Colorado

All states

Luck of the Draw score: 70 out of 100

Colorado gives the judge wide discretion to split marital property unequally and to order fee payments based on the parties’ finances, and one judge decides every issue with no jury and no peremptory challenge. Maintenance comes with an advisory formula for amount and term in most middle-income cases, but the judge does not have to follow it. On the book’s scale, 0 is a contract you can read and 100 is one that mostly says “ask the judge.” Colorado ranks 19 of 51, counting from the state that leaves the least to the judge. How the index works, and every state’s score.

Part	Score	The rule, and where it comes from
Property	15 / 20	The court sets apart each spouse’s separate property and divides the marital property, without regard to marital misconduct, in the proportions it considers just after weighing listed factors, with no presumption of equal division. C.R.S. § 14-10-113(1)-(4)
Alimony	10 / 20	For marriages of at least three years with combined annual adjusted gross income of $240,000 or less, the court must calculate and consider an advisory guideline amount and a guideline term from a table tied to marriage length, but the statute says the guidelines do not create a presumptive amount or term. C.R.S. § 14-10-114(3)(b), (3)(e), (3.5)
Fault	5 / 20	Property is divided and maintenance is awarded without regard to marital misconduct, except that since August 6, 2025 the court must consider, as a maintenance factor, whether a spouse committed domestic violence, coercive control, or economic, litigation, emotional or physical abuse, or unlawful sexual behavior against the other spouse. C.R.S. §§ 14-10-113(1), 14-10-114(2), 14-10-114(3)(c)(XII.5) (added by SB 25-116)
Lawyers’ fees	20 / 20	After considering the financial resources of both parties, the court may order one party to pay a reasonable amount for the other party’s attorney or licensed legal paraprofessional fees and costs, with no presumption either way. C.R.S. § 14-10-119
Second opinion	20 / 20	A party can remove a civil judge only by a motion for cause supported by affidavit, and by statute the court decides all issues in a dissolution proceeding without a jury. C.R.S. § 14-10-107(6); C.R.C.P. 97

Getting in

No waiting period. There is no waiting period. The license is good for 35 days and only in Colorado. Both partners sign the application, but one may appear before the county clerk alone, and a clerk may allow online appearance for limited purposes. Each partner must be 18, or 16 or 17 with judicial approval.
C.R.S. §§ 14-2-106, 14-2-106.5, 14-2-107

Who can marry you. A judge, court magistrate, retired judge, public official with that power, or anyone following the practice of a religious denomination or Indian nation or tribe may solemnize a marriage. The couple may also solemnize it themselves, and the statute requires no witnesses. The statute does not address online ordination.
C.R.S. § 14-2-109(1)

Common-law marriage: A couple can still become married here without a license. A couple can still form a common-law marriage in Colorado if both are 18 or older and the marriage is not otherwise prohibited. The test is whether they mutually intended a marital relationship, shown by agreement and conduct. Colorado honors one validly formed elsewhere, but one formed since September 1, 2006 must meet the same limits.
C.R.S. §§ 14-2-109.5, 14-2-112; Hogsett v. Neale, 2021 CO 1

Chapter 5 of the book covers getting in, and whether you are in at all.

The property system

Colorado is one of forty-one equitable distribution jurisdictions. Equitable distribution. Each of you owns what’s in your own name during the marriage. At a divorce a judge divides the marital property as the judge finds equitable, which is not a promise of half. Chapter 11 of the book covers what that means, and Chapter 22 covers what happens to it when you move.

What counts as marital. Property either spouse acquires after the wedding and before a decree is presumed marital, however titled. Premarital property, gifts, inheritances and what they are exchanged for stay separate, but any increase in their value during the marriage counts as marital, whatever caused it. Property is valued at the decree or property hearing.
C.R.S. § 14-10-113(2)-(5)

An inheritance that touches a joint account

Putting it in joint names usually makes it marital. When a spouse places separate property in joint ownership during the marriage, the court presumes a gift to the marriage. The property is treated as marital unless clear and convincing evidence shows otherwise. Where a spouse deposited an inheritance into a joint investment account, the appellate court sent back the question of whether they always meant it to stay separate.
In re Marriage of Balanson, 25 P.3d 28 (Colo. 2001); In re Marriage of Krejci, 2013 COA 6, 297 P.3d 1035

Chapter 12 explains how mine becomes ours.

Your spouse’s medical bills (Article 5)

Both of you can be liable from the first dollar. By statute, the expenses of the family are chargeable on the property of both spouses or either of them, and a creditor may sue them jointly or separately.
C.R.S. § 14-6-110

Chapter 8 of the book explains the three ways states handle this.

If one of you dies (Article 9)

The surviving spouse may elect 50 percent of the marital-property portion of the augmented estate. The marital-property portion rises by 10 percent per year of marriage to 100 percent at ten years, so the share runs from 5 percent after one year to 50 percent after ten, with a $50,000 supplemental amount; the augmented estate includes the probate estate and the decedent’s non-probate transfers.
C.R.S. § 15-11-202(1); C.R.S. § 15-11-203(1), (2)

Chapter 9 covers what a will can and can’t take away from a spouse.

Prenups and postnups (Article 12)

One look, under UPMAA (2012), C.R.S. § 14-2-301 et seq., for agreements signed on or after July 1, 2014. A premarital or marital (postnuptial) agreement is unenforceable if consent was involuntary or under duress, the party lacked access to independent counsel, an unrepresented party got no statutory waiver notice and plain-language explanation, or the party lacked adequate financial disclosure. There is no general unconscionability test at signing, but terms on spousal maintenance or attorney fees are unenforceable if unconscionable at the time of enforcement; postnuptial agreements are judged by the same standard.
C.R.S. § 14-2-309(1), (5); C.R.S. § 14-2-303

What an agreement needs. The agreement must be in a record signed by both parties; no notary, witnesses or waiting period is required. Each party must have access to independent counsel (reasonable time to find and consult a lawyer, and either the means to pay or the other party’s agreement to pay); an unrepresented party must receive a conspicuous statutory notice of waiver of rights and a plain-language explanation; each must receive a reasonably accurate description and good-faith estimate of the other’s property, liabilities and income; and maintenance or fee terms fail if unconscionable when enforced.
C.R.S. § 14-2-309(1)-(5), (8)

Chapter 29 explains one look and two, and what makes agreements stick.

Children (Article 8)

Child support: income shares. Support is figured from both parents’ combined adjusted gross income. It ends when the last child turns 19, or the month after high school graduation if the child is still enrolled. For orders since July 1, 1997, college costs are covered only if the parents agree in writing. Concurrent enrollment does not extend support.
C.R.S. § 14-10-115(1)(b), (13); HB 25-1159

Moving away with a child. A parent with the child most of the time who plans a move that substantially changes geographic ties must give the other parent written notice as soon as practicable, with the destination, the reason and a revised parenting plan. No day count applies. If contested, the court decides best interests, and neither parent gets a presumption.
C.R.S. § 14-10-129(1)(a)(II), (2)(c); In re Marriage of Ciesluk, 113 P.3d 135 (Colo. 2005)

Chapter 17 covers the children.

Getting out (Article 2)

How long you must live here before filing: 91 days. One spouse must have been domiciled in Colorado for 91 days just before the case starts. It can be either spouse. The rule does not depend on where the couple married or where the marriage broke down.
C.R.S. § 14-10-106(1)(a)(I)

How long it takes. An irretrievably broken marriage is the ground, and one spouse can obtain a divorce over the other’s denial. The court cannot enter a decree until 91 days after it gains jurisdiction over the other spouse by service or appearance. If the other spouse denies the breakdown, the judge may continue the case 35 to 63 days.
C.R.S. §§ 14-10-106(1)(a)(II)-(III), 14-10-110

The legal minimum for a spouse who moves here alone and files as soon as allowed, with no minor children and the other spouse objecting, is about 182 days from arrival to a final decree (91 days of residence + 91-day wait from service). Courts often take longer.

Chapter 22 covers what changes when you move.

Each entry on this page comes from the statute, rule or case it cites, read in September or November 2026, except where the entry says it has not been checked. A rule can change after that, and a rule on paper can play out differently in a particular courthouse. No lawyer reviews these pages.

If you practice family law in Colorado and would like to correct or contribute to this page, write to me.

Meanwhile

• The default contract, with the options states choose among. Read it with a Colorado lawyer, or paste it into a chatbot along with “I live in Colorado” and treat what comes back as a list of questions, not answers.
• Three contracts you could sign instead.
• A worksheet for reading it together, and every state’s Luck of the Draw score.
• Corrections, including changes in the law since the book went to press.
• About the book.