Old Town: By appointment only, 242 Linden Street, Fort Collins, Colorado, 80524
Harmony: By appointment only, 2580 East Harmony Rd, Suite 201, Fort Collins, CO 80528
We understand how hard ending a relationship can be. As difficult as the emotional aspect is, there is the reality of dividing all the stuff – houses, cars, retirement plans, debts, etc. Then on top of that, research shows that the hardest part for kids is conflict between the parents. People who have children together often say it’s helpful to consider that your partnership will continue but in way that doesn’t include marriage.
Our only goal is to make the transition as low-conflict and easy as possible for you and your family.
The good news is that, by statute, Colorado grants you great flexibility in deciding your own future. Regarding the financial matters between the two of you, as long as you comply with the mandatory disclosure requirements, the Court is supposed to approve what are ever agreement that you come up with as long as the Court finds that it is not unconscionable. Agreements you make regarding your children are supposed to be approved by the Court as long as the Court agrees that it is in the best interests of your children.
At the heart of every case the Court wants to know two things: what is the situation now and what do you want to do moving forward.
So the first part of the process is to list your income, expenses, assets and debts as they are right now – before the divorce. Once you (and the Court) know what’s so now, the next step is to choose how you want things to be after the divorce. The starting point is 50/50 parenting time and 50/50 division of assets and debts. Then work from there on what’s best for your particular situation. You can do this on your own or we can help you.
When dividing up assets, it’s often helpful to total up all the assets then divide by two. That’s roughly the amount each of you should end up with when you’re done divvying up your assets. Then start putting the various assets into each of your columns, for example, Wife’s car in her column and Husband’s car in his column. As you’re going through this process you can keep a running total of how much is in each of your columns to guide you along. When you get through all the assets if the columns are unequal, the one with the greater number can make an equalization payment to the one with the lesser total to have things equal out. Or, move the assets back and forth until the columns are acceptable to both of you. If you get stuck, save that for mediation. We do this all day long and we’ve seen some potential solutions you may not think of on your first attempt.
If you have more questions please feel free to schedule a free phone consultation or just give us a call.