Spousal Maintenance in Colorado

The Advisory Guideline

Spousal maintenance is governed by C.R.S. 14-10-114. Unlike child support, the maintenance guideline is advisory. The court must consider it, but it is a starting point for discussion, not a mandate. The judge weighs the full picture: each spouse's income and property, the lifestyle during the marriage, the length of the marriage, each spouse's age and health, and each spouse's ability to meet reasonable needs independently.

The advisory guideline applies when the marriage lasted at least three years and the spouses' combined annual adjusted gross income is $240,000 or less. Within that range, the guideline amount works like this:

• Take 40 percent of the spouses' combined monthly adjusted gross income.
• Subtract the lower earning spouse's monthly adjusted gross income.
• If the result is negative, guideline maintenance is zero.
• Because federal law no longer lets the paying spouse deduct maintenance for orders entered after 2018, the statute then reduces the number: multiply by 80 percent when combined monthly income is $10,000 or less, or by 75 percent when it is higher.

A quick illustration. Suppose one spouse earns $8,000 a month and the other earns $3,000. Combined income is $11,000, and 40 percent of that is $4,400. Subtract the lower income of $3,000, leaving $1,400. Because the combined income is over $10,000 a month, multiply by 75 percent. The advisory figure is $1,050 per month. The court can order more, less, or none at all after weighing the statutory factors.

Above $240,000 in combined annual income, or for marriages shorter than three years, there is no guideline number. The court works directly from the statutory factors.

How Long Maintenance Lasts

Maintenance duration follows an advisory table in the statute based on the length of the marriage. For a three year marriage the guideline term is about 31 percent of the marriage's length. The percentage climbs gradually and reaches 50 percent for marriages of roughly twelve and a half years or longer, through twenty years. Here is how that looks in practice, as of this writing:

For marriages of twenty years or longer, the court may set a specific term or order maintenance for an indefinite period, but the guideline says the term should not be shorter than the term for a twenty year marriage. Remember, these figures are advisory. Judges regularly adjust them to fit real lives.

Unless the spouses agree otherwise, maintenance ends automatically if the receiving spouse remarries or enters a civil union, or if either former spouse dies.

Changing a Maintenance Order Later

Maintenance can be modified under C.R.S. 14-10-122, but the standard is harder to meet than the one for child support: the change in circumstances must be so substantial and continuing that the current terms have become unfair. One major exception applies. If the spouses agreed in their separation agreement that maintenance is contractual and non-modifiable, the court cannot change it later. That single line in an agreement carries enormous weight, which is one reason we encourage people to get advice before signing.

We practice family law across Colorado. If you are facing a maintenance question, whether it is a first order or a change to an old one, reach out and we can talk through where you stand.