Uncontested Divorce in Colorado
An uncontested divorce in Colorado is a dissolution of marriage where you and your spouse agree on every issue the court would otherwise have to decide. That includes parenting time, decision-making, child support, spousal maintenance, division of property, and allocation of debt. When you can put a complete agreement in front of the court, your case moves through a faster, cheaper, and less adversarial process than a contested divorce.
Uncontested does not mean automatic. Colorado still requires you to meet residency, satisfy a 91-day waiting period, file the right documents, and exchange mandatory financial disclosures. The court still reviews any parenting plan against the best-interests-of-the-child standard, and it can reject an agreement it finds unconscionable.
That is why a well-drafted agreement is the entire ballgame. Whatever the two of you sign and the court approves becomes a binding order. Our team at Johnson Law Group helps you build that agreement so it actually protects what matters to you, not just gets you to a decree.
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When Your Divorce Qualifies as Uncontested in Colorado
An uncontested Colorado divorce requires complete agreement on every issue by the time you submit. That agreement does not have to exist on the day you file. Many spouses file while some issues are still open, then finish a signed agreement on every issue before final orders. Partial agreement at the end is not enough. If one item is still open when the paperwork goes in, whether that is maintenance, holiday parenting time, or who keeps the house, the case is contested even when everything else is settled.
Most genuinely uncontested cases share a few traits:
- Both spouses have the same understanding of what is marital and what is separate.
- Income, debts, and assets have already been disclosed openly between you.
- Neither spouse is using the divorce as leverage to renegotiate anything.
- If children are involved, both parents have a workable parenting plan ready.
- Neither party has reason to doubt the other’s financial honesty.
Uncontested does not mean you agree about everything today. It means you can reach a written agreement on every issue without asking a judge to decide any of them. Many couples start apart on one or two items and close the gap through direct conversation or mediation.
What usually keeps a case uncontested is how the conversation is handled. Keeping communication in writing, taking one issue at a time, and agreeing in advance on where the numbers come from all reduce the chance that a single disagreement pushes the case onto a contested track.
Where there has been abuse, none of this is expected of you. A court cannot send you to mediation if you tell it you were abused by the other party and are unwilling to go.
If those things are not all true, you may be closer to a contested case than you think. It is better to know that early than to discover it three months into a filing that should have been structured differently.
The Uncontested Divorce Process in Colorado, Step by Step
The uncontested process moves on the same statutory track as any other Colorado divorce. You compress it by agreeing in advance rather than litigating.
- Confirm residency. At least one spouse must have been domiciled in Colorado for 91 days before filing. C.R.S. § 14-10-106[1].
- File the petition. You can file a joint Petition for Dissolution of Marriage (a co-petition) or one spouse can file individually and the other can file an Answer agreeing to the dissolution. The joint route is the cleanest version of uncontested.
- Attend the initial status conference. The court sets one within 42 days of filing, and uncontested cases are not exempt. It is short, and it is where the court confirms the schedule and the disclosure deadlines for your case.
- Exchange mandatory financial disclosures. Both spouses must complete sworn financial statements and exchange supporting documentation within 42 days after service of the petition, or by the date in your case management order if you file jointly [2]. This is required even when you fully agree.
- Negotiate and draft the Separation Agreement. The agreement is the legal document that records every term you have agreed to: property, debts, maintenance, and any non-parenting issues. C.R.S. § 14-10-112[3].
- Prepare a Parenting Plan if you have children. The parenting plan lays out parenting time, decision-making, holidays, transportation, and dispute resolution. It is submitted to the court for review under the best-interests standard. C.R.S. § 14-10-124[4].
- Wait the 91 days. Colorado courts cannot enter a decree of dissolution until 91 days have passed from service or co-petition filing. The waiting period applies even when nothing is in dispute.
- Submit final paperwork or attend a brief hearing. Some agreed cases can finish without a final hearing, using an affidavit for decree without appearance. That route is open if you have no minor children and neither spouse is pregnant, or if you do have children and both spouses are represented by an attorney or a licensed legal paraprofessional, with a separation agreement covering parental responsibilities and support. Otherwise the court sets a short non-contested hearing, and it can require one on its own motion either way. Filing the affidavit does not shorten the 91-day waiting period. It removes the hearing, not the clock.
That is the entire process. There is no discovery battle, no expert testimony, and no permanent orders hearing. What gets compressed is conflict, not the basic legal architecture.
How Long an Uncontested Divorce Takes in Colorado
Most uncontested Colorado divorces close in roughly three to five months. The 91-day waiting period is the floor. The rest of the time goes to drafting and reviewing the agreement, completing financial disclosures, and waiting on the court’s calendar to enter the decree.
Three things move the timeline:
- How quickly you complete and exchange disclosures. Disclosures are required even in an uncontested case. Cases that drag through this step lose weeks.
- How carefully your Separation Agreement is drafted. Sloppy agreements get kicked back. A well-drafted agreement that anticipates the court’s review usually moves through without revision.
- The court’s schedule. Some Colorado courts enter decrees on the documents; others schedule a brief non-contested hearing. Your county will dictate which.
If you are aiming for the fastest possible Colorado divorce, the work is front-loaded: agree completely, disclose completely, and draft cleanly the first time.
What an Uncontested Agreement Has to Cover
Your Separation Agreement and, if applicable, your Parenting Plan need to address every issue the court would otherwise decide. Gaps in the agreement come back as enforcement problems later.
Property and Debt
A complete agreement identifies all marital property and debt and assigns each item to one spouse. That covers the home, vehicles, retirement accounts, investment accounts, bank balances, business interests, personal property of meaningful value, and every category of debt.
Colorado is an equitable distribution state, so the court is looking for an unconscionable split rather than an unequal one. Deeper coverage of how the court evaluates an asset split is on our Colorado property division page.
Spousal Maintenance
If maintenance is part of your agreement, the document specifies the amount, the duration, whether it is modifiable, and how it terminates. If maintenance is waived, the waiver should be clearly written so it cannot be reopened later.
Colorado has guideline calculations for maintenance, and agreed-upon terms can deviate from the guideline when both parties knowingly do so. The framework that governs maintenance is covered on our Colorado spousal support page.
Parenting Plan and Child Support
When children are involved, your Parenting Plan is the most important document in the divorce. It addresses parenting time, decision-making for major issues like education and healthcare, holidays and school breaks, transportation, communication, and what happens if a dispute arises. The court reviews the plan under the best-interests-of-the-child standard before approving it.
The broader framework for Colorado allocation of parental responsibilities is covered on our child custody hub. Child support is calculated under Colorado’s income shares model, and the agreed support figure should be supported by a worksheet attached to the filing.
Mandatory Disclosures Still Apply
Even in a fully uncontested Colorado divorce, both spouses must complete mandatory financial disclosure. Each party files a sworn financial statement listing income, expenses, assets, and debts, and supplies tax returns, paystubs, retirement statements, bank records, and other documents that prove the figures.
Since 2024, spouses in simple cases can agree to skip the supporting documents by each filing a waiver affidavit. That is narrower than it sounds. The Sworn Financial Statement is still required in every case, either of you can withdraw consent later, and the court can order full disclosure anyway. The waiver covers the paperwork, not the duty of candor. Everything material still has to be on the statement, and that matters even when nothing is in dispute.
If a spouse fails to disclose a material asset, the other spouse can move to reallocate it after the decree. That motion has to be filed within five years of the final decree, and the court must deny one filed later.
An uncontested divorce in Colorado is the simpler path, but the agreement you sign is the order you live with. Contact us today to schedule a consultation and we will make sure your agreement actually protects what matters.
When Uncontested Becomes Contested
An uncontested case can shift in either direction. Some couples start out negotiating directly, hit a disagreement they cannot resolve, and need to move onto the contested track. Others start contested and finish uncontested as discovery clarifies the numbers and mediation surfaces real options.
If you and your spouse are aligned on most issues but cannot resolve one or two, you do not have to litigate the whole case. Many Colorado divorces are resolved through structured divorce mediation, in which a neutral mediator helps you close the remaining gaps. If even mediation cannot resolve the dispute, the case becomes a contested divorce in Colorado, and the court decides the unresolved issues.
When You Still Need an Attorney for an Uncontested Divorce
You are not legally required to hire an attorney to file an uncontested divorce in Colorado. Some couples handle simple cases on their own. There are still real reasons to involve a lawyer, especially when:
- One spouse drafted the proposed agreement and the other has not had it independently reviewed.
- There are retirement accounts, real estate, or businesses to divide.
- A Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) is needed to divide a pension or 401(k).
- Maintenance is being waived or structured in a non-guideline way.
- There are children, and the Parenting Plan needs to anticipate years of practical decisions.
- The agreement looks fair on the surface but one party has not seen the underlying numbers.
A lawyer is not there to fight. A lawyer is there to make sure the agreement you sign actually says what you think it says, and that the court approves it on the first submission.
How Johnson Law Group Handles Uncontested Divorce in Colorado
We treat an uncontested divorce as a drafting and disclosure exercise, not a courtroom case. The work that matters happens in the agreement itself. Our team’s job is to make sure the document you and your spouse sign is the document the court will approve, and the document you will still be glad you signed years from now.
From our offices across Denver, Colorado Springs, Englewood, Fort Collins, and Commerce City, we aim to be your North Star through an uncontested case: a steady reference point that helps you anticipate the issues most agreements miss. We help clients on the uncontested track in three ways:
- Clean drafting. We draft Separation Agreements and Parenting Plans that anticipate the court’s review, address the issues most often missed, and protect against future enforcement disputes.
- Complete disclosure. We help you complete sworn financial statements and exchange supporting documents the way Colorado requires, so the decree cannot be reopened later for non-disclosure.
- Honest review. If we see something in your agreement that is going to cause problems later, we tell you. We do not push you toward litigation. We just make sure you sign an agreement that holds up.
If you are not sure whether your case is genuinely uncontested or already partially contested, the broader Colorado divorce process covers both tracks.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does an uncontested divorce cost in Colorado?
The total cost depends on whether you handle the filing yourselves, share an attorney for drafting, or each retain your own counsel. A fully agreed case with one attorney drafting documents and minimal review is typically the least expensive path. Filing fees, parenting class costs where required, and any QDRO drafting fees are separate from attorney fees.
Do my spouse and I both need our own lawyers?
A single attorney cannot represent both spouses in a divorce, but one attorney can draft the documents and represent one spouse while the other signs without representation. Many uncontested cases use this model. When the unrepresented spouse wants confidence in the agreement, retaining their own attorney for a review-only engagement is common and inexpensive.
Can we file the divorce together in Colorado?
Yes. Colorado allows a joint Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, often called a co-petition. Both spouses sign as co-petitioners. This is the cleanest, fastest way to start an uncontested case, and it eliminates the service-and-response step entirely.
Is mediation required in an uncontested Colorado divorce?
Mediation is not required when you and your spouse already have a complete agreement on every issue. Many uncontested couples use mediation anyway, to formalize their conversations or to resolve the last one or two items keeping them from a full agreement.
Do we have to go to court?
In many Colorado counties, a fully uncontested divorce with proper paperwork can be decreed on the documents without a court appearance. Some counties still require a short, scheduled non-contested hearing. Your attorney will tell you which applies in your county.
What if we agree on almost everything except one issue?
Then you have a partially contested case. You can still resolve most issues by agreement and ask the court to decide only the disputed item. Many Colorado divorces close this way, and it is faster and cheaper than litigating the whole case.
Talk With a Colorado Divorce Attorney Today
An uncontested divorce in Colorado is the simpler path, but it is not a path you should walk without making sure the agreement actually does what you think it does. Our team at Johnson Law Group will review your situation, identify any issues that could complicate the filing, and help you put a clean agreement and a complete disclosure in front of the court.
Schedule a no-pressure consultation with Johnson Law Group. Call (720) 640-8463 or use our consultation form to get started. We serve clients from offices in Denver, Colorado Springs, Englewood, Fort Collins, and Commerce City, and we offer virtual consultations across Colorado.
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Hear From Our Happy Clients
Overboard: How to Avoid Sinking in Your Colorado Family Law Case
Written by Denver Family Law Attorney Myles S. Johnson
Divorce doesn’t have to be dramatic. For the litigants, losing your spouse is significant enough. But you can choose the way it affects your daily life. The only guarantee I can give is that the feeling that you have right now will not be the feeling you end with. This is a season in your life, and it must be approached that way.
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