How much, how long, and what changes it — Colorado's advisory maintenance formula demystified, for the paying side and the receiving side alike.
Charles E. Liken Jr., Esq. — On Colorado's Legal Front Lines Since 1995 · Government Investigator, Denver Human Services (1997–2003) · Licensed Colorado Attorney Since 2003 ~ 20+ Years in Private Practice · Colorado Deputy District Attorney (2018–2020) · Colorado Court-Appointed Child and Family Investigator
Colorado calls it maintenance, everyone else calls it alimony — and §14-10-114, C.R.S. gives judges an advisory formula plus wide discretion. Here's the landscape.
For most cases the guideline is roughly 40% of the parties' combined monthly adjusted gross income, minus the lower earner's own income (never more than 40% of combined). Judges start there, then adjust for the statutory factors.
Where LLF comes in: We fight about the inputs — real income, real earning capacity — because that's what actually moves the guideline number.
For marriages of roughly 3 to 20 years, the guideline term runs from about a third of the marriage's length up to half as marriages get longer; 20+ year marriages can support long-term or indefinite awards.
Where LLF comes in: We anchor duration arguments in the statute's own table — and in a realistic plan for the recipient to become self-supporting.
Maintenance requires one spouse who lacks sufficient means and another with the ability to pay. Marital misconduct is irrelevant — Colorado is a no-fault state, and judges do not award maintenance to punish anyone.
Where LLF comes in: Whichever side you're on, we keep the case where it belongs: on the financial reality, not the grievances.
For decrees entered after 2018, maintenance is not deductible by the payor and not taxable to the recipient — the opposite of the old rules. The guideline accounts for this, but settlement math must too.
Where LLF comes in: We structure settlements with the after-tax picture in front of you, often trading maintenance against property where that nets both sides more.
Maintenance ends automatically on the recipient's remarriage or either party's death. Otherwise it's modifiable on a substantial and continuing change — unless you agreed to make it contractual and non-modifiable.
Where LLF comes in: The modifiable-vs-contractual choice at settlement is enormous. We make sure you're choosing it on purpose, not by boilerplate.
Ready when you are — talk it through with Charles.
Your choice: no-charge 20-minute phone call OR in-depth hour ($300) — both directly with Charles.
Colorado's advisory guideline for most cases is about 40% of the spouses' combined monthly adjusted gross income minus the lower-earning spouse's income, adjusted by statutory factors like age, health, and the property division.
Guideline duration for marriages between roughly 3 and 20 years runs from about one-third to one-half of the marriage's length, increasing with longer marriages; marriages over 20 years can support indefinite awards.
No. Colorado is a no-fault state and §14-10-114 excludes marital misconduct — maintenance turns on financial need and ability to pay.
Yes, on a substantial and continuing change of circumstances — unless the parties agreed maintenance would be contractual and non-modifiable. It ends automatically on the recipient's remarriage or either party's death.
Maintenance cases are won on income evidence: pay history, bonuses, business cash flow, benefits, and — where a spouse could work but doesn't — vocational reality. Courts can consider earning capacity, not just current paychecks, on both sides of the equation.
Temporary maintenance while the case is pending runs on the same guideline and sets the tone for permanent orders. Take the temporary orders hearing seriously — the “temporary” number has gravity.
A bigger share of the property division can reduce or replace a maintenance stream — and vice versa. Negotiating them separately is how people get out-traded.
Twenty minutes with the team now beats twenty billable hours untangling it later.