Divorce Blog

In my experience, nothing seems to annoy a judge more than being required to allocate who gets the personal property acquired during a marriage – TVs, beds, tables, paintings, etc. Accordingly, most attorneys tell their clients to try figure it out among themselves. When valuing personal property in a divorce, unlike insurance valuations, courts generally…

By: Jessica A. Saldin In most divorce cases, the parties are either still living together when the case begins or have recently separated. However, it is also not uncommon for parties to have separated several months, or even years, before the divorce case is filed. In my experience that can be for a variety of…

By Michelle L. Searcy Whether you are involved in a divorce (dissolution of marriage), child custody (allocation of parental rights), or modification family law case, you will be encouraged, if not ordered to participate in mediation. In mediation, the mediator will work with you to try to resolve issues through agreement. This confidential process gives…

By: Sarah T. McCain In cases involving child custody, especially those of a high conflict nature, you may hear the term “PCDM” mentioned as you near the end of litigation or settlement communications. It is often the recommendations of a Child and Family Investigator or Parental Responsibilities Evaluation that open discussions regarding whether to appoint…

In prior blog posts, we have discussed the duty of financial disclosures in a divorce. Under Colorado Rule of Civil Procedure 16.2 (e), Colorado law not only requires an absolute duty to disclose one’s financial situation, but also how a failure to accurately disclose, whether by non-disclosure or misstated disclosure, allows a court to re-allocate…

By: Stephen J. Plog Having spoken with thousands of people over the years regarding their Colorado divorce and child custody cases, one common topic of discussion is that of evidence, within the context of what can or cannot be used in court. There are many common misbeliefs about what is good evidence, meaning something the…

By: Michelle L. Searcy At the most basic level, the Colorado child support calculation is based on the combined income of the parents, the number of children and the number of overnights exercised by each parent in Colorado. Calculating income for a parent with a job that issues a W-2 is a fairly straight forward…

By: Jessica A. Saldin, Starting in January each year, almost every party in a divorce case has the same question, “How do I file my taxes for the prior year?” As long as you were legally married for the pendency of the entire prior year, you could file married filing jointly. However, many parties ask…

By: Sarah T. McCain When you commence either a divorce case or a child custody case in Colorado, you will inevitably hear the word “jurisdiction.” Though this term is mentioned in more detail in other blog posts, in summary, the term is referring to personal and subject matter jurisdiction. To acquire personal jurisdiction in Colorado,…

By: Michelle L. Searcy Often, the longer the marriage, the longer the duration of the obligation to pay maintenance (alimony). As a result, one party in a divorce may still have many years of support to pay, even as he or she approaches retirement age. Unless that maintenance obligation is contractual and non-modifiable, the person…