About Divorce Mediation
We are very sorry that you find yourself in this situation. However, we’d like to offer you as much help as possible, even if you do not use our mediation services.
As mediators, we cannot give you any legal advice. However, we will tell as much as you need to know to proceed confidently with mediation.
If you file for divorce in Colorado, the court will likely ask you to attend mediation. This is so that you can have as many of the details of your divorce as possible worked out before your court hearing.
There are three main areas which can be covered in a divorce mediation, and these cover most of the decisions that you will actually have to make as you proceed. These two areas are 1) Property/Assets, 2) Parenting, and 3) Maintenance/Child Support. Often only one or two of these areas need covering.
Before we proceed, let us explain that the mediation process itself is centered around one (or sometimes more) 2-3 hour mediation sessions where these issues are discussed and decided upon. It’s therefore a good idea to be prepared for the discission with information that we will point out below.
The Colorado Courts have provided forms where the issues above can be written down. Judges like to use these forms so that they can see that all the usual isssues have been covered or at least considered.
1. Property/Assets
In a divorce, it is necessary to divide up the communal property – in other words, who gets what. The form used to list these items is JDF 1115 – Property and Financial Agreement
- JDF 1115 – Property and Financial Agreement (Word Document)
- JDF 1115 – Property and Financial Agreement (PDF)
We suggest that you download these forms and look at them, as the areas they cover is what the judge will be interested in seeing in your divorce case.
2) Parenting Plan
The parenting plan documents everything about the minor children – who is to look after them at any time, how the handover between parents will take place, who is financially responsible, who can make major decisions about the children, and related items. The form used to list these items is JDF 1113 – Parenting Plan:
- JDF 1113 – Parenting Plan (Word Document)
- JDF 1113 – Parenting Plan (PDF)
Again, as there are a lot of items to cover, it is worthwhile downloading this form to review.
3) Maintenance/Child Support
Maintenance is the term now used for what used to be called “Alimony” – a regular amount paid by one spouse to the other after the divorce is finalized, for a certain period of time. Maintenance is not mandatory, however if one person asks for it, the court will look at factors such as whether or not the recipient needs it, and the financial situation of the two participants. The suggested amount payable and for how long can be estimated in any of several online calculators. In assessing maintenance, the court requires all sources of income to be considered, not just a person’s primary paycheck.
Child Support is the regular amount paid by one person in a divorce to the other person to balance the scales on the cost of supporting the children. The primary factors which go into the calculation are the respective incomes of the parents, and the amount of time annually that each child spends with each parent, calculated by assessing the number of “overnights” that the children spend with each parent. There are various adjustments to account for who is paying for health insurance, school costs, and other out of pocket expenses. Free software for Colorado divorcing parents to use in calculating child support can be found here:
https://my.familylawsoftware.com/landing/freechildsupport.html