Child Support and Maintenance

When getting divorced, it’s important to understand how spousal maintenance (alimony) affects child support. These are completely separate agreements from the division of marital property.

Trust Wayland Law for Your Spousal and Child Support Decisions

Colorado has statutory guidelines to establish minimum child support, which are dependent largely on the parents’ respective incomes, the costs of health insurance, childcare and extraordinary costs paid for the benefit of the children. It’s intended to be money for the children’s basic needs including food, clothing, housing and education expenses. Some child support orders also include additional support to help a child live a fuller life such as payment for sports, dance teams and competitions, music lessons or more.

Colorado courts also permit parents to develop a child support agreement that veers outside of the guidelines, if the agreement is in the best interests of the child, and not otherwise unconscionable. Importantly, spousal maintenance is considered income, so any child support award is decreased to some degree.

Colorado has also statutory guidelines to establish minimum spousal maintenance, which is intended to reduce the negative financial impact of divorce for a spouse who either didn’t earn outside income or earned lower wages during the marriage. It can also be decreed to allow a spouse to continue a similar standard of living to what they had during the marriage. Courts have significant latitude in determining if spousal support will be mandated, the amount of spousal support and for how long it will be paid.

These issues can be highly emotional. Ensure you have trusted and experienced legal counsel on your side. It’s better to get sufficient support settled as part of the divorce process rather than go back to court later to amend it.