Colorado Spousal Support Calculator
Apply the advisory maintenance guideline under C.R.S. § 14-10-114: threshold test, amount, term table and statutory factors

Colorado calls alimony maintenance. At permanent orders, and at a party's request, the court may order maintenance in an amount and for a term that is fair and equitable to both parties, made without regard to marital misconduct (C.R.S. § 14-10-114(2)). The court first makes findings on each party's gross income, the marital property apportioned to each, each party's financial resources, and the reasonable financial need established during the marriage, then considers the advisory guideline amount and term, the statutory factors, and whether the requesting spouse meets the threshold test.

After considering the guidelines and factors, the court awards maintenance only if the spouse seeking it lacks sufficient property, including marital property apportioned to that spouse, to provide for reasonable needs, and is either unable to support themselves through appropriate employment or is the custodian of a child whose condition or circumstances make it inappropriate to require them to seek employment outside the home (§ 14-10-114(3)(d)). A court may also award maintenance in a marriage shorter than three years when the property division is insufficient to reach an equitable result.

When the marriage lasted at least three years and the parties' combined annual adjusted gross income does not exceed $240,000, the court makes findings on the advisory guideline. The guideline is 40% of the parties' combined monthly adjusted gross income minus the lower-income party's monthly adjusted gross income, and it is zero if the result is negative. When the maintenance is not deductible by the payor and taxable to the recipient, as under federal law for instruments executed after 2018, the result is multiplied by 80% if combined monthly adjusted gross income is $10,000 or less, and by 75% if it is above $10,000 up to $20,000.

Adjusted gross income is gross income less pre-existing court-ordered child support or maintenance the party actually pays. For a party who is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, potential income is used.

For marriages of at least three years but not more than twenty, the advisory term comes from a statutory table. The term is a percentage of the length of the marriage in whole months, starting at 31% for a 36-month marriage, rising by one percentage point for every six additional months to 50% at 150 months, and staying at 50% through 240 months. For example, a 78-month marriage gives 38%, or a term of 30 months. For marriages longer than twenty years, the court may award maintenance for a specified term or an indefinite term, but may not set a term shorter than the 20-year guideline (120 months) without specific findings.

Duration of marriage is counted in whole months from the first day of the month after the marriage until the date of the decree (or the property hearing, if earlier).

No. The guidelines do not create a presumptive amount or term, and the court has discretion to determine an award that is fair and equitable on the totality of the circumstances, with specific findings (§ 14-10-114(3)(e)). Colorado appellate courts have said the guidelines are advisory and do not cap or restrict a court's determination (In re Marriage of Vittetoe, 2016 COA 71). If combined annual adjusted gross income exceeds $240,000, the guideline amount calculation does not apply and the court considers the statutory factors, although it may consider the guideline term.

Maintenance is awarded without regard to marital misconduct (§ 14-10-114(2)). Under Senate Bill 25-116, effective August 6, 2025, the factors the court must consider now also include whether a spouse engaged in domestic violence, coercive control, economic abuse, litigation abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, or unlawful sexual behavior against the other spouse (§ 14-10-114(3)(c)(XII.5)). The Colorado legislature's summary of the act as enacted describes it as adding these to the list of factors; it does not describe an automatic bar. Confirm the current statute text with an attorney.

Where temporary maintenance is requested, the court may award a monthly amount using the provisions of § 14-10-114(3) that are relevant. The guideline term does not apply to temporary orders, and the court sets the term. It also considers family expenses and debts. The amount and the number of months of temporary maintenance paid are a factor at permanent orders (§ 14-10-114(3)(c)(VIII), (4)).

Except upon written agreement of the parties, a maintenance award may be modified or terminated under C.R.S. § 14-10-122, which requires a showing of changed circumstances so substantial and continuing as to make the terms unfair. The party seeking modification has the burden. Unless otherwise agreed in writing or expressly provided in the decree, the obligation to pay future maintenance ends on the death of either party or the remarriage of the recipient. The court may consider the guidelines and factors in a modification proceeding only for awards entered on or after January 1, 2014. If a payor seeks relief because of retirement, the court first decides whether the decision to retire was made in good faith and then treats that as one factor in the changed-circumstances analysis (In re Marriage of Thorstad, 2019 COA 13).

For divorce or separation instruments executed after December 31, 2018, maintenance is not deductible by the payor and is not taxable income to the recipient for federal income tax purposes, under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The Colorado statute makes the 80% and 75% adjustments to the guideline for non-deductible maintenance. Instruments executed on or before December 31, 2018 keep the old federal treatment unless later modified to adopt the new rules. Confirm your Colorado return treatment with a tax professional.

It follows the statute. It first tests the threshold in § 14-10-114(3)(d) from your answers. It then computes adjusted gross income for each party, applies the guideline formula (with the 80% or 75% adjustment for non-deductible maintenance), and finds the advisory term from the statutory table by months of marriage. It declines to compute a guideline when the marriage is under three years or combined income exceeds the limit. It lists your answers against the statutory factors.

It does not predict an award. The court weighs the guideline together with every factor and may depart from it.