Equitable does not mean equal. Colorado judges divide what a couple built in whatever proportions they find just, which can land far from a clean half. The Law Office of Andrew Bryant brings our property division lawyer into that question early, because the split written into your decree is the one you live with afterward.
Most people who call a Colorado Springs divorce lawyer want three answers: the house, the retirement account, and the cars. Colorado provides judges with a list of considerations rather than a formula, so the result depends heavily on how carefully your side of the record gets built.
We have two offices, one in Colorado Springs and one in the Denver metro area, so wherever you are in Colorado, help is close by. Our consultations cost nothing. Call (719) 634-7353 for Colorado Springs or (720) 548-4440 for Denver and Greenwood Village, and we will tell you what a realistic division looks like in your situation.
What Working With Our Family Law Team Looks Like
Andrew Bryant built this practice around one idea: the client makes the decisions, and our job is to make sure each decision is informed. He describes the partnership between attorney and client this way:
“You need to put clients in the best position to make a good decision. We’ll advise you along the way, and we’ll support whatever decision you make.”
Handling a property division alone to save on fees regularly costs several times the savings later, once a badly worded decree has to be reopened or a retirement plan refuses to honor an order.
Our lawyers appear in the El Paso County Combined Court on South Tejon Street, which sits in Colorado’s 4th Judicial District alongside Teller County, and in the Denver metro divisions. Clients come to us from Monument, Falcon, and Woodland Park, many of them after another firm quoted a settlement number without having seen a single account statement.
Call (719) 634-7353 in Colorado Springs or (720) 548-4440 in Denver and have us read the proposal before you sign anything.
Does Equitable Distribution Mean a 50/50 Split?
Equitable distribution in Colorado does not mean a 50/50 split. Colorado law calls for a just division rather than an even one, and judges regularly enter splits that sit nowhere near half.
Under C.R.S. 14-10-113, the court first sets apart each spouse’s separate property, then divides the marital estate in the proportions it considers just.
The statute points the judge toward four considerations:
- Contribution to the estate: Earnings count, and so does raising > children or running the household while the other spouse worked.
- What each side walks away with: The court looks at the full picture, > not any single asset.
- Financial position when the division takes effect: Earning capacity, > health, and who will house the children all carry weight.
- Change in the value of separate property: Growth on a premarital > asset during the marriage belongs to the marital estate, as does a > separate asset spent down for marital purposes.
Our Colorado equitable distribution attorney spends most of a case on the first and third items, because those two leave the widest room for argument.
Marital Property Division in Colorado: What Counts and What Does Not
Nearly all property and assets acquired after the wedding are marital, regardless of whose name sits on the title. Marital property division in Colorado begins from that presumption, and the spouse claiming an asset is separate carries the burden of showing it.
Filing does not close the marital estate. Property keeps accruing until the decree enters, and the court values what is there as of the decree or the property hearing.
Three categories usually stay out of the marital pot: property owned before the wedding, gifts made to one spouse alone, and inheritances. The catch is that growth on those assets during the marriage becomes marital. That means a premarital brokerage account can be both separate and marital at once.
Commingling creates another frequent problem. An inheritance deposited into a joint checking account and spent on groceries and mortgage payments is hard to trace, and Colorado courts will not take your word for where the money went.
Who Gets the House in a Colorado Divorce?
The house usually goes to the spouse who can carry it alone. The question we field most often is who gets the house in a Colorado divorce, and the honest answer turns on refinancing rather than on attachment or fault.
Three paths cover nearly every outcome:
- Sell now and divide the proceeds after closing costs
- One spouse buys out the other and refinances the loan into a single > name
- Both stay on the loan for a set period, often until a child finishes > school, then sell
Each path carries a different risk. A buyout fails when the spouse keeping the home cannot qualify for refinancing, and postponing a sale leaves former spouses sharing obligations long after the divorce. Our team can calculate the costs of a buyout before you decide whether keeping the property makes sense.
What Happens to Retirement Accounts and Vehicles?
Dividing retirement benefits generally requires a second court order beyond the divorce decree. A Qualified Domestic Relations Order, or QDRO, tells the plan administrator what share goes to the other spouse and when.
Colorado PERA, which covers many school districts and state employees in El Paso County, uses a specific domestic relations order form and runs on its own clock. The signed agreement has to reach Colorado PERA within 90 days of the final decree.
Vehicles are simpler. Title, loan balance, and who actually drives the car settle most of them. However, a lease can leave one spouse liable on a contract they no longer benefit from.
These are the accounts and items we ask clients to write down first:
- 401(k), 403(b), and individual retirement account balances
- Pensions, including PERA and military retired pay
- Vehicles, trailers, and recreational equipment
- Bank and credit union accounts
Call our property division lawyer for a free case review today.
Dividing Property in a Colorado Divorce Starts the Day You File
An automatic court order takes effect the moment a case begins. A temporary injunction binds the filing spouse immediately, and the other spouse on service, and Colorado prints its full terms on the summons served at the start of every dissolution case. It holds until the decree enters or the court lifts it.
Almost nobody knows the order exists, which is why property division in a Colorado divorce often goes sideways in the first few weeks. Both spouses are restrained from transferring, concealing, or disposing of marital property outside ordinary business or daily necessities.
The order reaches beyond property alone. It also bars either spouse from:
- Canceling, changing, or letting lapse health, auto, homeowner’s, > renter’s, or life insurance without 14 days’ written notice and > the other spouse’s consent
- Removing the children from Colorado without written consent or a > court order
- Disturbing the peace of the other spouse
Violating any part of it invites a contempt motion, which asks the judge to penalize a spouse for breaking a court order, and local judges treat the insurance provision as more than a formality.
The Sworn Financial Statement Is Where Cases Speed Up or Stall
Both spouses file a sworn statement of income, expenses, assets, and debts, then exchange supporting records without waiting to be asked. That duty comes from C.R.C.P. 16.2, which separately allows a court to reopen a property division for up to five years when a spouse materially misstates the estate.
Mark Galler, one of our family law attorneys, hears the timing question constantly: “A lot of times clients don’t understand why they can’t settle.”
Thin disclosure sits behind most of it. A judge cannot divide an estate that the court has not been shown in full.
Cases involving a closely held business, executive pay, or unvested equity shift into complex and high-value asset division, where appraisal work rather than the court’s calendar sets the pace.
How Marital Debt Is Divided in Colorado
Marital debt in Colorado generally tracks the property it financed. How marital debt is divided depends on when the balance was incurred and what it was paid for, so a card opened during the marriage to cover family expenses is marital even if only one name is on the account.
Most couples resolve the question by agreement instead of at trial. Under C.R.S. 14-10-112, spouses may set out the terms of a property and debt division in a written separation agreement, and the court will adopt those terms unless it finds them unconscionable, meaning so one-sided that enforcing them would be unfair.
Two points cause trouble once the ink dries:
- A decree does not bind your lender: Assigning a joint card to your > spouse leaves your name on the account, and the bank can still > collect from you.
- Refinancing is the only clean break: A loan tied to a house or > vehicle remains a shared problem until one spouse refinances it or > the asset is sold.
Bring your statements to a free consultation, and we will sort marital debt from separate debt with you.
Does Marital Misconduct Change Property Division in Colorado?
Marital misconduct does not change property division in Colorado, a no-fault state. C.R.S. 14-10-113(1) directs the court to divide marital property “without regard to marital misconduct,” and a decree is entered once the judge finds the marriage irretrievably broken, without measuring who caused the breakdown.
One narrow exception exists. Spending marital money on an affair or gambling it away can support a request that the court account for those funds when dividing what remains.
Conduct stays out of spousal maintenance decisions as well, which Colorado makes based on income, need, and the length of the marriage rather than blame.
When Legal Separation Fits Better Than Divorce
Legal separation in Colorado divides property and debt on the same terms as a divorce, and it leaves the marriage itself intact.
People choose it for a handful of reasons:
- Religious objections to divorce
- Keeping a spouse on an employer health plan, where the plan allows > it
- Military or benefit considerations
- Wanting time before making a final decision
Legal separation does not allow either spouse to marry someone else. Converting the decree to a divorce later is a motion in the same case rather than a fresh filing, though it cannot be filed until 182 days after the separation decree enters, and it runs on a standard Colorado conversion form.
FAQs: Property Division Lawyer in Colorado Springs
A few practical questions come up in nearly every first meeting about dividing a marital estate.
Who Pays the Mortgage While the Divorce Is Pending?
The mortgage is usually paid by the spouse living in the home while the divorce is pending, though a judge can order something different at a temporary orders hearing. Payments made from marital income during the case are generally treated as coming from both of you. Save every statement, because a spouse who carries the note alone often asks for credit at final orders.
Can I Keep the House if the Mortgage Is Only in My Spouse’s Name?
Keeping the house is possible even when the mortgage is only in your spouse’s name, though you will need to qualify for a new loan on your own. A decree can award you the house while leaving your spouse on the original note, and no lender has to accept that. Speak with a mortgage professional early, because what you can refinance often decides which proposals are realistic.
How Are Military Pensions Divided in a Colorado Springs Divorce?
Military retired pay is divisible marital property to the extent it was earned during the marriage. Federal rules govern how the share is calculated and whether the Defense Finance and Accounting Service will pay a former spouse directly. We write these orders according to the federal formatting rules that keep them from bouncing back.
What Happens to Pets, Season Tickets, and Airline Miles?
Colorado treats pets as personal property, so a court divides them instead of awarding custody. Season tickets, club memberships, and frequent flyer miles count as marital assets when acquired during the marriage.
Some carriers and clubs restrict transfers, so couples usually settle these items by trade rather than arguing valuation.
How Soon After the Decree Do Accounts Actually Transfer?
Most decrees set deadlines, commonly 30 to 60 days for account transfers and title changes. Retirement orders run longer because a plan administrator has to approve the wording before any money moves. Calendar every date in your decree, since a missed deadline can force a motion to enforce.
What if My Spouse Will Not Sign the Settlement Paperwork?
The case keeps moving. Either side can set the matter for a contested hearing and let the judge divide the estate.
Our attorneys often find that a firm hearing date is what finally produces a signature.
Talk to a Property Division Lawyer Before You Sign Anything
The worst settlements we see were signed by people who were tired and wanted the case over. A division that reads as fair on one page can leave a spouse holding an asset they cannot sell and a loan they cannot refinance. The Law Office of Andrew Bryant will read the proposal in front of you and explain what it actually does over the next five years.
We have two offices to serve you, one in Colorado Springs and one in the Denver metro area, and free consultations are available at both. Call (719) 634-7353 in Colorado Springs or (720) 548-4440 in Denver and Greenwood Village, and put a property division lawyer on your side of the ledger.
