Colorado Springs Divorce Lawyers

Guiding Clients Through the Legal Challenges of the Divorce Process

If you’re strongly considering ending your marriage in Colorado, you should meet with a skilled Colorado Springs divorce lawyer before you begin divorce proceedings. Even if you and your spouse seem to be on the same page regarding the divorce, that could change, especially as you start dividing your property and calculating financial support. This is why it’s helpful to have the support of experienced family law attorneys from The Lux Law Firm, PLLC from the start.

When you hire our team, you’ll have legal representation from caring divorce lawyers who have successfully handled complex divorces for clients in and around Colorado Springs, CO. If you’re ready to get legal advice about the family law matters you’re facing, get in touch.

Contact our Colorado Springs office today for a free consultation with trusted divorce attorneys eager to assist with your case.

What Are the Different Types of Divorce in Colorado?

There are a few legal routes to end your marriage in Colorado Springs, CO. The most common options are contested and uncontested divorce. With an uncontested divorce, you and your spouse agree on how to handle critical family law issues, such as child custody, property division, and spousal support. If this is your situation, the divorce should be simple enough to be finalized relatively quickly, but you should still talk to a Colorado Springs divorce attorney to ensure you’re getting an outcome that’s fair to you.

If you and your spouse disagree on important family law matters, you have a contested divorce that could end up in a trial, where the judge will decide how to divide your property, what custody arrangements are suitable for your family, and more. This type of divorce can be time-consuming, expensive, and emotionally exhausting. If you want to avoid such court proceedings, you should hire a Colorado Springs divorce lawyer to guide you through your legal options, such as mediation or a collaborative divorce outside the courtroom to help you and your spouse come to a compromise.

Legal Separation in Colorado

A less common way to end a marriage in Colorado is through legal separation. This doesn’t legally dissolve the marriage like contested or uncontested divorce does, but it allows you and your spouse to live apart after settling child custody, property division, and other family law matters. So, if you’re not ready to get divorced and want to try living separate lives first, you can file for legal separation and work out a plan for child support, child custody, spousal support, and division of property. This gives you time to decide whether to work on the marriage or remain separated indefinitely due to health insurance, tax breaks, or religious reasons. You can also request a divorce to legally end your marriage after six months of legal separation.

No matter what legal option you choose to end your marriage, our Colorado Springs family law attorneys can help with your case. We understand how difficult it is to make decisions regarding significant relationships that have shaped your life over the years, so we work hard to provide the compassion and support you deserve throughout your Colorado Springs divorce case. Call our law office today to learn how our family law attorneys can assist you.

What Are the Steps of the Divorce Process in Colorado Springs?

As you prepare for your divorce case, make sure you know the legal steps you’ll be expected to take. First, you must meet the residency requirement for Colorado, which means you or your spouse must have lived in this state for at least 91 days before you can initiate a divorce.

If you can prove this, you can submit a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage or Legal Separation to the court, stating that your marriage is irretrievably broken so you’re seeking to end it. Once you and your divorce lawyer file this petition, you must arrange for your spouse to be served with the paperwork. If they live in this state, they will have 21 days to respond to the petition. If they live out of state during the divorce, they will have 35 days to respond.

If your spouse agrees to the divorce and all family law matters involved, you have an uncontested divorce. The next step is to provide the court with financial information regarding your income, assets, and debts to ensure you make decisions based on the correct details.

After this, you will sign a separation agreement showing that you agree on all issues and need to wait for the final hearing, during which a judge will finalize your divorce. This takes 91 days from the date your spouse was served with the paperwork, though most divorce cases take longer than this to resolve.

If your spouse disagrees with you on handling custody, financial support, and other issues, you’ll have to begin negotiating until you reach an agreement. Otherwise, your case will proceed to a trial. If you want the best chance of avoiding this outcome, having a Colorado Springs divorce lawyer with you from the beginning is essential. Experienced family law attorneys can successfully get financial information from the other spouse, initiate mediation sessions to avoid the courtroom, and request court hearings when necessary. Contact our Colorado Springs, CO law office if you’re ready to discuss your case with a caring legal professional.

How Does Property Division Work in a Colorado Divorce Case?

Property division is one of the most common family law issues to work out during a Colorado Springs divorce. This can quickly become contentious since there are likely assets that both you and your spouse wish to keep, so you should consult a divorce lawyer before you begin this process. They will ensure you know what to expect when dividing your assets and debts during divorce in Colorado Springs, CO.

Factors for Equitable Distribution

Before you take this step, you should know that Colorado is an equitable distribution state. This means all marital property and marital debts must be divided fairly, which is not the same as equally. As a result, you won’t necessarily share half of each asset or debt with your spouse. Instead, certain factors will be considered, including:

• How long you were married
• How much you and your spouse contributed to the shared estate
• The financial situation of each person after the divorce
• Any other payments each person will get, such as child custody or spousal support

Considering the factors involved, this step of the divorce process isn’t as simple as dividing your property in half. This is why you need a skilled El Paso County divorce attorney to assist you, ensuring you get the assets you deserve when the marriage ends.

One of the most complex parts of the property division process is determining which assets are marital property and which are separate property. In general, if you or your spouse acquired an asset during the marriage, it will be considered marital property and must be equitably divided during the divorce. This typically includes real estate, retirement accounts, bank accounts, business interests, household goods, and vehicles.

On the other hand, if you already owned a vehicle, account, or other asset before you got married, it will be considered separate property in the divorce, with some exceptions. Additionally, if you were given any gifts or inheritances during the marriage, you can likely keep them since these are usually treated as separate property. Colorado Springs divorce lawyers can help you determine what assets and debts you’ll need to divide, so call our office for a free initial consultation with a divorce lawyer who can help.

What Legal Steps Are Parents Required to Take Before a Colorado Springs, CO Divorce?

If you and your spouse have minor children together, you’ll need to make some important decisions regarding their care and financial support before your divorce is final. Child custody is among the most important issues to resolve, since this affects how the children are raised and how much time each parent gets with them.

Arranging Child Custody

In particular, child custody – also called parental responsibilities in Colorado – consists of parenting time and decision-making responsibilities. If you want more parenting time than the other parent, you can pursue primary physical custody. If the judge finds that this arrangement is in your child’s best interests, your child will live with you and see their other parent according to a visitation agreement that you’ll need to create before the divorce is final.

If you and your spouse want to share physical custody, you can request a joint custody arrangement in which your child lives with you for part of the week and goes to their other parent’s house for the rest. You and your spouse will need to agree on a custody schedule that works well for all involved, especially your child. If you can’t agree, a Colorado Springs family law judge will decide for you.

You’ll also need to determine who gets legal custody, which involves decision-making responsibilities for your child. In most Colorado Springs family law cases, the parents share legal custody so they both can make decisions regarding the child’s healthcare, education, and religious upbringing. However, if one parent has been absent from the child’s life or can’t be trusted to make crucial decisions, the judge might grant the other parent primary legal custody.

Addressing Child Support

Before you can finalize a divorce with children involved, you’ll need to address the child support issue, as well. This allows children to access approximately the same financial resources as they did when the parents were together. In most cases, the person with the most parenting time with the children will collect child support from the other parent. This ensures that the custodial parent does not have to pay for housing, clothes, food, medical needs, and other expenses on their own.

If you have primary custody and want to know how much child support you’ll get, the answer depends on several factors. The most important ones are parenting time, each parent’s income, and the costs associated with raising the children. Generally, if you spend more time with the children and your income is much lower than the other parents, you’ll get higher support payments than if you share parenting time nearly equally and earn about the same amount. Only an experienced Colorado Springs divorce attorney familiar with your case can tell you how much to expect, so call our family law office today to learn more.

How Can Colorado Springs Divorce Attorneys Assist You?

Ending a relationship can be emotionally difficult, even when it’s for the best. When legal issues are involved, the situation gets more challenging unless you have a skilled Colorado Springs divorce lawyer offering you the legal assistance you need. When you hire The Lux Law Firm, PLLC, you’ll have guidance with every family law matter you face. From spousal support to child custody, our family lawyers are here to offer you the legal support you need to get the best possible result on your divorce case in Colorado Springs, CO.

For years, our compassionate family lawyers have been providing legal assistance to El Paso County clients in even the most complex divorce cases. So, whether you’re going through a military divorce or dealing with domestic violence and other criminal law matters, we invite you to contact our Colorado Springs family law firm for high-quality legal services from caring family lawyers.

The attorneys at our Colorado law office are committed to helping you get the new life you desire in a timely manner, which means working out family law matters that include spousal support, division of property, and more. You deserve legal support from a caring family law attorney with years of legal experience.

Call 719-451-7469 for a free consultation with a knowledgeable Colorado Springs divorce lawyer.