Alimony in Colorado — called spousal maintenance in the statute — is calculated by running each spouse’s adjusted gross income through an advisory formula in Colorado Revised Statute § 14-10-114, provided the marriage lasted at least three years and the couple’s combined annual adjusted gross income is $240,000 or less. The same statute sets how long payments last, tied to the length of the marriage. Outside those boundaries, or when the formula produces an unfair result, the judge sets both the amount and the duration using a list of statutory factors.
The Advisory Formula, Step by Step
The math has two steps.
Step one: take 40% of the spouses’ combined monthly adjusted gross income, then subtract the lower earner’s monthly adjusted gross income. If the result is negative, the guideline amount is zero and no maintenance is indicated.1Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Section 14-10-114 (2024)
Step two: apply a downward multiplier that reflects the current federal tax treatment of maintenance. The multiplier depends on combined monthly income:2Colorado General Assembly. HB18-1385 – Domestic Relations Changes Due to Federal Tax Law
- Combined monthly income of $10,000 or less: multiply the step-one figure by 80%.
- Combined monthly income between $10,001 and $20,000: multiply the step-one figure by 75%.1Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Section 14-10-114 (2024)
A worked example. One spouse earns $8,000 a month and the other earns $4,000, for a combined $12,000. Step one: 40% of $12,000 is $4,800, minus the lower earner’s $4,000, equals $800. Step two: $12,000 falls in the $10,001–$20,000 bracket, so multiply $800 by 75%. The advisory guideline amount is $600 per month.
The result is advisory. A judge can set a different number, but has to put the reasons in writing.
What Counts as Income
Colorado defines gross income broadly. The statute’s list includes salaries, wages, bonuses, commissions, self-employment earnings, dividends, interest, rental income, capital gains, trust distributions, pension and retirement payments actually received, Social Security benefits, workers’ compensation, unemployment benefits, and disability insurance payments.3FindLaw. Colorado Code 14-10-114 – Spousal Maintenance – Advisory Guidelines – Legislative Declaration – Definitions
If a judge concludes a spouse is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, the court can plug in “potential income” — what the spouse could reasonably earn — rather than the actual paycheck. The rule exists so a spouse can’t shrink their income on purpose to tilt the formula.
The formula uses adjusted gross income, not raw gross. To get there, the court subtracts certain pre-existing obligations from each spouse’s gross income, mainly court-ordered child support or maintenance already being paid under a prior case. When those earlier maintenance payments aren’t tax-deductible, the deduction is the actual payment multiplied by 1.25 to reflect the after-tax cost.1Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Section 14-10-114 (2024)
How Long Payments Last
Length of marriage sets length of maintenance. For marriages between three and twenty years, the statute includes a duration table that assigns a percentage to each marriage length in months. The shorter the marriage, the shorter the maintenance term; the longer the marriage, the longer the term.1Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Section 14-10-114 (2024)
Two benchmarks from the table:
- A 3-year marriage (36 months): 31% of the marriage length, producing a guideline term of about 11 months.
- A 12.5-year marriage (150 months): 50% of the marriage length, producing a guideline term of 75 months.4Colorado Judicial Branch. Spousal/Partner Advisory Maintenance Guidelines Information
For marriages over twenty years, the court can set a specific number of years or award maintenance indefinitely. The court cannot set a term shorter than what the table would produce for a twenty-year marriage without specific written findings justifying the shorter duration.1Justia. Colorado Revised Statutes Section 14-10-114 (2024)
When the Formula Does Not Apply
Two situations push the calculation outside the formula entirely.3FindLaw. Colorado Code 14-10-114 – Spousal Maintenance – Advisory Guidelines – Legislative Declaration – Definitions
Marriages Under Three Years
A short marriage doesn’t bar maintenance; it just takes the formula off the table. The court skips straight to the statutory factors. Awards in short marriages are less common and tend to be smaller, but a judge has full discretion when one spouse faces genuine financial hardship.
Combined Income Over $240,000
When combined annual adjusted gross income exceeds $240,000, the court again bypasses the formula and evaluates the full list of factors: income disparity, the lifestyle maintained during the marriage, each spouse’s ability to be self-supporting, and the rest of the statutory list. High-income cases often involve deferred compensation, business ownership, and investment portfolios, which fit the factor analysis better than a flat formula.
Factors That Can Change the Number
Even inside the guideline range, a judge can adjust the amount or duration if the formula produces an unfair result. The statute lists thirteen factors, and the court can weigh anything else it finds relevant. The ones that move numbers most often:3FindLaw. Colorado Code 14-10-114 – Spousal Maintenance – Advisory Guidelines – Legislative Declaration – Definitions
- Each spouse’s financial resources, including income from separate and marital property and the ability to meet needs independently.
- The payor’s ability to pay — the guideline amount means little if the paying spouse can’t cover their own reasonable expenses while paying it.
- The marital standard of living, which carries more weight in long marriages than brief ones.
- The property division: a larger share of marital assets to one spouse can reduce or eliminate maintenance.
- Employment and earning capacity, including whether education or training would improve employability.
- Income history, especially where overtime or a second job inflated recent earnings.
- Contributions to the marriage: paying for a spouse’s education, supporting a career, or sacrificing one’s own career to raise children.
- Age and health, with uninsured medical needs weighing toward a higher amount or longer term.
- Nominal maintenance — a token amount the court can award to preserve the recipient’s ability to seek a larger award later if circumstances change.
Any deviation from the guideline requires specific written findings tied to one or more of these factors. A judge who simply dislikes the formula number cannot adjust it without that explanation.
Temporary Maintenance While the Divorce Is Pending
The advisory formula governs post-decree maintenance. Colorado also allows temporary maintenance (sometimes called pendente lite maintenance) while the case is still open, meant to preserve the financial status quo so a lower-earning spouse can cover living expenses and legal fees during the case. The amount usually turns on immediate need and income disparity rather than a full guideline analysis, and it ends automatically when the court enters a final decree that either replaces it with a long-term order or declines to award ongoing maintenance.
Why the Formula Includes a Tax Discount
The 80% and 75% multipliers exist because of a federal tax change. For any divorce finalized after December 31, 2018, maintenance payments are not deductible by the paying spouse and are not taxable income to the recipient under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Colorado updated the formula through HB18-1385 to reflect that shift.2Colorado General Assembly. HB18-1385 – Domestic Relations Changes Due to Federal Tax Law Without the downward multiplier, the earlier formula would have overcompensated recipients who no longer owe tax on what they receive.