Colorado's rule on maintenance turns on a feature the national template does not capture: Colorado calls it maintenance. Advisory guidelines apply for combined incomes up to a statutory cap: a percentage of the higher earner’s income minus a percentage of the lower earner’s income, with duration tied to marriage-length bands. Courts may deviate with findings. Forms include Temporary maintenance during the proceeding and post-decree maintenance under the guideline or a reasoned deviation.. The controlling authority is Colo. Rev. Stat. § 14-10-114. Duration: Guideline duration tables scale with years of marriage; very long marriages can yield longer advisory terms. Termination: Death, remarriage, or the end of the ordered term; cohabitation may support modification under case law.
Key takeaways
- Colorado uses the term maintenance under Colo. Rev. Stat. § 14-10-114.
- Amount/duration guidance includes a formula or guideline component. Advisory guidelines apply for combined incomes up to a statutory cap: a percentage of the higher earner’s income minus a percentage of the lower earner’s income, with duration tied to marriage-length bands. Courts may deviate with findings.
- Common forms include: Temporary maintenance during the proceeding and post-decree maintenance under the guideline or a reasoned deviation.
- Duration framework: Guideline duration tables scale with years of marriage; very long marriages can yield longer advisory terms.
- Permanent / indefinite support: Limited. Indefinite maintenance is possible but uncommon and requires specific findings beyond the advisory tables.
- Companion child-support guide: Colorado child support guidelines.
Worked example under Colorado law
The illustration below uses only rules already stated for Colorado. It is a research hypothetical, not a prediction of what a court will do.
One spouse asks a Colorado court for maintenance after a divorce filing.
- Use the label and statute Colorado actually uses: maintenance under Colo. Rev. Stat. § 14-10-114.
- Apply the formula or guideline: Advisory guidelines apply for combined incomes up to a statutory cap: a percentage of the higher earner’s income minus a percentage of the lower earner’s income, with duration tied to marriage-length bands. Courts may deviate with findings.
- Set duration from Colorado rules: Guideline duration tables scale with years of marriage; very long marriages can yield longer advisory terms.
- Identify what ends the award: Death, remarriage, or the end of the ordered term; cohabitation may support modification under case law.
Limited. Indefinite maintenance is possible but uncommon and requires specific findings beyond the advisory tables. Fault: Marital fault is not a statutory maintenance factor in Colorado. TCJA: post-2018 maintenance is not federally taxable/deductible. Colorado advisory worksheets assume that federal treatment.
What maintenance is (and is not)
Maintenance is court-ordered support from one spouse to the other after separation or divorce. It is separate from child support (see Colo. Rev. Stat. § 14-10-115) and from property division. A single judgment may include all three, but each has its own legal tests.
No spouse is automatically entitled to maintenance. Courts typically ask whether one party has a genuine need and whether the other has the ability to pay, then apply Colorado's statutory framework.
Eligibility and statutory factors
Advisory guidelines apply for combined incomes up to a statutory cap: a percentage of the higher earner’s income minus a percentage of the lower earner’s income, with duration tied to marriage-length bands. Courts may deviate with findings.
Fault. Marital fault is not a statutory maintenance factor in Colorado.
Document income, earning capacity, health, length of marriage, contributions as homemaker or to the other spouse's career, and the marital standard of living. Those facts drive both temporary (pendente lite) and final awards.
Types of maintenance in Colorado
Temporary maintenance during the proceeding and post-decree maintenance under the guideline or a reasoned deviation.
Labeling matters. Rehabilitative awards usually require a plan (schooling, retraining, re-entry to the workforce). Durational or term awards run for a fixed period. Lump-sum or reimbursement awards may be non-modifiable depending on the judgment language and statute.
How amount is set
Because Colorado uses a formula or guideline overlay, start with that math, then test it against need, ability to pay, and any statutory caps. Advisory guidelines apply for combined incomes up to a statutory cap: a percentage of the higher earner’s income minus a percentage of the lower earner’s income, with duration tied to marriage-length bands. Courts may deviate with findings.
Temporary support while a divorce is pending often follows different local practices or guidelines than the final award. Confirm what your county or division actually uses.
How long maintenance lasts
Guideline duration tables scale with years of marriage; very long marriages can yield longer advisory terms.
Permanent / indefinite support. Limited. Indefinite maintenance is possible but uncommon and requires specific findings beyond the advisory tables.
When maintenance ends or can be changed
Death, remarriage, or the end of the ordered term; cohabitation may support modification under case law.
Either party may usually seek modification upon a substantial change in circumstances unless the award was expressly made non-modifiable. Retirement, disability, remarriage, cohabitation, and large income swings are frequent triggers — but the statutory test and burden of proof are Colorado-specific.
Taxes
TCJA: post-2018 maintenance is not federally taxable/deductible. Colorado advisory worksheets assume that federal treatment.
Child support remains non-deductible and non-taxable. Do not assume maintenance treatment mirrors child support.
Case law: how Colorado courts decide maintenance
These LawDiver opinions illustrate how Colorado appellate courts discuss need, ability to pay, duration, and related issues:
In Re the MARRIAGE OF Clare S. UDIS, Petitioner, and Bernard Udis, Respondent
…to the decree contained the following pertinent language: 4.Alimony. The Husband will pay to the Wife the sum of Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) per month as alimony beginning the first day of September, 1972. When the younger child becomes emancipated, the parties agree that the alimony shall increase by an increment of Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00), to make the total alimony…
In Re the MARRIAGE OF Clare S. UDIS, Petitioner, and Bernard Udis, Respondent is worth reading on Colorado maintenance because the court put the point in its own words: "Alimony. The Husband will pay to the Wife the sum of Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) per month as alimony beginning the first day of September, 1972." Use that passage as the starting point, then read the facts that precede it.
In Re the Marriage of Rebecca Gertrude Franks v. Maurice Rudolph Franks
In Re the Marriage of Rebecca Gertrude Franks v. Maurice Rudolph Franks, 189 Colo. 499 (1975)
…tended marriage is unsuccessful, no award shall be made for alimony other than alimony pendente lite, during the pendency of the suit, and then for no greater a period than the number of months during which the parties resided together in matrimony. No award shall be made of permanent alimony. No award shall be made of lump sum alimony.” The contract was silent on the subject o…
Practitioners open In Re the Marriage of Rebecca Gertrude Franks v. Maurice Rudolph Franks when Colorado maintenance turns on the distinction in this sentence: "No award shall be made of permanent alimony. No award shall be made of lump sum alimony." Do not lift it out of the facts the court was deciding.
In Re the MARRIAGE OF Sally K. OLAR, Petitioner, and Terry T. Olar, Respondent
…. Moss, 190 Colo. 491, 549 P.2d 404 (1976) (in the award of alimony, each case depends on its own particular facts and circumstances and an award of alimony in gross is not unacceptable per se). The second factor to be considered in deciding whether a spouse is entitled to maintenance is whether the spouse is able to find “appropriate employment” for his or her support. § 14-10…
Practitioners open In Re the MARRIAGE OF Sally K. OLAR, Petitioner, and Terry T. Olar, Respondent when Colorado maintenance turns on the distinction in this sentence: "Moss, 190 Colo. 491, 549 P.2d 404 (1976) (in the award of alimony, each case depends on its own particular facts and circumstances and an award of alimony in gross is not unacceptable per se)." Do not lift it out of the facts the court was deciding.
In Re the Marriage of Hildegard SINN, Petitioner, v. Werner H. SINN, Respondent
…apply to those maintenance awards traditionally labeled as “alimony in gross.” The court based its holding on its earlier decision in In re Marriage of Gallegos, 41 Colo.App. 116, 580 P.2d 838 (1978). In that case, the court of appeals held that: [Wjhere ... maintenance is in a fixed and determinable amount to be paid either in a lump sum or is for a specific amount to be paid…
Colorado opinions such as In Re the Marriage of Hildegard SINN, Petitioner, v. Werner H. SINN, Respondent are cited where maintenance is disputed. The court stated: "The court based its holding on its earlier decision in In re Marriage of Gallegos, 41 Colo.App. 116, 580 P.2d 838 (1978). In that case, the court of appeals held that: [Wjhere ..." That is the language to brief; the rest of the decision supplies the procedural posture.
IN RE the MARRIAGE OF Jeremy STRADTMANN, and Andrea Stradtmann, and Concerning El Paso County Child Support
…("[T]he determination as to when an allowance for temporary alimony should begin is generally within the discretion of the court."), cited with approval in Herold , ¶ 13, 484 P.3d at 785. In Herold , a division of this court held that courts may award temporary maintenance retroactively, although, in that case, the wife did not seek retroactive temporary maintenance as of a dat…
IN RE the MARRIAGE OF Jeremy STRADTMANN, and Andrea Stradtmann, and Concerning El Paso County Child Support is worth reading on Colorado maintenance because the court put the point in its own words: "T]he determination as to when an allowance for temporary alimony should begin is generally within the discretion of the court.'), cited with approval in Herold , ¶ 13, 484 P.3d at 785." Use that passage as the starting point, then read the facts that precede it.
In Re the MARRIAGE OF Connie L. MOCKELMANN, Appellee, and Henry A. Mockelmann, III, Appellant
…aniels v. Daniels, 9 Colo. 133, 10 P. 657 (1886) (order for alimony and attorney fees pendente lite is a final judgment upon which execution may be enforced, money collected, and paid over to a party); Hobbs v. Hobbs, 72 Colo. 190, 210 P. 398 (1922) (temporary order for attorney fees in divorce action is reviewable as final judgment even if no final judgment granting divorce).…
Colorado opinions such as In Re the MARRIAGE OF Connie L. MOCKELMANN, Appellee, and Henry A. Mockelmann, III, Appellant are cited where maintenance is disputed. The court stated: "Daniels, 9 Colo. 133, 10 P. 657 (1886) (order for alimony and attorney fees pendente lite is a final judgment upon which execution may be enforced, money collected, and paid over to a party); Hobbs v. Hobbs, 72 Colo. 190, 210 P." That is the language to brief; the rest of the decision supplies the procedural posture.
In Re Marriage of Icke
In Re Marriage of Icke, 530 P.2d 1001 (1975)
…n the Clay Street property, and $2,000 credited as lump-sum alimony. Thus, the effect of these interrelated orders was that the wife received the $9,000 equity in the family home, while the husband was awarded the entire equitable interest in the Clay Street property. The husband objects to these orders, claiming that the trial court improperly took jurisdiction over the Clay S…
On maintenance, In Re Marriage of Icke speaks to the Colorado dispute in this passage: "Clay Street property, and $2,000 credited as lump-sum alimony. Thus, the effect of these interrelated orders was that the wife received the $9,000 equity in the family home, while the husband was awarded the entire equitable interest in the Clay Street property." The surrounding opinion shows how the court applied that language to the record.
In Re the MARRIAGE OF Kenneth L. JAMES, Appellant, and Linda Ann James, Appellee
…allow the use of legal process to collect child support and alimony. 42 U.S.C. § 659(i)(3)(B) (1996 Supp.), recodify-ing with minor changes 42 U.S.C. § 662(c) (1994), limits the meaning of “alimony.” Significantly, that section declares in pertinent part: Such term [alimony] does not include ... (ii) any payment or transfer of property or its value by an individual to the spous…
Colorado opinions such as In Re the MARRIAGE OF Kenneth L. JAMES, Appellant, and Linda Ann James, Appellee are cited where maintenance is disputed. The court stated: "U.S.C. § 659(i)(3)(B) (1996 Supp.), recodify-ing with minor changes 42 U.S.C. § 662(c) (1994), limits the meaning of “alimony.” Significantly, that section declares in pertinent part: Such term [alimony] does not include ..." That is the language to brief; the rest of the decision supplies the procedural posture.
Practical checklist
- Identify the correct statutory label (maintenance) and controlling section (Colo. Rev. Stat. § 14-10-114).
- Assemble income, budget, and health evidence for both spouses.
- For rehabilitative requests, prepare a concrete plan and timeline.
- Address fault only if Colorado law makes it relevant to eligibility or amount.
- Search LawDiver for recent Colorado decisions before mediation.
- Cross-check child support interactions via the Colorado child support guide.
Frequently asked questions
Does Colorado still award permanent maintenance?
Limited. Indefinite maintenance is possible but uncommon and requires specific findings beyond the advisory tables.
How is maintenance calculated in Colorado?
Colorado applies guideline/formula concepts under Colo. Rev. Stat. § 14-10-114. Advisory guidelines apply for combined incomes up to a statutory cap: a percentage of the higher earner’s income minus a percentage of the lower earner’s income, with duration tied to marriage-length bands. Courts may deviate with findings.
How long do I have to be married to receive maintenance?
Guideline duration tables scale with years of marriage; very long marriages can yield longer advisory terms. Short marriages rarely produce long-term awards; longer marriages support broader remedies where the statute allows.
Does remarriage or cohabitation end maintenance?
Death, remarriage, or the end of the ordered term; cohabitation may support modification under case law.
Is maintenance taxable?
TCJA: post-2018 maintenance is not federally taxable/deductible. Colorado advisory worksheets assume that federal treatment.
Where can I read Colorado maintenance opinions?
Open the cases linked above or search LawDiver scoped to Colorado. For support of children, see the Colorado child support guidelines guide.
Disclaimer
This article provides general information about Colorado maintenance and is not legal advice. Confirm the current text of Colo. Rev. Stat. § 14-10-114 and consult a licensed Colorado family-law attorney before acting on any rule described here.