State laws dictate how to legally end your marriage, including methods and requirements.
In Colorado, several factors affect your ability to terminate your marriage in the state and exactly what method you can use.
What are the requirements?
To use a Colorado court to dissolve your marriage, you must meet the following requirements:
- You must allow a minimum of 91 to pass since you served your spouse with divorce papers.
- Either spouse must be a resident of Colorado.
- Children from the marriage must live in the state for at least 181 days.
- The respondent spouse must fall within Colorado’s personal jurisdiction.
The court can order a dissolution as long as one of you is a resident and you meet the 91-day requirement. However, the state court cannot handle the division of assets if you do not meet both of the other requirements.
What are the methods for terminating marriage?
The methods of terminating a marriage are similar in Colorado. You can file for dissolution, legal separation, or an annulment. The outcomes are all relatively the same, but the requirements for each differ.
Is dissolution the better solution?
There are many reasons to consider a divorce over the other options. For example, annulment is harder to prove and legal separation is not as final. Additionally, you go through much of the same process, and no solution is necessarily easier.
The easiest way to decide which method is best for your marriage is to evaluate the outcome you prefer. Then you can assess what requirements you meet.