Alimony · CO
Colorado alimony and spousal support calculator
Colorado publishes an advisory maintenance figure and a term table, then leaves the judge free to depart from both.
Rules read on official Colorado pages on · Checked by Radif Partners · How we calculate
- Income counted
- Gross income
- $8,000 vs $3,000 a month
- $1,050
- a month under the rule
- 12-year marriage
- 71 months
- Rules read on
- October 8, 2026
Colorado's maintenance guideline under C.R.S. § 14-10-114 takes 40% of the spouses' combined monthly adjusted gross income and subtracts the lower earner's income. For orders where maintenance is not tax-deductible, which covers agreements after 2018, the court worksheet then multiplies the result by 0.8 when combined income is $10,000 a month or less and by 0.75 up to $20,000. The guideline only applies to marriages of at least 36 months and to combined income of $240,000 a year or less. Spouses earning $7,200 and $2,300 a month, married nine years, get an advisory $1,200 a month for 46 months. The term comes from a table running from 36 to 240 months of marriage, starting at 31% of the months married and reaching 50% at 150 months. The figures are advisory: they create no presumption that maintenance will be awarded at all.
Estimated spousal support in Colorado, per month
$1,050
Duration: up to 71 months
| Combined adjusted gross monthly income | $11,000 |
| 40% of combined income − lower income (Line F) | $1,400 |
| Non-deductible adjustment × 0.75 | $1,050 |
| Suggested term | 49% of 144 months = 71 months |
Colorado’s guideline is advisory: it creates no presumption that maintenance will be awarded, and the court keeps full discretion.
For orders not deductible for federal tax (agreements after 2018), the worksheet multiplies the result by 0.75.
Estimate under the Colorado formula as published; eligibility, the judge's findings and an agreement between spouses decide the real order. How this is calculated.
Advice the court must consider, not follow
Colorado sits between the formula states and the discretion states. Section 14-10-114 requires the court to consider the guideline amount and term, and the parties to sign an advisement showing them, even when both want to waive maintenance. Yet the same statute says the guideline creates no presumption. The judge first decides whether maintenance is warranted, weighing need, ability to pay, the property each spouse receives, the marital lifestyle, employability and the rest, and only then uses the numbers as a reference. Our calculator follows the advisement form published by the Colorado Judicial Branch.
Reading the worksheet line by line
Line C is the combined adjusted gross monthly income; line D is 40% of it; line F is D minus the lower income, never below zero. For our couple at $7,200 and $2,300, line F is $1,500. Because their combined income is under $10,000, the post-2018 multiplier of 0.80 applies and the advisory figure is $1,200. A couple at $13,000 and $4,000 reaches line F of $2,800, reduced by the 0.75 multiplier to $2,100. The multipliers exist because the original formula assumed the payer would deduct the payments; once that deduction disappeared, the same gross figure would have cost the payer more after tax.
Outside the guideline
Two gates close the worksheet. A marriage shorter than 36 months, counted from the wedding to the decree, gets no guideline figure at all; the parties sign the advisement without filling it in. Combined income above $240,000 a year, $20,000 a month, also removes the guideline: spouses at $16,000 and $5,000 get $0 from our calculator, which means not that no maintenance is due but that the court decides from the statutory factors without a reference number. We show zero in both cases rather than a figure the form tells parties not to compute.
The term table grows in small steps: 36 months of marriage suggest 11 months of maintenance, nine years suggest 46, and from 150 months the percentage stays at 50%, so 240 months of marriage suggest 120. Beyond the end of the table the court sets the term.
The Colorado rule this calculator applies
Scope. Advisory maintenance guideline of C.R.S. § 14-10-114 for dissolution or legal separation (final and temporary maintenance), for marriages of at least 36 months and combined annual income of $240,000 or less. Advisory only: no presumption; the court keeps full discretion.
Amount. Per the Colorado Judicial Branch advisement form under C.R.S. § 14-10-114: 40% of the parties' combined adjusted gross monthly income minus the lower earner's adjusted gross monthly income (zero if negative) = Line F. If maintenance is NOT deductible by the payer for federal tax purposes (post-2018 orders), the guideline is 80% of Line F when combined gross monthly income is $10,000 or less, and 75% of Line F when it is $10,001 to $20,000. If deductible, Line F applies.
Duration. Duration table (months of marriage 36 to 240 -> percentage of months married -> suggested term in months): 31.00% at 36 months rising by 0.1667 point per month to 50.00% at 150 months and staying at 50.00% through 240 months. Example on the form: 38% of a 78-month marriage = 30 months.
Eligibility. Before awarding maintenance the court considers need and ability to pay, property distribution, income from property, lifestyle during the marriage, employability, historical earnings, marriage duration, ability to meet own needs, age and health, education needs, temporary maintenance paid, contributions and other factors; the guideline applies only to marriages of at least 3 years (date of marriage to decree) with combined gross annual income of $240,000 or less.
Worth knowing in Colorado
- Colorado's maintenance guideline is advisory: it creates no presumption that maintenance will be ordered, in any amount or for any duration. source
- Below 36 months of marriage the guideline is not computed at all; the parties only sign the advisement. source
- Marriage length for the guideline runs from the date of marriage to the date the decree of dissolution or legal separation enters. source