce decree is issued.
Resolving Issues in Mediation
Colorado courts require parties to mediate before final orders are set.
This requirement is designed to help divorcing couples resolve their disputes amicably and out of court.
This can save the parties a lot of time, money, and stress that comes with a court trial.
Mediation gives people the most control over the outcome of their divorce. Anything the parties cannot agree upon is left up to a Judge to decide.
Mediations are conducted by a neutral third party known as a mediator.
Mediators facilitate discussions between parties to help them reach mutually acceptable agreements on various issues related to their divorce, such as the parenting time schedule or the division of marital assets.
Permanent Orders Hearing
In this hearing, the Court will make final decisions on any outstanding issues the parties cannot agree on.
The outcome of the Permanent Orders hearing will be reflected in the final permanent orders, which sets the terms for the parties’ future obligations and rights.
The Divorce decree legally ends the marriage.
The Permanent Orders (or Separation Agreement if you reach an agreement) supersedes everything from temporary orders.
Post-Decree Modification
After your Decree of Dissolution of Marriage has been entered, your or your ex-spouse’s circumstances may change, making it necessary to modify your court orders.
A post-decree modification may include changes regarding parenting time, child support, and spousal support.
Once you’ve modified parenting time post-decree, you must wait two years before filing for another modification. This is to help provide stability for children.
There are exceptions to the rule when the child’s well-being needs to be protected.
How Fast You Can Get Divorced?
Once you have filed for divorce, there is a 91-day waiting period before Colorado allows you to divorce.
If you and your ex come to a full agreement outside of court, you can be divorced on the 92nd day.
However, you shouldn’t expect to be divorced in 92 days. Your divorce is likely to take 6 months or more.
The Allocation of Parental Responsibilities
If you have minor children with your spouse, you’ll need to determine custody during the divorce process.
In Colorado, the term “allocation of parental responsibility” is used instead of “custody.” Allocation of parental responsibilities, or APR, refers to both decision-making and parenting time.
The Court generally favors joint responsibility, as it is considered to be in the child’s best interest in most cases.
Decision-Making:
The responsibility for making major decisions about the child’s health, education, and welfare can be distributed in the following ways:
- Joint Decision-Making: Both parents must agree on major decisions such as school choice.
- Divided Decision-Making: One parent may make medical decisions while the other handles extracurricular activities.
- Sole Decision-Making: One parent has the authority to make all major decisions for the children.
The court’s primary goal is to ensure these decisions serve the child’s best interests.
Parenting Time:
Parenting time schedules are tailored to the specific needs of the parents and children, as well as the amount of time each parent is allocated. Here are some common parenting time schedules:
- Every Other Weekend: One parent has the child during the week, while the other parent has the child every other weekend.
- 2-2-3 Schedule: One parent has the child Monday and Tuesday, the other parent has Wednesday and Thursday, and the parents alternate Friday through Sunday each week.
- Week On/Week Off: Parents alternate weeks with the child.
- 5-2-2-5: One parent has Mondays/Tuesdays overnight, and the other has Wednesdays/Thursdays, and the parties alternate weekends.
These are just a few examples.
Holiday schedules typically take precedence over regular parenting time schedules, ensuring that both parents can share special occasions with their children.
As mentioned previously, after you modify parenting time, you may have to wait two years before you can modify it again.
Calculating Child Support
Colorado has two different worksheets that are used to calculate child support.
- If one parent has 92 or fewer overnights, then Worksheet A is used to calculate support.
- If both parents have 93 overnights or more, then Worksheet B will be used for the calculation.
There are different factors that are taken into account when calculating child support, such as both parents combined gross income and how many children they have.
For information on other factors considered, see our Child Support page.
Parents can agree to their own amount of child support, but if it is lower than the formula calls for, you’ll have to justify the amount to the court and get approval.
Any child support agreement must be approved as an order of the court to be enforceable.
About Property Division
Colorado is an equitable distribution state, meaning the court aims to divide marital property and assets fairly but not necessarily equally.
There are two types of property when it comes to the division of property in divorce:
Separate Property:
Includes assets owned before the marriage, inheritances, and gifts that remain with you and have not been commingled with your spouse. These types of property cannot be divided.
Marital Property:
Includes any assets and debts acquired during the marriage. It also includes any increase in the value of your separate property or anything that was separate but has been commingled with your spouse.
Factors Considered:
The Court may also consider each spouse’s contributions to the marriage and economic circumstances when determining how to divide property.
Parties are allowed to come up with their own creative solutions as to how property is divided.
For example, one party may receive a larger portion of a retirement account in exchange for the other party keeping a piece of real estate.
Spousal Support Payments
Spousal Support may be awarded if one spouse cannot support themselves financially after the divorce. Factors influencing spousal support include:
- Length of the Marriage: Typically, spousal support (alimony) is considered for marriages lasting three years or longer. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get support for shorter marriages.
- Financial Need: The court evaluates the financial resources and needs of both spouses.
- Standard of Living: The standard of living established during the marriage is also considered.
Support payments typically last for half the length of the marriage. So, if you were married for 10 years, you can expect payments to continue for about 5 years.
More precise numbers can be found here.
Legal Separation instead of Divorce
In Colorado, legal separation allows couples to divide their assets and live apart without legally ending the marriage.
This means they cannot remarry.
The separation process will follow the exact same steps as the divorce process described earlier in this article.
However, your marriage will not be terminated.
At the end of the separation process, parties will receive a separation agreement instead of a divorce decree.
A legal separation can be converted into a dissolution of marriage at a later date.
Getting an Annulment (Declaration of Invalidity)
An annulment effectively erases your marriage as though it never happened.
Annulment, known as a declaration of invalidity in Colorado, is granted under specific conditions:
- Incapacity: One party was unable to consent to the marriage.
- Fraud or Duress: One party was forced or deceived into the marriage.
- Prohibited Marriages: Marriages involving incest or bigamy.
- Underage Marriage: One party was underage without proper consent.
If you were married outside of Colorado, you need to have lived in the state for 30 days before you can file for a declaration of invalidity.
There is no waiting period if you were married in Colorado.
Common-Law Marriage and Divorce
Colorado recognizes common-law marriage, which means couples who intend to be married, who live together, who have consummated the marriage, and who hold themselves out as married can be considered legally married.
If both parties agree they are married by common law, then they can proceed with a dissolution of marriage.
However
If one party doesn’t agree that they are married, the other party will first have to prove to the court that there is a marriage. If the Court determines there is a marriage, then the parties can proceed with the divorce.
Common-law couples must follow the same divorce procedures as formally married couples.
Further Your Understanding of Divorce Laws in Colorado
Having a good understanding of Colorado divorce law and the divorce process can significantly ease the emotional burden of divorce and help you make educated decisions.
If you would like legal advice from an experienced divorce lawyer or would like to file for divorce, please submit the form below, and we’ll contact you.
Schedule a consultation today; we can help you navigate every step of your Colorado Divorce, ensuring you are well-prepared and supported throughout the entire process.
