28 min read
Family Law
Alimony vs Child Support: What Colorado Parents Actually Need to Know
You're facing divorce. There are kids involved. You've heard people throw around terms like "alimony" and "child support" like they're interchangeable, or maybe you think they're basically the same thing—money going from one ex-spouse to the other after the marriage ends. One of your friends got both in their divorce. Another got neither. The whole thing seems arbitrary and confusing.
Here's what most people assume about alimony and child support: that they work the same way, that if you're paying one you'll probably pay both, that judges just look at who makes more money and order payments accordingly, or that these are automatic consequences of divorce when kids are involved.
The reality? Alimony and child support in Colorado are fundamentally different legal obligations with different purposes, different calculation methods, different tax treatments, and radically different enforcement mechanisms. Child support uses binding presumptive guidelines that courts must follow unless there's a compelling reason to deviate. Spousal maintenance (Colorado's term for alimony) uses advisory-only guidelines that judges can essentially ignore if they want to. Child support is automatically ordered in any case involving minor children. Alimony isn't automatic at all—you have to qualify for it, and even then, you have to ask for it. And perhaps most importantly: child support belongs to your children as a legal right, while alimony belongs to your ex-spouse based on need and circumstance.
The Fundamental Difference: Who Gets the Money and Why
Before we get into formulas and calculations, you need to understand the core distinction between these two types of support. They exist for completely different reasons.
Child support is money paid to help support your children. It's for their housing, food, clothing, education, healthcare, and other basic needs. The law views child support as the child's right—not the custodial parent's right. That's why you can't waive child support even if you want to. You can agree to waive your right to alimony, but you can't agree to waive your child's right to financial support from both parents. The court won't allow it.
Spousal maintenance (alimony) is money paid to help support your ex-spouse. It's designed to address economic disparities between former spouses and help a lower-earning spouse maintain something closer to the standard of living established during the marriage. It recognizes that one spouse might have sacrificed career opportunities, stayed home with kids, or supported the other spouse's education or career advancement—and that person shouldn't be left destitute when the marriage ends.
When you pay child support, that money is supposed to be spent on your kids. When you pay alimony, that money goes to your ex-spouse to spend however they choose. Two completely different purposes. Two completely different legal frameworks.
How Colorado Calculates Child Support (The Rules Courts Must Follow)
Colorado uses what's called the "Income Shares Model" for calculating child support. This is a formula designed to approximate what both parents would have spent on the children if the family had stayed together. Unlike spousal maintenance, child support calculations are presumptive—meaning the court is required to follow the guidelines unless there's a legitimate reason to deviate.
The Basic Formula
Here's how it works in practice:
Calculate each parent's monthly adjusted gross income (AGI). This includes wages, salaries, bonuses, commissions, rental income, self-employment income, workers' compensation, unemployment benefits, pension and retirement benefits, interest and dividends, and even income from additional jobs or overtime. Colorado has a broad definition of income for child support purposes.
Add both parents' AGI together. This gives you the combined monthly adjusted gross income.
Determine the basic child support obligation. Colorado has a schedule showing the basic support amount based on combined income and number of children. For example, if your combined monthly AGI is $10,000 and you have two children, you'd look up the basic obligation in the schedule.
Divide the obligation proportionally. Each parent's share of the total obligation is based on their percentage of the combined income. If you earn 60% of the combined income, you're responsible for 60% of the child support obligation.
Add adjustments. The basic obligation gets adjusted for things like:
Work-related childcare costs
Health insurance premiums for the children
Extraordinary medical expenses (over $250 per child per year)
Extraordinary educational expenses
Apply the parenting time adjustment (if applicable). If both parents have the children for more than 92 overnights per year, there's a shared parenting time calculation that adjusts the amounts. [NOTE: Major changes are coming March 1, 2026—more on this below.]
The parent who has the children for fewer overnights typically pays child support to the parent who has them more. But the calculation is more nuanced than that, especially when parenting time is relatively balanced.
What's Coming: Major Child Support Changes in March 2026
If you're filing for divorce in 2026, you need to know about significant changes to Colorado's child support guidelines taking effect March 1, 2026. House Bill 25-1159 fundamentally changes how shared parenting time affects support calculations:
The old rule: Shared parenting time only applied if each parent had more than 92 overnights per year.
The new rule: Shared parenting time is recognized from the first overnight. There's no minimum threshold anymore.
What else changes:
The complicated 1.5x multiplier on the basic schedule amount? Gone. The new calculation uses the basic schedule amount directly.
New "self-support reserve" provisions protect very low-income parents (based on 29 hours per week at minimum wage).
A new "smoothing" calculation for parents whose income is just above the self-support reserve.
Completely revised schedule of basic child support obligations.
If your divorce is finalized before March 1, 2026, you'll be under the old rules. If it's finalized on or after March 1, 2026, you'll be under the new rules. And if you're right on the edge of that date, timing could significantly impact your support obligation.
The Income Limits
There's no maximum child support amount in Colorado, but the standard schedule only goes up to certain income levels. If your combined AGI exceeds the schedule (currently around $360,000 annually), the court will order at least what the formula shows at that level—and can order more if appropriate based on the children's needs and your specific circumstances.
On the low end, if a parent's AGI is $650 or less, the minimum payment is $10 per month. There are special calculations for parents earning between $650 and the self-support reserve amount.
How Colorado Calculates Spousal Maintenance (The Advisory Guidelines Judges Can Ignore)
Spousal maintenance in Colorado works completely differently from child support. The calculation is advisory only—meaning judges can consider the formula, but they're free to ignore it entirely if they think a different amount or duration makes more sense. Courts are supposed to reach a "fair and equitable" result based on "the totality of the circumstances," which is lawyer-speak for "judges have a lot of discretion here."
When Maintenance Guidelines Apply
The advisory maintenance formula only applies when:
The marriage lasted at least 36 months (3 years), AND
The couple's combined adjusted gross income is $240,000 per year or less ($20,000 per month or less)
If you don't meet both of these conditions, there's no formula at all. The court looks at statutory factors and makes a determination from scratch.
The Maintenance Formula (When It Applies)
For marriages between 3 and 20 years where combined income is under $240,000 annually:
Amount: 40% of the higher-earner's monthly AGI minus 50% of the lower-earner's monthly AGI.
For example:
Higher earner makes $8,000/month
Lower earner makes $3,000/month
Calculation: ($8,000 × 0.40) - ($3,000 × 0.50) = $3,200 - $1,500 = $1,700/month advisory maintenance amount
Duration: The formula provides an advisory duration starting at 31% of the marriage length (for a 3-year marriage) and increasing to 50% of the marriage length (for marriages of 12.5 years or longer).
For marriages over 20 years, courts may consider indefinite maintenance with no set end date—sometimes called "lifetime alimony," though that's not quite accurate since maintenance can be modified or terminated based on changing circumstances.
The Reality: It's Just Advisory
Here's the crucial part most people miss: unlike child support, this maintenance formula creates no presumption. The court doesn't have to apply it. Judges look at the formula amount and duration, then consider a long list of statutory factors including:
The financial resources of each spouse (including separate property and marital property division)
The standard of living established during the marriage
The duration of the marriage
Age and physical and emotional condition of each spouse
Each spouse's ability to meet their needs independently
Time needed for the recipient spouse to obtain education or training to become self-supporting
Whether one spouse stayed home to care for children or otherwise supported the other's career
Contribution to the other spouse's education or increased earning power
The marital property division
After considering all these factors, a judge can award more maintenance, less maintenance, or no maintenance at all, regardless of what the formula shows.
What If You Don't Qualify for the Guidelines?
For shorter marriages (under 3 years) or higher incomes (combined income over $240,000), there's no formula. The court just looks at those statutory factors and makes a determination. You can still get maintenance in these situations—it's just entirely up to judicial discretion with no guideline to anchor expectations.
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The Tax Treatment Difference (This Changed Everything in 2019)
Until 2019, alimony and child support had very different tax consequences. That difference still exists for child support, but alimony changed dramatically.
Child Support Tax Treatment (Never Changes)
Child support is never tax-deductible for the paying parent and never counts as taxable income for the receiving parent. It's tax-neutral. You pay it with after-tax dollars, and the recipient doesn't report it as income.
Alimony Tax Treatment (Depends on When You Divorced)
For divorces finalized on or after January 1, 2019:
Alimony is NOT tax-deductible for the paying spouse
Alimony is NOT taxable income for the receiving spouse
For divorces finalized before January 1, 2019:
Alimony IS tax-deductible for the paying spouse
Alimony IS taxable income for the receiving spouse
This 2019 change was part of federal tax reform, and it fundamentally altered the economics of spousal maintenance. Before 2019, the paying spouse got a tax benefit (deduction), which often made it easier to afford higher payments. Now, the paying spouse pays with after-tax dollars and gets no deduction.
Colorado adjusted its advisory maintenance formula in response to this tax change. The current formula (for post-2019 divorces) produces lower maintenance amounts than the old formula did, specifically because the payor no longer gets a tax deduction.
How This Affects Combined Payments
When you're paying both child support and maintenance, the tax treatment matters for your overall financial picture. You're paying both with after-tax dollars now (for post-2019 divorces), which means you need more gross income to cover the same net obligations.
How Alimony and Child Support Interact (They're Connected)
Here's where it gets complicated: alimony and child support don't exist in isolation. They affect each other's calculations.
Alimony Affects Child Support Calculations
When calculating child support in Colorado, spousal maintenance counts as income:
For the parent receiving maintenance: The maintenance amount is added to their income before calculating child support.
For the parent paying maintenance: The maintenance amount is deducted from their income before calculating child support.
But there's a twist for post-2019 divorces. Because maintenance is no longer taxable/deductible, Colorado law requires a "grossing up" calculation to level the playing field:
The maintenance amount paid is multiplied by 1.25 before deducting it from the payor's income
The maintenance amount received is multiplied by 1.25 before adding it to the recipient's income
This adjustment accounts for the tax impact difference between old divorces (where maintenance was taxed) and new divorces (where it isn't).
For pre-2019 divorces (where maintenance is still taxable/deductible), the maintenance amount is deducted or added dollar-for-dollar without the 1.25 multiplier.
Why This Matters in Practice
Let's say you're awarded $1,700/month in spousal maintenance. When the court calculates child support:
Your income for child support purposes gets reduced by $2,125 ($1,700 × 1.25) Your ex's income for child support purposes gets increased by $2,125
This typically reduces your child support obligation, since you're now showing less available income and your ex is showing more. The more maintenance being paid, the lower the child support tends to be.
Strategic consideration: In some cases, it makes sense to negotiate higher maintenance and lower child support, or vice versa. The tax treatment, duration limits, modifiability, and enforcement mechanisms all differ, so the mix can matter. This is why you need a lawyer who understands how these interact.
Enforcement: Where Child Support Gets Serious
Both child support and spousal maintenance are court orders, and violating a court order has consequences. But the enforcement tools available for child support are far more aggressive than those for maintenance.
Child Support Enforcement
Colorado takes child support enforcement seriously. The Division of Child Support Services (DCSS) has powerful tools to collect unpaid support:
Automatic wage garnishment: Employers are required to withhold child support directly from paychecks and send it to the state disbursement unit. This happens automatically in most cases—you don't even get a choice about whether to pay.
Tax refund interception: Both federal and state tax refunds can be seized to pay child support arrears.
Driver's license suspension: If you're significantly behind on child support, the state can suspend your driver's license.
Professional license suspension: Your occupational, professional, or recreational licenses (including hunting and fishing licenses) can be suspended for non-payment.
Passport denial or revocation: If you owe more than $2,500 in child support arrears, the federal government can deny your passport application or revoke your existing passport.
Bank account levies: The state can freeze and seize funds from your bank accounts.
Property liens: Liens can be placed on real property and personal property you own.
Credit bureau reporting: Child support arrears are reported to credit bureaus, damaging your credit score.
Contempt of court: You can be held in contempt and potentially jailed for willful failure to pay child support.
The key word in that last one is "willful." If you genuinely can't pay because you lost your job or had a medical emergency, the court isn't supposed to jail you. But if you could pay and chose not to, you can face jail time.
Spousal Maintenance Enforcement
Spousal maintenance is also enforceable, but the tools are different:
Contempt proceedings: The receiving spouse can file a motion for contempt, and the court can order the paying spouse to catch up on missed payments. Jail is possible for willful non-payment, but it's less common than in child support cases.
Wage garnishment: Courts can order wage garnishment for maintenance, similar to child support.
Judgment and collection: Unpaid maintenance can be reduced to a judgment, which allows the recipient to pursue standard collection remedies like bank levies and property liens.
What's missing from the maintenance list? All those automatic enforcement mechanisms through the state DCSS. There's no automatic wage withholding for maintenance (unless specifically ordered). No driver's license suspension. No passport denial. No tax refund interception.
Maintenance enforcement requires the recipient to take action. You have to file motions, go to court, convince a judge to enforce the order. It's more work, more expensive, and generally less automatic than child support enforcement.
What Happens If You Can't Pay
For both child support and maintenance, the solution to "I can't afford this anymore" is the same: file for a modification. Don't just stop paying. Arrears accumulate rapidly, and once you're behind, catching up is brutal.
If your income has decreased significantly, if you've lost your job, if you've become disabled, if circumstances have substantially changed—file a modification motion immediately. The court can adjust your obligations going forward, but it generally won't forgive past-due amounts. You still owe everything that came due before your modification was granted.
The standard for modification is "substantial and continuing change in circumstances." For child support, Colorado law creates a presumption that such a change exists if the new calculation would differ by 10% or more from the current order. For maintenance, the standard is similar but less precisely defined.
Modification: How Easy Is It to Change These Orders?
Life changes. Incomes go up or down. People remarry. Kids grow up. Circumstances evolve. Both child support and spousal maintenance can be modified, but the processes differ.
Child Support Modifications
Child support is relatively easy to modify in Colorado—at least compared to other states. You can request a review and potential modification if:
It's been at least three years since the last order, OR
There's been a substantial and continuing change in circumstances (generally defined as a change that would result in at least a 10% difference in the support amount)
Common reasons for child support modification:
Significant income change for either parent
Change in parenting time (more or fewer overnights)
Change in childcare costs
Change in health insurance costs
Birth of additional children (in some circumstances)
Termination of spousal maintenance (which changes income for support calculation purposes)
You can request a review through the Division of Child Support Services (DCSS) if they're handling your case, or you can file a motion directly with the court.
Spousal Maintenance Modifications
Maintenance can also be modified, but only if the original order didn't include a non-modifiability provision. Some divorce decrees include language stating that maintenance is "non-modifiable" or that the parties waive the right to seek modification. If your decree says that, you're stuck unless you can prove fraud, duress, or some other grounds to set aside that provision.
If modification is allowed, you need to show a substantial and continuing change in circumstances that makes the current order unfair. Examples:
For the paying spouse:
Significant income decrease (involuntary job loss, disability, forced retirement)
Increased financial obligations (new dependent children, catastrophic medical expenses)
Recipient spouse's circumstances have substantially improved (they got a high-paying job, inherited money, remarried)
For the receiving spouse:
Paying spouse's income has increased significantly
Your expenses have increased substantially
You've become disabled or unable to work as anticipated
The employment or education plan contemplated in the original order hasn't worked out
One important difference: spousal maintenance automatically terminates if the recipient remarries (unless the decree specifically says otherwise). Child support never terminates due to either parent's remarriage—only the children's age and emancipation status matter.
Retroactivity
Modifications generally take effect from the date you file the motion—not from the date your circumstances changed. If you lose your job in January but don't file for modification until June, you still owe support for January through May at the old amount. File immediately when circumstances change.
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Duration: How Long Do These Payments Last?
The timeline for child support versus spousal maintenance is fundamentally different.
Child Support Duration
Child support in Colorado continues until:
The child turns 19, OR
The child turns 21 if they're still in high school and living with a parent, OR
The child becomes emancipated (gets married, joins the military, becomes self-supporting)
If a child is disabled and incapable of self-support, child support can continue indefinitely beyond age 19.
When you have multiple children, support continues for each child individually until they reach the termination age. As each child ages out, you file a modification to recalculate support for the remaining minor children.
The court can't order child support to end earlier than these statutory timelines (except in cases of emancipation). You can't negotiate "I'll pay higher support if it ends when the kid turns 16." That's not allowed.
Spousal Maintenance Duration
Maintenance duration varies widely and depends on:
For shorter marriages (3-20 years where formula applies): The advisory duration ranges from 31% to 50% of the marriage length. But remember—this is advisory only. Judges can order longer or shorter durations.
For longer marriages (20+ years): Courts often consider indefinite maintenance, especially if one spouse is older or has been out of the workforce for decades. "Indefinite" doesn't necessarily mean "forever"—it means "no set end date, but modifiable or terminable based on circumstances."
Maintenance terminates automatically when:
The recipient remarries (unless the decree says otherwise)
Either party dies (unless the decree requires it to continue or be secured by life insurance)
The end date specified in the decree arrives
Maintenance can be terminated early by modification if:
The recipient becomes self-supporting
The recipient cohabitates with a new partner in a marriage-like relationship (in some circumstances)
Substantial and continuing change in circumstances makes continued maintenance unfair
The big difference: child support has statutory end dates. Maintenance has negotiable, modifiable, often uncertain end dates. This uncertainty is one reason maintenance tends to be more contentious than child support.
Common Misconceptions That Cost People Money
Let's clear up some widespread misunderstandings about alimony and child support in Colorado:
"Child support is for the kids, so I can tell my ex they have to spend it on specific things."
No. Once you pay child support, you have no legal say in how it's spent. The custodial parent isn't required to provide you with receipts or an accounting. The law presumes that the parent receiving support will spend it on the children's needs, and unless you can prove actual child neglect or abuse, the court won't micromanage spending.
Yes, this is frustrating when you see your child support money going toward things you don't think are priorities. But that's how it works. If you're concerned about truly inadequate care, that's a custody issue, not a child support issue.
"If my ex makes more money now, I can stop paying child support or alimony."
Not how it works. Your obligations continue until modified by court order. The recipient's improved financial situation might be grounds for a modification, but you have to actually file for modification and get a new order. You can't unilaterally decide to stop paying or reduce payments. That's called "contempt of court," and it has consequences.
"I can waive child support if I want to—I don't need the money."
Wrong. Child support is the child's right, not yours. You can't waive it. Even if you signed an agreement purporting to waive child support, a judge can refuse to approve that agreement if it's not in the children's best interests. Courts routinely reject "no child support" agreements between well-meaning parents.
Spousal maintenance, on the other hand, can be waived. You can agree to give up your right to seek maintenance (or the paying spouse can agree never to seek termination or modification). These waivers are enforceable.
"Maintenance and child support are the same amount, just paid separately."
They're calculated using completely different formulas with different purposes. It's entirely possible to pay substantial child support and no maintenance, or substantial maintenance and minimal child support, or both in significant amounts. The calculations are related (as discussed above) but they're not interchangeable or duplicative.
"I can deduct child support on my taxes."
No. Never. Child support is not tax-deductible, and it's not taxable income to the recipient. This is true for everyone, regardless of when you divorced.
For spousal maintenance, it depends on your divorce date. Post-2019 divorces: not deductible, not taxable. Pre-2019 divorces: deductible for payor, taxable for recipient.
"If I have the kids 50% of the time, nobody pays child support."
Not necessarily true. The calculation for shared parenting time considers more than just overnight percentages. It also looks at income disparity between parents, who pays for health insurance, childcare costs, and other factors. It's entirely possible for one parent to owe child support even with exactly equal parenting time if there's a significant income difference.
And remember, starting March 1, 2026, the shared parenting time calculation changes substantially. The new approach may produce different results than the current system.
"I can quit my job to reduce my support obligations."
Terrible idea. Colorado courts can "impute" income to you—meaning they'll calculate your support obligation based on what you should be earning, not what you are earning. If the court believes you're voluntarily unemployed or underemployed to avoid support obligations, they'll use your earning potential instead of your actual income.
Proving someone is voluntarily underemployed is complex and expensive, but courts are wise to this tactic. And if you try it, you've now (a) reduced your actual income while (b) still owing support based on your potential income. You've made your situation worse, not better.
"Once maintenance ends, my child support will stay the same."
Wrong. When maintenance terminates, both parents' income for child support calculation purposes changes—the payor's income goes up (no more maintenance deduction) and the recipient's income goes down (no more maintenance received). This almost always triggers a 10%+ change in the child support calculation, making modification appropriate.
If you're paying maintenance and child support, put a reminder on your calendar for the month before maintenance ends. File for child support modification immediately when maintenance terminates. Your child support obligation will likely increase significantly.
When You Need Both: The Combined Impact
Many Colorado divorce cases involve both child support and spousal maintenance. Understanding how they work together is crucial for financial planning.
The Typical Scenario
You've been married 12 years. You earn $120,000 annually. Your spouse earns $45,000 annually. You have two children, ages 8 and 10. You'll have the children about 35% of the overnights (the other parent has them 65% of the time).
You're looking at:
Spousal maintenance calculation:
Combined income: $165,000 annually ($13,750 monthly)
Difference is under $240,000, marriage is over 3 years, so advisory guidelines apply
Calculation: ($10,000 × 0.40) - ($3,750 × 0.50) = $4,000 - $1,875 = $2,125/month (advisory amount)
Advisory duration: approximately 50% of a 12-year marriage = 6 years
Judge might order something different, but this is the starting point
Child support calculation:
Your AGI: $10,000/month minus ($2,125 × 1.25) = $10,000 - $2,656 = $7,344/month for child support purposes
Spouse's AGI: $3,750/month plus ($2,125 × 1.25) = $3,750 + $2,656 = $6,406/month for child support purposes
Combined AGI for child support: $13,750/month
Basic obligation for two children at this income level: approximately $2,500/month (from schedule)
Your share: ($7,344 / $13,750) × $2,500 = approximately $1,335/month
Spouse's share: ($6,406 / $13,750) × $2,500 = approximately $1,165/month
Adjustments for parenting time, health insurance, childcare, etc. will further modify these amounts
Your total obligations: Approximately $2,125/month in maintenance plus roughly $1,500-2,000/month in child support (after adjustments) = $3,625-4,125/month total
These are estimates for illustration purposes. Your actual calculations will depend on specific circumstances, judicial discretion for maintenance, and the various adjustments and add-ons to the child support calculation.
Financial Planning Considerations
If you're facing both obligations:
Budget for the full duration. Maintenance might end in 6 years, but child support continues until your youngest is 19. That's 11 more years. You need a financial plan that accounts for both the combined payment period and the child-support-only period.
Consider tax implications. You're paying both with after-tax dollars. If you earn $120,000 gross, you're not taking home $120,000. You're taking home maybe $85,000-90,000 after taxes, then paying $45,000-50,000 in support obligations. This is why high-earners in divorce sometimes face serious cash flow problems.
Life insurance matters. Consider requiring (or being required to maintain) life insurance to secure support obligations. If you die, your child support obligation dies with you unless secured. Your maintenance obligation also typically terminates at death unless the decree says otherwise and requires insurance.
Document everything. Keep meticulous records of all payments. Use the state disbursement unit for child support whenever possible so there's an official record. For maintenance (if not going through wage garnishment), keep bank records, checks, payment confirmations—everything.
Review regularly. As circumstances change (kids get older, incomes change, parenting time evolves), review whether modification makes sense. Don't wait until you're in crisis.
The Strategic Decisions: What You Can Negotiate
Not everything about child support and maintenance is set in stone. While child support follows binding guidelines, there's still room for strategic decisions. And maintenance is wide open for negotiation.
What's Negotiable
Maintenance amount and duration: Everything about spousal maintenance is negotiable, including:
Amount (above, below, or completely different from the advisory guideline)
Duration (fixed term, indefinite, or step-down payments that decrease over time)
Modifiability (you can agree to non-modifiable maintenance)
Tax treatment (for pre-2019 divorces, you could sometimes negotiate who gets the tax benefit)
Termination conditions (does it end on remarriage? Cohabitation? Specific milestones?)
Security (life insurance requirements to protect payments)
Child support add-ons and extras:
Who pays for extracurricular activities
How you split uninsured medical expenses
College expenses (Colorado allows agreements about college costs)
Private school tuition
Summer camps and enrichment programs
Payment structure:
Both maintenance and child support can be paid in a lump sum instead of monthly payments
You can negotiate property division in lieu of ongoing support (trading assets for reduced or no maintenance)
Payment method, timing, automatic wage withholding or direct payment
Modification rights:
Whether maintenance can be modified (or is non-modifiable)
Specific circumstances that trigger modification review
Notice requirements for modification requests
What's Not Negotiable (Or Shouldn't Be)
The child support formula itself. You can agree to pay more than the guideline amount, but agreements to pay substantially less than the guideline require court approval and compelling justification. Judges reject low-ball child support agreements that don't serve children's best interests.
Child support duration. You can't agree that child support ends at age 16 or any age before the statutory termination dates. Courts won't approve it.
Whether child support is owed at all. If there are minor children and significant income disparity, there will be child support. You can't waive it away.
The Art of the Deal
Smart negotiation recognizes the trade-offs between maintenance and child support:
Child support:
Harder to modify
Terminates at specific statutory ages
Strictly enforced with serious consequences for non-payment
Not deductible, not taxable
Can't be discharged in bankruptcy
Maintenance:
Easier to modify (if modification isn't waived)
More flexible duration
Less aggressive enforcement
Not deductible, not taxable (for post-2019 divorces)
Can't be discharged in bankruptcy
Some paying spouses prefer higher child support and lower maintenance because child support has a definite end date. Some prefer higher maintenance and lower child support because maintenance can potentially be modified downward or terminated if circumstances change.
Some receiving spouses prefer higher maintenance because it's money for them personally, not restricted to children's expenses. Others prefer higher child support because it's harder to modify and more aggressively enforced.
There's no universally correct answer. It depends on your priorities, risk tolerance, income stability, and family circumstances.
Getting Help: When to Bring in a Lawyer
You don't necessarily need a lawyer for every divorce, but when it comes to calculating child support and maintenance—especially if there are complicating factors—professional help pays for itself.
When Legal Advice is Essential
Complex income situations. If either spouse is self-employed, owns a business, receives variable income from bonuses or commissions, has rental income, receives stock options or equity compensation, or has other non-standard income sources—you need a lawyer. Calculating income in these situations is complicated, and mistakes cost thousands of dollars.
High income or assets. If combined income exceeds the child support schedule or the spousal maintenance guidelines don't apply, judicial discretion dominates. You need someone who knows how Colorado judges typically rule in these situations.
Maintenance is involved. The advisory-only nature of spousal maintenance makes it inherently unpredictable. An experienced attorney can tell you what judges in your jurisdiction typically award, what arguments tend to work, and what's a waste of time to pursue.
Disputed parenting time. The number of overnights each parent has directly affects child support calculations, especially under the new March 2026 rules. If parenting time is contentious, you need accurate calculation of how different arrangements affect support obligations.
Previous marriages or other children. If either parent has children from prior relationships, existing support obligations, or complicated family structures, the calculations get messy fast. Professional guidance prevents expensive mistakes.
Modification or enforcement issues. If you're trying to modify existing support orders, defend against a modification, or enforce an order that's being violated—absolutely get a lawyer. These proceedings are adversarial and procedurally complex.
Negotiating the split between maintenance and support. Strategic decisions about how to structure the mix of maintenance and child support benefit from legal and tax advice. What seems like a minor change in how obligations are structured can have significant long-term consequences.
Get Clear Answers About Your Support Obligations
The Reputation Law Group helps Colorado parents and divorcing spouses understand their child support and spousal maintenance obligations, fight for fair calculations, and navigate modifications when circumstances change. Whether you're trying to understand what you'll owe, what you're entitled to receive, or how to modify an existing order that no longer makes sense, we provide straightforward legal guidance specific to your situation.
The worst time to figure out what you should have negotiated is after the decree is signed. Get informed now. Schedule a consultation to discuss your specific circumstances and understand your options under Colorado law.
Final Thoughts: Knowledge Is Leverage
Colorado's child support and spousal maintenance systems are complex, intertwined, and full of nuances that can cost you thousands of dollars if you don't understand how they work. These aren't just abstract legal concepts—they're ongoing financial obligations that will affect your budget, your tax situation, and your financial planning for years to come.
The good news is that knowledge is leverage. When you understand how these calculations work, how they interact, what's negotiable and what isn't, and what the strategic considerations are, you can negotiate more effectively and avoid expensive mistakes.
A few key takeaways:
Child support is non-negotiable but predictable. The formula is binding, which means you can calculate with reasonable accuracy what you'll owe or receive. Use that predictability to plan your post-divorce budget.
Spousal maintenance is negotiable but unpredictable. The formula is advisory only, giving judges enormous discretion. This cuts both ways—you might do better or worse than the guideline suggests. Experienced legal counsel helps you understand what's realistic in your jurisdiction.
They're connected but different. Maintenance affects child support calculations, and child support often increases when maintenance ends. Plan for the combined impact and the transition when maintenance terminates.
Modification is possible but requires action. If circumstances change substantially, don't suffer in silence or stop paying. File for modification immediately. Waiting just accumulates arrears you'll struggle to eliminate.
Enforcement is serious business. Especially for child support, Colorado has powerful tools to collect unpaid obligations. Don't mess around with court-ordered support payments.
The rules are changing. With major child support calculation changes effective March 1, 2026, timing matters. If you're on the edge of that date, understand how the old and new rules might affect your situation differently.
Most importantly: get professional advice before you agree to anything. The support obligations you establish in your divorce decree will follow you for years, potentially decades. A few hundred dollars spent on legal counsel during divorce can save you tens of thousands in the years ahead.
You can't control whether your marriage succeeded, but you can control whether you're financially protected and informed when it ends. That starts with understanding the difference between alimony and child support—and what you're actually looking at under Colorado law.
