Colorado Family Law
Divorce, parenting time and decision-making, child support, spousal maintenance, property division and common-law marriage: the Colorado rules families meet most often, with the statute each one comes from.
Checked September 26, 2026. Several of these rules changed in 2025 and 2026.
Divorce in Colorado: the Four Basic Rules
Colorado calls divorce “dissolution of marriage” (C.R.S. Title 14, Article 10)
Residency: 91 days before filing
One spouse must have been domiciled in Colorado for at least 91 days immediately before the petition for dissolution of marriage is filed (C.R.S. § 14-10-106(1)(a)(I)).
The decree: 91 days after the other spouse is served or appears
The court cannot enter the decree until 91 days after it obtains jurisdiction over the respondent, by service, by appearance, or by joinder as co-petitioner (C.R.S. § 14-10-106(1)(a)(III)). The clock does not run from the filing date.
No-fault: “irretrievably broken”
The only ground for divorce is that the marriage is irretrievably broken (C.R.S. § 14-10-106(1)(a)(II)). A sworn statement by both spouses, or by one that the other does not deny, creates a presumption that it is. If one spouse denies it, the court may continue the case 35 to 63 days and suggest counseling (C.R.S. § 14-10-110).
Legal separation
A decree of legal separation is available under the same section. If one party asks for legal separation rather than dissolution, the court grants the decree in that form unless the other party objects (C.R.S. § 14-10-106(2)).
Parenting Time and Decision-Making (“Custody”)
Colorado’s statutes no longer use the word “custody”
What most people call custody is the allocation of parental responsibilities (C.R.S. §§ 14-10-123, 14-10-124). It has two parts: parenting time (where the child lives and when) and decision-making responsibility (who decides education, health care and similar matters).
Best interests of the child
Parenting time is allocated under the factors in C.R.S. § 14-10-124(1.5)(a) and decision-making responsibility under § 14-10-124(1.5)(b), with the child’s safety paramount. A court may restrict parenting time only after finding that it would endanger the child’s physical health or significantly impair the child’s emotional development.
No presumption of equal time, and none based on sex
Section 14-10-124(3) bars any presumption in favor of a parent because of that parent’s sex. There is no statutory presumption of joint or equal parenting time either: SB26-027, which would have created a rebuttable presumption of equal parenting time, was postponed indefinitely in committee on February 3, 2026.
Domestic violence and coercive control
HB24-1350 (effective August 7, 2024) defined coercive control and requires a court to state its reasons before granting unsupervised parenting time where abuse or coercive control is alleged. HB26-1309 (effective May 27, 2026) requires on-the-record findings by a preponderance of the evidence on alleged domestic violence, child abuse or neglect, or sexual assault resulting in conception; after such a finding bars mutual decision-making over the other party’s objection absent specific safety findings; and, in new § 14-10-124(1.6), makes the safety of the abused party and the child the primary concern. A parent who left the home because of abuse cannot have that held against them.
Modification, relocation and parenting classes
Changes to parenting time, including a move that would change which parent has the majority of time, are governed by C.R.S. § 14-10-129, amended by HB26-1309 effective May 27, 2026. Parenting classes are not mandated statewide: § 14-10-123.7(2) says a court may order one, and each judicial district decides whether to run a program.
Child Support: the Schedule in Force Since March 1, 2026
HB25-1159 replaced the child support schedule effective March 1, 2026. Free statute websites still show the old one.
Child support is set from the guideline schedule in C.R.S. § 14-10-115, keyed to the parents’ combined adjusted gross income (a defined term with specific deductions), the number of children, each parent’s overnights, health-insurance costs and child-care expenses.
- The new schedule runs from $50 to $40,000 a month in combined adjusted gross income.
- The shared-physical-care credit now starts at one overnight; the old schedule required more than 92.
- A self-support reserve was added: the state minimum wage × 29 hours a week × 50 weeks ÷ 12.
Changing an order requires a motion showing a substantial and continuing change in circumstances (§ 14-10-122(1)(a)); a change that would move the amount by less than 10% is deemed not substantial (§ 14-10-122(1)(b)). There is no automatic review every three years: the 36-month rule in § 26-13-121 only obliges the county child support office to notify parents of their right to request a review, and only where that office is providing services.
Spousal Maintenance (Alimony)
An advisory formula under C.R.S. § 14-10-114
The formula and its ceiling
The guideline formula applies only when combined annual adjusted gross income is $240,000 or less (§ 14-10-114(3)(b), (3.5)), a fixed figure that is not indexed; above it the court uses the discretionary factors in § 14-10-114(3)(c). The guideline amount is 40% of combined monthly adjusted gross income minus the lower earner’s monthly adjusted gross income, never below zero. For a non-deductible award the figure is 80% of that amount (combined monthly income of $10,000 or less) or 75% (over $10,000, up to $20,000).
Duration, and the 2025 abuse factor
The guideline term table covers marriages of 3 to 20 years; past 20 years the court may set a specified or indefinite term, not shorter than the 20-year guideline term without findings. SB25-116 (effective August 6, 2025) added domestic violence, coercive control, or economic, litigation, emotional or physical abuse by a spouse as a basis for deviating from the guideline.
How maintenance ends or changes
Maintenance ends automatically when the recipient remarries or enters a civil union (§ 14-10-122(2)(a)), unless a written agreement provides otherwise. Cohabitation is not an automatic termination event; it can only be raised in a motion to modify under § 14-10-122(1)(a), which requires a substantial and continuing change in circumstances.
Property, Common-Law Marriage and Protection Orders
Property division: equitable, not equal
The court divides marital property “without regard to marital misconduct, in such proportions as the court deems just after considering all relevant factors” (C.R.S. § 14-10-113(1)). There is no 50/50 rule.
Common-law marriage
Colorado still recognizes common-law marriage. One entered on or after September 1, 2006 is valid only if both parties were 18 or older and the marriage was not otherwise prohibited (C.R.S. §§ 14-2-109.5, 14-2-110). SB25-014 (April 7, 2025) repealed the savings clause in § 14-2-104(3) as a side effect; HB26-1218 (May 5, 2026) recreated it, so earlier marriages remain preserved. The controlling case on proving one is In re Marriage of Hogsett & Neale, 2021 CO 1.
Civil protection orders
C.R.S. § 13-14-104.5 provides temporary and permanent civil protection orders for assault or threatened bodily harm, domestic abuse, emotional abuse of an at-risk or elderly adult, sexual assault or abuse, and stalking. An order can issue without notice to the other party on a finding of imminent danger, and the request can be filed inside a pending divorce.
Colorado Family Law at a Glance
| Rule | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Residency before filing | 91 days domiciled in Colorado | C.R.S. § 14-10-106(1)(a)(I) |
| Earliest decree | 91 days after the court has jurisdiction over the respondent | C.R.S. § 14-10-106(1)(a)(III) |
| Child support schedule | $50 to $40,000 a month in combined adjusted gross income, since March 1, 2026 | C.R.S. § 14-10-115 (HB25-1159) |
| Shared-care overnight credit | Starts at 1 overnight (previously more than 92) | C.R.S. § 14-10-115 (HB25-1159) |
| Support modification | A change moving the amount by less than 10% is deemed not substantial | C.R.S. § 14-10-122(1)(b) |
| Maintenance formula ceiling | Applies only up to $240,000 combined annual adjusted gross income | C.R.S. § 14-10-114(3.5) |
| Maintenance amount | 40% of combined monthly adjusted gross income minus the lower earner’s | C.R.S. § 14-10-114(3)(b)(I)(A) |
| Protection-order disclosure look-back | 5 years (was 2) | C.R.S. § 14-10-107.8 (SB25-116) |
What Changed Recently
Seven changes since August 2024, oldest first
August 7, 2024
HB24-1350 defined “coercive control” and requires courts to state reasons before granting unsupervised parenting time where abuse is alleged.
April 7, 2025
SB25-014 made the marriage statute sex-neutral and, as a side effect, repealed the common-law marriage savings clause in § 14-2-104(3).
August 6, 2025
SB25-116 made abuse and coercive control a basis to deviate from the maintenance guideline and extended the protection-order disclosure look-back from 2 to 5 years.
February 3, 2026
SB26-027, a rebuttable presumption of equal parenting time, was postponed indefinitely in committee.
March 1, 2026
HB25-1159’s new child support schedule took effect: $50 to $40,000 a month, credit from the first overnight, a self-support reserve, and no imputed income for a parent caring for a child under 24 months or incarcerated 180 days or more (§ 14-10-114(8)(c)(IV)).
May 5, 2026
HB26-1218 recreated § 14-2-104(3), closing the common-law marriage gap opened by SB25-014.
May 27, 2026
HB26-1309 rewrote the domestic-violence provisions of § 14-10-124: findings by a preponderance of the evidence, no forced joint decision-making after a finding of abuse, safety as the primary concern.
Colorado Family Law FAQs
Short answers, with the statute each one rests on
Related Pages
This page is general information about Colorado law, not legal advice for your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. The facts here were checked on September 26, 2026.
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