A divorce can be a big financial undertaking, to the point where calculating the cost may make some people reconsider ending their marriage. However, if you understand your potential financial obligations in a divorce, it may make the process less intimidating.
While every divorce is unique and therefore comes with a specific price, you can look at the costs associated with divorce in your state to get a sense of what you may expect. This article addresses specific fees and multiple factors that could increase or decrease your expenses to help answer the question, How much does divorce cost in Colorado?
The average cost of divorce in Colorado
The biggest cost in most divorces is attorney fees. In Colorado, divorce attorney fees currently average $11,000 to $11,700 to finalize a divorce. However, attorney costs for uncontested divorce may be as low as $3,500, while costs for divorces that go to trial may reach about $20,000.
To get the total Colorado divorce cost, you also need to add other expenses, such as filing fees, obtaining documents for discovery and meditation. On average, these cost about $1,600.
Breakdown of the costs of divorce in Colorado
There are many steps to getting a divorce, and most of them cost money. Below are the key steps and fees for divorce in Colorado.
Filing fees
Generally, a Colorado divorce officially begins when you properly file a petition for divorce, a case information sheet and a summons for dissolution with the court. When you file these, you currently must pay a fee of $230. This fee is the same for couples with and without children.
If your household income is below 125 percent of the poverty line or you receive certain government benefits, you may be able to apply to waive the filing fee.
Service fees
Colorado law requires that you notify your spouse about the divorce by having them personally served with your petition, case information sheet and summons. There are special rules for personal service in a divorce case, and the task must be completed by one of the following:
- A professional process server
- An adult who isn’t involved in your case and knows the rules of personal service
- A sheriff
If you want to ensure personal service is done correctly, you may want to consider hiring a sheriff or a professional to handle the matter.
- Service from a sheriff could cost you around $50 or more, depending on where you live. For instance, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office currently charges $35 to serve civil petitions and an additional $0.575 per mile for the distance they need to travel to perform the job.
- If you choose to hire a professional process server, it may currently cost you between about $50 and $100.
However, you can avoid paying service fees altogether if your spouse agrees to waive the personal service requirement.
Attorney fees
On average, hiring a divorce attorney in Colorado currently costs more than $200 per hour. However, some divorce attorneys charge a flat fee for their services, and some are open to negotiating more manageable divorce attorney fees based on a client’s needs and the complexity of their case.
Temporary orders of support
Since divorce can take some time, a court might issue temporary orders of support for one spouse to pay the other while your divorce is taking place. The orders may include spousal support and child support. The amounts you might owe are based on each party’s income, resources and financial needs, as well as your child’s financial needs, among other things.
Considering all the above, you could owe hundreds or thousands of dollars per month in temporary support. You can use the Colorado Judicial Branch’s support and maintenance calculator to estimate your monthly financial obligations in a divorce case.
Discovery
Whether the orders in your divorce are fair and favorable often depends on the evidence you present. Gathering evidence in a divorce case is called discovery, and you might have to pay fees to obtain proof such as:
- Witness testimony
- Financial reports
- Employment records
- Medical records
- School documents
- Property titles
- Leases
To request financial or medical records, you may be required to pay several dollars to each institution storing them. And if you need witnesses to prove your case, you currently might have to pay around $60 each time you have a sheriff serve your witness with a subpoena, depending on where your case is. Expert witnesses, such as doctors, financial experts or education professionals, are also entitled to payment for their time in court and mileage. Calling a witness to the stand or the deposition table could cost you several hundred dollars per hour.
Mediation
A trial isn’t the only way to resolve issues in your divorce. Some couples choose mediation to finalize their divorce, or at least some terms. In mediation, you discuss some or all of your divorce-related issues with a neutral third party called a mediator. If you can resolve every matter or a portion of your issues in mediation, you can reduce your agreement to writing and have all reasonable terms affirmed by the court without a lengthy trial.
A professional mediator typically charges several hundred dollars per hour for their services. You might also want to pay an attorney to draft and review your divorce settlement agreement before you submit it to a family court judge.
Trial
Mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution may be less adversarial ways to finalize a divorce, but they don’t work for everyone. Sometimes the issues in a divorce are too contentious or too complex for couples to handle them outside of court, and trial is the best option.
A divorce trial could take several hours, several days or several weeks. You might have to spend hundreds on gas and witness fees during the trial, and if you want an attorney to help you in the courtroom, you can expect to pay thousands for their time.
Factors that impact the cost of a Colorado divorce
The way you choose to get a divorce and the matters you may agree on with your spouse could significantly reduce your divorce costs. Namely, some key factors that may affect how much divorce costs in Colorado are:
- The type of divorce
- Any shared children
- Spousal support
- Property division
Contested divorce vs. uncontested divorce
One of the largest financial drains in a divorce is time. A contested divorce often takes significantly longer than an uncontested divorce, because the parties disagree about at least one issue and usually require a trial to settle this. The more time you spend in litigation, the more you’re likely to spend on legal fees, travel expenses and temporary order payments.
If you and your spouse agree on all issues that must be resolved in your divorce, you have an uncontested divorce. You may jointly file for divorce and write an agreement to submit to a judge for approval, rather than going through a trial.
Minor children
A divorce involving minor children is typically more expensive than one that doesn’t include children. This is because one spouse will be obligated to pay child support that likely lasts until the child turns 19 (or possibly older), and determining each spouse’s parental responsibilities may take more time because more evidence is usually needed. If your child has special needs, you might also have to pay for assistance from healthcare and education professionals to help the court make decisions about what’s in the best interests of your child.
Spousal maintenance
In Colorado, no spouse has an automatic right to spousal maintenance (also known as spousal support or alimony). If you and your spouse agree not to request spousal support from the other, you can save a lot of money in divorce costs.
If a spouse does request spousal support and a judge grants this request, the other spouse may pay hundreds or thousands each month for years to come.
Property division
In Colorado, divorce courts divide only marital assets between spouses. Still, you may lose thousands to hundreds of thousands in assets after the court enters its decree. Also, if the court orders you to leave the marital home, you might have to spend thousands per month on new housing.
When to speak with a lawyer
Although a divorce attorney isn’t a requirement, some parties find a lawyer’s guidance helpful and comforting. An attorney can:
- Guide you through the process, answering any questions along the way
- Help reduce your stress by speaking to your spouse or their attorney for you
- Negotiate favorable settlement terms by submitting motions to the divorce court and gathering effective evidence on your behalf
Sofie is a writer. She lives in Brooklyn.
