Generally, Colorado’s statutory advisory guidelines do not recommend spousal maintenance until 3 years of marriage, but maintenance may be awarded in shorter-term marriages under certain circumstances. This does not mean that a person will automatically be granted maintenance if they are married for 3 or more years.

Generally, no. Assuming the court has jurisdiction and other requirements have been met, it will enter a decree of dissolution (grant a divorce) if it finds the marriage is irretrievably broken. If one party denies under oath that the marriage is irretrievably broken, the court will consider all relevant factors (including the circumstances that gave rise to the petition for dissolution and prospect of reconciliation) and may conduct additional proceedings and suggest counseling, before determining whether it irretrievably broken.

Protecting yourself before a divorce starts long before the divorce. Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements are a good way to protect yourself because spouses can agree to specific assets they would like to protect in marriage and divorce.

The court also actively looks to protect the parties to a divorce by enacting an Automatic Temporary Injunction, as soon as the divorce is filed, which does not allow one spouse to remove another person from insurance, take the kids out of state, or dispose/hide marital property.

1. Decision-making authority;
   • which encompasses big decisions such as health and education
2. Parenting time; and
3. Child support

The courts really encourage joint parenting, given that is in the best interest of the child, and that there are no endangerment concerns. The Colorado Revised Statutes directly state “While co-parenting is not appropriate in all circumstances following dissolution of marriage or legal separation, the general assembly finds and declares that, in most circumstances, it is in the best interest of all parties to encourage frequent and continuing contact between each parent and the minor children of the marriage after the parents have separated or dissolved their marriage. In order to effectuate this goal when appropriate, the general assembly urges parents to share the rights and responsibilities of child-rearing and to encourage the love, affection, and contact between the children and the parents.

No, Colorado is a marital property state, which means that any asset or debt acquired during the marriage is marital property and most things that are acquired prior to the marriage are separate property. A good example of this would be inheritance, which is considered separate property, even if it is acquired in marriage.