Colorado Divorce

Colorado divorce laws let spouses end their marriage and decide on important issues such as dividing property, providing alimony, child custody, support, and visitation.

Residency Requirement

In order to get a Colorado divorce, you must live in Colorado for 90 days before filing for divorce.

Grounds For a Colorado Divorce

Colorado divorce law allows divorces regardless of the fault of the other spouse. This is commonly called a “no-fault divorce”. This means that the only way to receive a divorce is Colorado is to have the judge decide that the marriage is “irretrievably broken”. In Colorado, you cannot use the following as a grounds for divorce:

• Adultery
• Abandonment
• Habitual drunkenness
• Mental cruelty

How To Begin

First, one of the spouses must file the Petition for Dissolution. This is the first document filed in any Colorado divorce case. After the petition is filed at court, the case begins when other spouse is served with the summons, or a signs a waiver of service. Once the other spouse is served with the Petition for Dissolution, the court issues an automatic restraining order prohibiting both spouses from:

• Taking the children out of the state without permission
• Harassing the other spouse
• Hiding, destroying, or transferring marital property
• Canceling or changing any insurance without your spouse's permission or the Colorado divorce court's permission

Colorado divorce law requires a 90-day waiting period before granting a final decree of dissolution of the marriage. Most contested divorces in Colorado take at 6-12 months. If the other spouse does not contest the divorce, division of property and there are no child custody or support issues, then the Colorado divorce may be obtained in as little as 90 days.

Within 40 days of the Petition for Dissolution being filed, the Colorado divorce court will have an Initial Status Conference. At the Initial Status Conference, the court will determine if there should be a formal hearing on temporary issues while the divorce is pending. The hearing on temporary issues usually deals with:

• Who can live in the marital home
• Alimony
• Child support
• Child custody

Alimony

Alimony is payment for the support of the other spouse. Alimony is usually given in order to give the receiving spouse the chance to look for a good job, go to school, or stay home with the minor children.

The Court awards alimony depending on several factors, including the spouses’ financial situation, earning capacity, income, and the circumstances of the marriage. For example, if one spouse stayed home to care for the children for several years while the other spouse earned the income supporting the family, the court will generally require the working spouse to continue supporting the family in that manner.

The Colorado divorce courts will require that the spouses file financial affidavits detailing their income, debts, and property.

Child Support

Colorado divorce law provides a Schedule of Basic Child Support. Child support is calculated by examining the incomes of both parents and the cost of day care if it is needed.

Generally, child support must be paid until the minor child reaches the age of 19, or graduates from high school, whichever comes later. The judge may also require that the parent pay for college after age 19, but these payments will not be made to the parent with whom the child lives. Instead, child support payments after age 19 go to the child or the college.

Child Custody

Colorado divorce law does not automatically award custody of the minor children to the mother. Also, the court will not even consider whose “fault” is the divorce. The court will only consider what is in the best interests of the child. Colorado divorce law allows for two different kinds of child custody: primary residential and legal custody.

• Primary residential custody means who the children live with.
• Legal custody means the rights that a parent has to make important decision for the child.

Usually, the judge will give joint legal custody to both parents and primary residential custody to only one of the parents. If the parents disagree as to who should have primary residential custody, the court will appoint an independent expert investigater to help the judge decide who should have primary residential custody. Custody evaluators are usually mental health professionals who give a formal report to the judge. Nevertheless, the judge is not required to follow the custody evaluator’s recommendations.

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