You’ve already decided to file for divorce. Now there are other decisions you need to make, such as where your children will live and go to school, how marital property will be divided, or how to best protect your business interests. These aren’t easy questions, but the answers can directly impact your finances, your living situation, and your relationship with your children for years to come.
At Colorado Lawyer Team, we help clients in Greenwood Village get through their divorces with the resources they need to start over. Whether your dissolution is amicable or highly contested, our Greenwood Village divorce lawyers will advocate for a settlement agreement that reflects your contributions to the marriage and supports you as you move toward a stronger and better future.
Why Hire Colorado Lawyer Team For Help With Your Divorce?
At Colorado Lawyer Team, we represent clients in Greenwood Village who need trustworthy legal guidance in contested and uncontested divorce matters. We ask you about your priorities, anticipate complications, and pursue outcomes that meet your long-term goals after the divorce is finalized. When you work with our law firm, we bring the following advantages to the table:
- Direct Access to Your Attorney: From the first consultation to the final order, you’ll work with the same Greenwood Village divorce lawyer. We don’t route you through multiple assistants or leave you waiting hours or even days for answers. This arrangement ensures your attorney is always up to speed on your court case and available to respond when new issues come up.
- Convenient Case File Access: You can meet with our Colorado attorneys remotely, review filings through secure portals, and sign documents electronically. These tools reduce your time commitment and allow you to stay engaged in your case from anywhere. They also allow us to respond quickly to new court orders, deadlines, or proposals from opposing counsel, so your case keeps moving without unnecessary delays.
- Flexible Service Options: Not every divorce requires full representation from start to finish. If you only need help with a single court appearance or a contested parenting plan, we offer unbundled legal services. For clients with ongoing disputes or complex marital assets, we provide full-scope representation with detailed case management.
- Planning for Post-Divorce Stability: Our family lawyers help clients take a forward-looking approach to divorce by considering the financial and parenting impacts that extend beyond the final decree. That includes reviewing long-term support obligations, creating enforceable parenting schedules, and identifying retirement or investment assets that may need to be divided.
- Strong Advocacy in High-Conflict Divorce: When communication has broken down or a spouse refuses to cooperate, you need a divorce attorney who’s helped other clients through similar difficulties. We’ve handled cases involving parental interference, hidden assets, and protection order disputes. In these situations, we work methodically to push the case forward even when the other side delays or refuses to engage.
Prerequisites for a Divorce Filing in Greenwood Village
To file for divorce in Colorado, at least one spouse must have lived in the state for a minimum of 91 days before submitting the Petition for Dissolution of Marriage. This residency requirement, which appears in Colorado Revised Statutes §14-10-106, applies even if only one person meets it; both spouses don’t need to be Colorado residents. If the divorce involves minor children, they must have lived in Colorado for at least 182 days before the filing date for the court to decide parenting matters.
These residency rules give Colorado courts the legal authority to hear and rule on your case. If neither spouse meets the requirement, the court won’t accept the filing, and you’ll need to wait or file in another state. To prove residency, courts may ask for documents such as a state-issued ID dated at least 91 days before filing, utility bills, a lease or mortgage statement, voter registration, or employment records showing that you’ve lived in Colorado during the required timeframe.
Does Colorado Allow Fault-Based Divorces?
Unlike states like Texas and Virginia, Colorado does not allow fault-based divorces. The state follows a strict no-fault system, meaning the court will not consider misconduct (such as infidelity, cruelty, or abandonment) as a reason to grant or deny a divorce. Instead, one or both spouses must state that the marriage is “irretrievably broken,” which is the only legally recognized ground. This approach aims to reduce conflict and keep the focus on resolving practical issues, not assigning blame for the breakdown of the relationship.
Although fault can’t be used to file for divorce, certain types of conduct may still influence the court’s decisions on related matters. For example, if one spouse wastes or hides marital assets, the court may factor that in when dividing property. Similarly, if one parent’s behavior threatens a child’s well-being, such as through domestic violence, sexual abuse, or neglect, that conduct can affect custody issues and parenting time. While the divorce itself is granted without regard to fault, the consequences of reckless behavior can still affect financial and parenting decisions.
Contested vs. Uncontested Divorces
In Colorado, divorces fall into two main categories: contested and uncontested. The distinction depends on how much the spouses agree on key issues like property division, parenting time, child support, and spousal maintenance.
Uncontested Divorce
An uncontested divorce happens when both spouses agree on all terms before they file. They submit a signed separation agreement outlining how they’ll divide assets, handle debts, and care for any children. These cases tend to move faster and cost less because they don’t involve frequent court hearings or extended negotiation. If the court finds the agreement fair and complete, it will usually approve it without much delay.
Contested Divorce
A contested divorce occurs when the spouses disagree on one or more issues. This could include disputes over how to split retirement accounts, who will keep the house, or how much time each parent will have with the children. These cases typically involve formal discovery, multiple court appearances, and sometimes mediation or trial, and a judge will make the final decisions if the parties can’t reach an agreement. Contested divorces normally take longer and involve higher legal costs due to the additional time and preparation required.
Child Custody in Colorado Divorces
In Colorado child custody cases (now referred to as “allocation of parental responsibilities”), courts focus on two main elements: decision‑making responsibility (legal custody) and parenting time (physical custody). Decision‑making responsibility determines who has authority over important aspects of your child’s life, such as education, healthcare, and religious upbringing. Parenting time decides where the child lives and establishes a predictable schedule for both parents.
Colorado law strongly favors shared parenting, encouraging joint decision-making and meaningful time with both parents whenever possible. However, courts always judge what’s best for the child. When parents disagree, they review factors such as each parent’s relationship with the child, the child’s maturity, and each parent’s ability to encourage a positive relationship with the other one. Courts also avoid gender bias and will not favor mothers over fathers.
If you and your spouse can’t agree on a parenting plan, the court may require mediation, appoint a Child and Family Investigator, or hold a hearing. In high conflict cases, the court may even assign a parenting coordinator to help manage disputes. Sole decision-making authority is only awarded in rare situations, such as when joint decision-making would cause harm due to child abuse allegations, neglect, or substance misuse.
How Are Marital Assets Divided?
If you and your spouse agree on how to divide the martial estate, you can submit a signed separation agreement for the court’s approval. If you can’t agree, the judge will make the final decision based on what is fair under the law.
In Colorado, marital assets are divided through a system called equitable distribution, which means the court aims to divide property fairly (but not always equally). Marital property includes most assets and debts acquired by either spouse during the marriage, regardless of whose name is on the account, title, or deed. Common examples include:
- Homes
- Vehicles
- Retirement accounts
- Investments
- Credit card debt
Property acquired before the marriage, or through inheritance or gift to one spouse, is usually considered separate and not subject to division, although increases in value during the marriage may be included.
During asset division, the court looks at several factors, including:
- Each spouse’s financial circumstances at the time of the divorce
- The value of the property awarded to each party
- Contributions to the marriage (including as a homemaker)
- Any economic hardship one spouse might face after the divorce
Misconduct like infidelity or cruelty isn’t considered in property division unless it involves wasting marital funds (for example, spending large sums on gambling or an affair).
Who Pays Child Support in Colorado?
Child support is a legal obligation aimed at providing financial support for a child’s basic needs. It’s based on a formula established under Colorado’s Child Support Guidelines (C.R.S. § 14‑10‑115), which use the Income Shares Model. The guideline calculates a basic support amount by combining both parents’ gross incomes and allocating responsibility based on each parent’s percentage of that combined income.
Colorado’s formula goes beyond basic income, however. Courts also factor in:
- The number of overnight stays each parent has with the child
- Costs for health insurance, childcare, private school, travel, and extraordinary medical or educational expenses
- Adjustments for low-income obligors (parties who pay), capping payments at a percentage of income if under certain thresholds
Child support is typically withheld directly from the obligor’s paycheck, and employers may garnish up to 60% for current and past-due support. If payments fall behind, the obligor may face accrual of interest, driver’s license suspension, wage garnishment, contempt of court, or even jail time.
Support generally ends when the child turns 19, or graduates high school (up to age 21), whichever comes later. It may also continue beyond age 19 in cases of disability or if parents agree.
Can You Get Spousal Support in Colorado?
Yes, you can get spousal support (also called maintenance) in Colorado, but it’s not automatically granted. Under C.R.S. § 14‑10‑114, the court may award spousal maintenance if one spouse shows financial need and the other has the ability to pay. Typically, payments last about half the length of the marriage (e.g., a five-year marriage could lead to about 2.5 years of support).
The judge will start with a specific formula: 40% of the combined adjusted gross income minus the lower‑earning spouse’s income, then subtract taxes to determine the net amount. This guideline usually applies when the couple’s combined income doesn’t exceed $240,000 per year.
Beyond the formula, the court reviews several statutory factors, including:
- Length of the marriage
- Age, health, and earning capacity of both spouses
- Standard of living established during the marriage
- Contributions by each spouse (like homemaking or supporting the other’s career)
- The resources each spouse has after property division
Maintenance can be temporary, paid during the divorce, or permanent (meaning long-term with a set duration). Permanent maintenance is more likely when a spouse can’t support themselves without it, especially after a long marriage spent as a homemaker, or due to age or health issues.
It’s important to note that in Colorado, if there’s been a protective order against a spouse within five years before filing for divorce, the court must consider that, and may deny maintenance to that spouse.
Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements
Both prenuptial and postnuptial agreements are valid and enforceable in Colorado, provided they meet strict legal standards under Colorado’s Marital Agreements Act (part of the Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act). Such agreements must:
- Be in writing and signed voluntarily by both spouses (oral agreements don’t count).
- Include full financial disclosure. This means that each party must share accurate details about assets, debts, and income at the time the agreement is executed.
- Be fair and not unconscionable when enforced. Courts may refuse to uphold agreements that heavily favor one party or were entered under duress, coercion, fraud, or misrepresentation.
- Be signed before a notary or by two disinterested witnesses.
.Prenuptial agreements are signed before marriage and take effect once you wed. They often cover asset division, spousal support, and property rights upon death or divorce, but can’t be used to set terms for child custody or child support.
Postnuptial agreements are signed during marriage and follow nearly identical legal requirements. They can adjust property rights, confirm inheritance protections, or outline spousal maintenance rights, but (again) can’t alter child-related obligations.
Questions? Speak to a Greenwood Village Divorce Attorney Today
If you’re preparing for divorce in Greenwood Village, Colorado Lawyer Team can guide you through it. We represent clients in cases involving contested child custody, business valuations, retirement account division, enforcement of marital agreements, and more. Our divorce attorneys appear regularly in Arapahoe County courts and can help you pursue an outcome that protects your long-term financial and family interests. For more information or to schedule a free consultation with our legal team, call (970) 344-9401 or contact our law firm online today.