What happens in a Colorado divorce, step by step

1. Someone files

A petition for dissolution is filed in the district court of the county where one of you lives. The other spouse is served or signs a waiver. If you file together — a joint petition — nobody is served and nobody is the ‘defendant’. Most of our uncontested cases start this way.

2. The 91-day wait

Colorado won't grant a decree until at least 91 days after the case starts. For an uncontested divorce, that waiting period is most of the timeline. For a contested one, it's the minimum.

3. Disclosures

Both of you exchange a sworn financial statement and the documents behind it — tax returns, pay stubs, account statements. This is the step people skip and regret. Do it properly once.

4. Parenting plan and support

If there are children, you'll need a parenting plan — decision-making and parenting time — and child support calculated on the state worksheet. Spousal maintenance, if any, has a formula as a starting point and a judge's discretion after that.

5. Mediation

Most Denver-area courts require mediation before a contested hearing. A good mediator settles most of what's left. We prepare you for it like a hearing, because it usually is one.

6. The final hearing

In an uncontested case it is often ten minutes, sometimes done on paper. In a contested case it is a trial. Either way, the decree is the end — and the beginning of living under it.

What surprises people: the 91 days, how much the disclosures matter, and how often the ‘fight’ is about one issue that was never really about money.