Denver Spousal Support and Alimony Mediation Attorney

Our Denver spousal support and alimony mediation attorneys assure you we will bring our highest efforts to assist you to resolve in an efficient, respectful and affordable way — issues posed by one party’s request to modify an order for spousal support (also called maintenance or alimony).

In lieu of forwarding a packet of materials by mail, we have discussed your each accessing this information directly and immediately from our website. Of course, you can return at any time to access these links and resources.

Why Choose Divorce Resolutions, LLC for Your Alimony Mediation

• Our team is composed of licensed attorneys and retired judges. With our skills, experience, and knowledge, you can trust us to handle your alimony mediation.
• We have represented Colorado couples in divorce-related conflicts for over 25 years. We will work closely with you and your spouse from consultation to resolution.
• We understand that alimony is a complex and serious decision. Our trained Denver divorce mediators will work diligently to help both parties reach a mutually beneficial decision.

Benefits of Using Mediation for Alimony Agreements

When you trust the court to make decisions about spousal maintenance, you have little control over the process. The judge will be in charge of determining the amount of support and whether you qualify for payments.

Through mediation, you and your spouse have the power to make decisions about spousal maintenance for yourselves.

During this process, your trained mediator will guide you through important considerations and help determine whether alimony is necessary, how much the monthly payments should be, and when the payments should end. You can also modify alimony agreements through mediation.

For many couples, mediation is a preferable dispute resolution method when compared to litigation. Retain control, save time, and reduce the stress of the process by trusting the Denver spousal support and alimony mediation lawyers at Divorce Resolutions, LLC.

Tools to Prepare

Ordinarily, we suggest you download and review an Adobe-formatted document:

(Helpful Information to Assemble Modification of Maintenance)

This document requires you to have Adobe’s widely used and free software, Adobe Acrobat Reader. If your computer does not yet have this software, or you are new to using it to access this tool, click on these instructions to download and learn how to use Reader.

Sworn Financial Statement

It is also helpful to have completed or revised and updated the Colorado divorce financial form now known as the Sworn Financial Statement.

A table in the tools and forms (divorce forms) section of our website provides three versions of that form and its single page attachment (the Sworn Financial Schedules), also including an Adobe-formatted one. The “auto-calculating” Word version conveniently calculates subtotals and totals of relevant sections of the form (for example, total income, total deductions, total expenses, shortfall or excess).

With the 2006 changes to Colorado divorce law, a Colorado Supreme Court Order directs the uniform use of the new Sworn Financial Statement in all family law cases, including those involving modification of spousal maintenance orders.

Using These Optional Tools

These are simply tools to assist in our mediation, and you should not feel like you must have discussed or resolved any of these issues before we meet. Most couples need some help in understanding the range of choices they have and that is part of our job as a mediator. Nonetheless, we provide these to you to give you some direction of what information may be useful in streamlining your work together.

(Alternatively, if you feel you have researched and have all documents likely to be helpful, available and organized, these may not be of interest to you.)

Colorado Laws and Requirements for Alimony

Alimony or spousal support is a payment is made by a higher-income spouse to a lower-income spouse. The purpose of alimony is to ensure that the lower-income spouse does not suffer financial hardship during or after the divorce proceedings.

In Colorado, alimony is called spousal maintenance. There are several types of spousal maintenance that a couple could claim, including:

• Temporary support, which are payments made during the divorce process only
• Reimbursement support, which are payments made from one spouse to another if one party had paid for the other’s education and job training during the marriage
• Rehabilitative support, which requires the higher-income spouse to provide financial assistance to the lower-income spouse while that spouse is learning new skills or training to enter the workforce
• Permanent support, which are long-term payments that one spouse makes if the other cannot become financially independent due to age, illness, disability, or another factor

How Much is Spousal Support in Colorado?

Either party in a divorce may claim spousal support, but no one is entitled to it. If your case goes to court, it may use the following factors to determine whether you are eligible for these payments:

• The financial resources of each spouse
• The work history and employability of each spouse
• How the property is being distributed in the divorce
• Each spouse’s lifestyle during the marriage
• The length of the marriage
• How each spouse contributed to each other’s educational or professional advancement
• Any other information that the court believes is relevant

After determining eligibility for spousal maintenance, the courts will calculate the value of the payments. There is a specific formula that judges use to determine this amount.

If you choose mediation, you will be responsible for setting the terms of your spousal support order.

Our Fees and Payment Policy

This will confirm that, absent other agreement, you will each be responsible for paying at the end of the session one half of our hourly fees and that we ordinarily anticipate a two-hour first session. Our Denver spousal support and alimony mediation attorneys do accept MasterCard and Visa, if that is helpful.

As is the policy of all mediators, we cannot assist you in an agreement on how you will share fees, and you must have this issue decided in advance of beginning your work with us.

Third Parties, Other Family, and Children

On occasion, of course, the presence of third persons (including other family members) is helpful and appropriate in mediation. In many cases, however, the presence of others hinders the mediation process. Unless arrangements have been considered and agreed to in advance by both parties and the mediator, third persons and children should not accompany you to your mediation session.

Speak to a Mediator at Divorce Resolutions, LLC

If you are looking to create a spousal support agreement or modify an existing order, mediation can help you and your spouse reach a decision without involving the courts. In these situations, a Denver spousal support and alimony mediator from Divorce Resolutions, LLC can help.

Contact us today to schedule your consultation and speak to a licensed attorney. You can call us at (303) 650-1750, send us an email, or fill out our online form.

We genuinely look forward to assisting you. Please call or write if you have any questions or concerns.

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