Denver Divorce Attorney

Beginning the Divorce Process in Colorado

Here are some first steps to consider when Divorce or Legal Separation is inevitable.

• The first step is to consider the living conditions of the parties. Is one of the parties going to leave the family home and who will use the home and contribute to its preservation. The law favors keeping the children in the family home as much as possible within the facts of a particular case.
• The parties need to separate the money so each party can reasonably survive and neither can take advantage of the other party.
• Make sure the children are in a safe place; free of the difficulties between the parents and that they have liberal contact with both parents.
• Begin to round up financial information. Very soon everyone will need to know all the assets, both marital and non-marital, where they are located and how a value for them can be obtained. This includes all debts, marital and non-marital and the amounts.

What is the Divorce process?

Let me give you the general steps you will go through when divorcing. These will vary a little bit depending upon which district is handling your case, but this is a guide.

The two of you will decide whether one is going to file, who it will be, or whether both of you will file together. What you file is called a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage.

The Petition will be filed where the non-filing spouse resides, or if both are filing together, where either of them lives. Usually, the case is filed in the county where the family home is.

The court will immediately send out orders telling the parties what the first steps are and may set a date for the first appearance with the court.

If both parties did not file together, the one who filed will need to have the documents served on the other party.

Each step of the way there are documents to file with the court and many papers to fill out. There will be many decisions to be made along the way. There are many unique requirements for cases involving children.

Each of you will be under something called an automatic injunction that prevents either of you from wasting or hiding assets, from harassing the other party or misusing marital property. The party who files must be in Colorado for 90 days before the filing and the final decree is given only after 90 days has elapsed from the service on a party or the filing date, if both file.

Experienced with the divorce process in Colorado, Gary Nicholas of Nicholas Family Law has been helping people through divorce in Denver and Colorado for 30 years.

Call our Colorado Divorce Attorney today to Schedule a Consultation at 303-522-4552 or contact us online.