How much does a divorce cost in Colorado?
Tawni Cummings
Colorado managing attorney at Marble Law
Key Takeaways
- The cost of divorce varies depending on the circumstances of your case.
- Currently, the average cost of a divorce in Colorado is $9,700 to $11,700 or more in attorney fees plus other fees.
- Other fees may include filing fees, service fees and costs associated with discovery, meditation and trial.
The cost of divorce in Colorado varies from case to case. On average, current attorney fees for divorce in the state are around $9,700 to $11,700. In addition to attorney fees, you may also owe other fees that currently add up to about $1,600.
We break down these costs below.
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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. These options currently cost between about $50 and $100.
However, you can avoid paying service fees altogether if your spouse agrees to waive the personal service requirement or if you and your spouse agree to sign a Co-Petition for Dissolution of Marriage..
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.
For example, 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.
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