Maintenance during a pending divorce
Maintenance is the payment, usually made monthly, from one spouse to another. Maintenance was formerly known as alimony. Colorado’s divorce statute is no-fault and requires that maintenance be determined “without regard to marital misconduct.”
The court will consider temporary maintenance in Colorado, in cases where a couple’s combined gross annual income is under $75,000. The calculated payment uses 40% of the higher income earner’s gross monthly income minus 50% of the lower income earner’s gross monthly income. This gives the presumptive maintenance amount as long as the amount calculated amount is not more than 40% of the combined annual income of the parties. The court will then allocate the monthly expenses between the parties. For spouses where the combined gross annual income in over $75,000, the court may extrapolate from the calculated amount.
For maintenance that begins in 2019, the guideline amount of maintenance will be 75% of what it is under the 2018 guidelines, for couples earning a combined gross income of over $10,000 per month.
The guideline amount will be 80% of the 2018 amount for couples earning a combined gross of under $10,000 per month.