You and your spouse may both agree the marriage is over and still disagree about almost everything that comes next.
That disagreement is what determines whether your divorce is contested or uncontested. Not how angry anyone is. Not whether you’re still on speaking terms.
Just one question:
Is there anything left that a judge has to decide for you?
If yes, your divorce is contested. If you’ve reached a complete agreement on every issue the court has to address, your case may proceed as an uncontested divorce.
Here’s the part most people don’t know:
Contested does not automatically mean you’re going to trial. Many contested divorce cases settle through settlement negotiations or mediation long before a judge ever hears testimony.
Contested vs. Uncontested Divorce: The Short Version
Uncontested divorce | Contested divorce | |
|---|---|---|
What it means | You and your spouse agree on every issue the court must resolve | At least one issue is still unresolved |
Who decides | You do, and the judge reviews and approves | You still can, but if you can't, the judge decides |
Court involvement | Minimal. Sometimes no court appearances at all | Hearings, and possibly trial |
Timeline | 91 days at the very earliest | Often several months, sometimes more than a year |
Cost | Lower and more predictable. Mostly document preparation and filing | Higher and harder to predict. Driven by formal discovery, experts, Trial Preparation, and Court Appearances |
Financial disclosure | Still required | Still required, plus possible formal discovery |
Control over the outcome | High | Lower on any issue the judge has to decide |
Bottom line: an uncontested divorce gives you more control, less expense, and a faster path, but only when both spouses have reliable information and can reach a fair agreement. Court intervention becomes necessary when reaching a complete agreement is not possible.
Neither one means someone “won.”
What Makes a Divorce Contested in Colorado?
A divorce becomes contested when you and your spouse can’t agree on at least one issue the court has to resolve before entering final orders.
Common disputes:
- What happens to the real property, including the marital residence
- How the marital estate should be divided, since Colorado follows equitable distribution rather than an automatic 50/50 split
- How debts should be divided
- How bank accounts, investments, and retirement accounts should be divided
- Whether property is marital or separate property.
- How a business or other complex asset should be valued
- Whether either spouse should receive spousal support, also called spousal maintenance or alimony
- How much child support should be paid
- How parenting time should be divided
- How major decisions affecting the children should be allocated
You don’t have to disagree about everything.
You could agree on 90% of your divorce and still need the court’s help with the remaining 10%. That still makes it contested.
What Happens in a Contested Divorce?
A contested divorce doesn’t send you straight to trial. There are several stages before a judge has to decide anything, and most cases resolve at one of them.
Financial Disclosures
Colorado domestic relations cases require both spouses to put their finances on the table.
Under Colorado Rule of Civil Procedure 16.2 (C.R.C.P. 16.2), you and your spouse owe each other and the court a duty of full and honest disclosure of all financials, including all assets, debts, income, and expenses.
That means exchanging a Sworn Financial Statement and a set of mandatory financial disclosures within 42 days of service of the initial pleadings or filing of a co-petition, without waiting to be asked for them.
C.R.C.P. 16.2 also creates a continuing duty. If your financial circumstances change while the case is pending, you must update your previous disclosures.
Those disclosures typically cover income, bank accounts, investments, real estate, retirement accounts, debts, business interests, and other assets and obligations.
This matters just as much in an uncontested divorce. You can’t make an informed decision about a settlement if you don’t know what exists, what it’s worth, or what’s owed.
Formal Discovery
When the required disclosures don’t tell the whole story or additional information is required from the other side, a contested divorce may move into formal discovery.
Discovery is used to obtain documents, get sworn answers to factual questions, value property, and investigate issues like business income or hidden assets. In more complicated cases, attorneys also work with appraisers, business valuation professionals, and forensic accountants.
Formal discovery adds legal fees and increases the overall costs. But when significant property is in dispute, or when one spouse handled all the money and the other has no visibility into it, the additional investigation may be necessary.
Temporary Orders
A divorce can take months. Families still have to function in the meantime.
Either spouse can ask the court for temporary orders covering parenting time, decision-making, child support, spousal maintenance, or who stays in the house while the case is pending.
Important: temporary orders aren’t final orders. They set workable rules for right now, and they can be changed when the case concludes.
Mediation and Settlement Negotiations
Even highly contested cases settle.
Negotiations continue throughout a case, and mediation gives both spouses a chance to work toward an agreement with a neutral third party. Courts frequently require parties to attend mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution, such as arbitration.
A contested divorce does not have to become a war. Good strategy means knowing which issues are worth fighting over, which ones can be resolved through negotiation or mediation, and which ones genuinely need a judge to resolve.
Considering mediation in your divorce? Shapiro Family Law offers mediation services. Call 303-695-0200 to talk through whether our office is a good fit for your case.
Final Orders Hearing or Trial
If disputes remain after negotiation and mediation, the court holds a final orders hearing. Each side presents evidence and testimony, and the judge decides what’s left.
A judge may have to determine how marital property is divided, whether spousal maintenance is appropriate and for how long, or what parenting arrangement serves the best interests of the children.
Once the judge enters final orders, they’re binding and enforceable.
What Is an Uncontested Divorce?
An uncontested divorce means you and your spouse have resolved everything the court needs to address before entering a final decree. Those terms go into a written separation agreement, sometimes called a marital settlement agreement, covering things like:
- Property division and asset division
- Debt division
- Spousal maintenance
- Child support
- Parenting time
- Decision-making responsibilities
- Insurance
- Taxes
- Retirement accounts
Colorado specifically allows spouses to settle these matters by written agreement under C.R.S. § 14-10-112.
But uncontested doesn’t mean “we get along.”
And it definitely doesn’t mean “my spouse told me what the agreement says and I signed it.”
Here’s the key difference between the property terms and the child-related terms:
Under § 14-10-112, the property and maintenance terms of your separation agreement are binding on the court unless the judge finds the agreement unconscionable after looking at both spouses’ economic circumstances.
The terms covering allocation of parental responsibilities, parenting time, and child support are initially subject to the best interest standard of C.R.S. § 14-10-124. Modification of allocation of parental responsibilities may be subject to a different standard depending upon the current orders.
So a judge who has concerns about your agreement can ask you to revise it, or can enter different orders. Agreement is not the same thing as automatic approval.
Agreement Doesn’t Cancel the Disclosure Rules
Reaching an agreement doesn’t eliminate Colorado’s financial disclosure requirements. Even when both spouses expect the divorce to stay uncontested, the Sworn Financial Statement is still part of the process.
Here’s why that protects you:
Agreeing that one spouse gets “half the retirement account” sounds simple. It usually isn’t. The agreement may also need to address the valuation date, gains and losses between then and now, survivor benefits, and the plan-specific paperwork needed to actually divide it. Some retirement plans also require a separate domestic relations order before the account can be divided, and the requirements differ between an IRA, a 401(k), a pension, and PERA.
Similar issues may arise with real property. Giving one spouse the marital home does not automatically remove the other spouse from the mortgage. The lender has its own rights regardless of what your divorce agreement says, and additional steps must be taken to remove the other spouse’s name from the mortgage.
Details matter, and they’re much cheaper to get right the first time than to fix after your divorce decree is entered.
What About Child Custody?
What most people call child custody is handled in Colorado as the allocation of parental responsibilities. It breaks into two related but separate pieces:
- Parenting time. When the children are with each parent.
- Decision-making responsibilities. Who makes the major decisions on education, healthcare, religion, and other significant areas of the children’s lives.
If you and the other parent agree, you can submit a parenting plan to the court.
But parents can’t simply hand the judge any agreement and require approval. Colorado courts decide issues involving parental responsibilities based on the best interests of the children. Child support has to be addressed as well, even when parenting time is fully agreed.
Note: Colorado law changed here in 2026. Under HB26-1309, “Abuse in Cases of Separation,” when domestic violence, child abuse or neglect, or sexual assault is alleged, the court must consider the relevant evidence and make findings on the record by a preponderance of the evidence before it decides parenting time and decision-making responsibility. When allegations like these are raised, the court has specific duties that the parties cannot eliminate simply by reaching an agreement.
What If Your Spouse Already Filed?
If you’ve been served with a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, the case has started whether you agree with it or not.
Current Colorado court forms direct a respondent to file a response within:
- 21 days if you were served in Colorado
- 35 days if you were served outside Colorado, or by publication
Read the summons carefully, because it states the deadline that applies to your case.
Here’s what matters most: don’t ignore the papers. A case you never appear in can move forward and enter orders on property division, allocation of Parental Responsibilities, and support that are decided without your input. Showing up is what protects you.
Note: filing a response and appearing in the case aren’t the same thing, and Colorado courts have recognized that distinction. If your deadline has already passed, that isn’t necessarily the end of your ability to participate. Talk to an attorney rather than assuming you’ve lost your say.
Filing doesn’t make a case contested, either. Spouses who already agree often file together as co-petitioners on a joint petition, which skips service entirely.
Being served isn’t a declaration of war. It’s a clock starting.
How Long Does a Divorce Take in Colorado?
Colorado has two separate 91-day periods, and people mix them up constantly.
Residency requirements. At least one spouse must have been domiciled in Colorado for the 91 days immediately before the dissolution of marriage case begins.
The waiting period. A judge can’t enter the final divorce decree until 91 days or more have passed since the court acquired jurisdiction over the responding spouse, whether through service, joining as co-petitioner, or otherwise entering an appearance.
Both come from C.R.S. § 14-10-106, along with the requirement that the court find the marriage is irretrievably broken.
That 91-day waiting period is a floor, not a finish line. It is the earliest a decree can be issued, not the day your divorce ends.
Stage | Timing |
|---|---|
Petition for Dissolution of Marriage filed | Day 0 |
Service on your spouse, or a joint petition signed by both | Day 0 onward |
Sworn Financial Statement and mandatory financial disclosures exchanged | Within 42 days of service or filing of co-petitions |
Temporary orders, if needed | As needed |
Mediation or settlement negotiations | Usually after financial disclosures, discovery, expert reports, and before a final orders hearing |
Earliest possible final divorce decree | Day 91+ |
An uncontested divorce runs longer when paperwork is incomplete, agreements need revision, disclosures haven’t been finished, or the court needs more information.
A contested divorce runs longer because discovery, mediation, expert analysis, hearings, and trial take time.
What Does a Contested Divorce Cost?
Nobody can quote you a number without knowing your case. Many variables contribute to the overall cost of a case and they’re worth understanding before you decide which issues to fight over.
Variables that raise the cost of a contested divorce:
- Formal discovery, especially when one spouse is not disclosing assets
- Business valuations, property appraisals, and expert witness fees
- Contested temporary orders
- Disputes over whether property is marital or separate
- Contested parenting issues requiring Expert Opinion
- Every additional court hearing
What keeps costs down:
- ✓ Complete, honest financial disclosure early
- ✓ Narrowing the dispute to the issues that actually matter
- ✓ Successful mediation
- ✓ Settling the issues you can, even if a few remain for the judge
An uncontested divorce is usually less expensive when both spouses already have a complete, informed agreement. That is exactly why the pressure to accept a bad agreement is a real risk, and why the agreement should be reviewed before you sign it rather than after.
Call 303-695-0200 and we’ll walk you through what your situation is likely to involve.
Does an Uncontested Divorce Mean You Don’t Have to Go to Court?
Sometimes.
But not always.
Colorado provides a procedure that lets some spouses with a complete agreement request a decree upon affidavit, avoiding court appearances entirely. You file an Affidavit for Decree Without Appearance, the Colorado Judicial Branch form JDF 1018, under C.R.S. § 14-10-120.3.
If there are no minor children and neither spouse is pregnant, that route is often available once the paperwork is complete, subject to the court’s approval.
Cases with minor children carry an additional requirement. This procedure generally requires both spouses to be represented by an attorney or a licensed legal paraprofessional, with a signed separation agreement and parenting plan that allocates parental responsibilities and addresses child support. So, if one or both of you is unrepresented and children are involved, expect a court hearing even with a full agreement and a signed parenting plan.
So “uncontested” and “no court appearances” are not the same thing. Plan for the final hearing.
When an Uncontested Divorce Isn’t the Right Path
If you’re not safe, call 911.
An uncontested divorce depends on two people negotiating freely with full information. That is not always the situation when there’s abuse, intimidation, or a real fear of what the other person will do. It’s also not the situation when one spouse controls all the money and refuses to be honest.
Colorado law now takes this more seriously than it used to. When abuse is alleged, the court must make findings about abuse on the record before deciding parenting time and decision-making, rather than treating it as one factor among many.
Court intervention exists for exactly these cases. Temporary orders, formal discovery, and enforceable protections are tools, and properly using these tools is not escalating. It’s using the process the way it was built to work.
If any of that describes your situation, get advice before you sign anything.
Can a Contested Divorce Become Uncontested?
Yes, and it happens more often than you think.
“Contested” describes issues that are still unresolved. It doesn’t lock your case into litigation permanently. Spouses reach a complete settlement:
- Through direct negotiation
- Through their attorneys
- In mediation
- After exchanging more financial information
- After temporary orders show how an arrangement actually works in practice
- Expert Reports
- Sometimes days before a final orders hearing
Once the remaining issues are resolved, you submit the agreement to the court instead of asking a judge to decide.
It runs the other direction too. A case that starts cooperatively can turn contested when spouses discover they do not actually agree, often over the value of the house, the treatment of a retirement account, or whether an asset is marital property. Parenting agreements break down the same way, once people get into school schedules, holidays, and transportation.
That’s not failure. It just means there’s more to work through before final orders.
How a Denver Divorce Lawyer Helps
The job isn’t to fight over every issue. It’s to tell you where you actually stand and advise you along the way.
An experienced divorce attorney helps you understand what information you need, what outcomes are realistic, and which disputes are worth pursuing. In a contested case, that also means:
- ✓ Obtaining and evaluating financial information
- ✓ Conducting formal discovery when disclosure falls short or raises more questions.
- ✓ Preparing for temporary orders
- ✓ Developing a workable parenting plan
- ✓ Evaluating settlement offers
- ✓ Preparing for mediation
- ✓ Working with appraisers, forensic accountants, and other experts
- ✓ Presenting evidence and argument at a court hearing or trial
In an uncontested case, the work is different but not smaller. Reviewing the separation agreement before you sign, identifying what’s missing, explaining the long-term consequences of specific terms, and confirming that the documents say what you believe you agreed to.
Sometimes the right strategy is litigation. Sometimes it’s settlement.
Usually, it comes down to knowing the pros and cons of litigation versus settlement.
Finding the Right Path Through Your Colorado Divorce
Most people don’t start a divorce hoping for a long court battle. They want to protect their kids, understand what happens to their finances, and get through it without making a decision they’ll regret in the future.
When agreement is genuinely possible, an uncontested divorce gives you more control and costs less. When important issues are unresolved, or when you can’t make good decisions because the financial picture is incomplete, the contested process is how the case moves forward.
Shapiro Family Law brings decades of Colorado family law experience to that decision, and clear communication through a stressful process. Our attorneys help clients understand their options, identify the issues that actually matter, and pursue practical solutions without manufacturing conflict.
If you have questions about contested divorce vs. uncontested divorce in Colorado, call Shapiro Family Law at 303-695-0200 to schedule a consultation.
