Colorado Springs, CO Divorce Attorney Office

Colorado Springs does not have a specific residency requirement, but it is subject to a 90-day state of Colorado residency requirement.

The mandatory waiting period is 90 days.

Colorado rules do not allow any activity on the case to take place, other than the exchanging of financial information and the Initial Status Conference, for the first 40 days after the Petition is filed.

It would probably take a minimum of 2-5 months to get even the least complex divorces finalized and at least 6-12 months to finalize complex divorces. Some cases take well over a year if there are contested child custody issues, substantial amounts of property to divide, and other such issues.

You would serve your spouse by utilizing a private process server or a sheriff/constable.

You can serve by publication by filing a motion with the court that meets certain requirements, including attaching affidavits or other evidence to substantiate what efforts you made to personally serve your spouse and obtaining a court order to allow you to serve the other party by publication.

In Colorado Springs, the notice would typically be published in the Denver Post because it’s a national publication that would (theoretically) provide notice to persons both in and outside of the state of Colorado.

In Colorado Springs (El Paso County), you have to file a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, a Case Information Sheet, and a Summons to begin a divorce action and you have to serve all of them on the other party.

In addition, you would also serve on the other party at the same time a Domestic Relations Case Management Order, an Order to Parents, and a Notice of Applicability.

All divorce cases have to be filed with the Office of the District Clerk in whichever Judicial District the county of residence lies, which will then assign the case to a particular division of the District Court in that county (assuming that county has more than one division).

However, many counties, such as El Paso, now require that all documents be e-filed in all divisions rather than physically being paper-filed with the Clerk’s Office (though most counties give pro se litigants some leeway on this, at least as to the initial filing).

For El Paso County, you need to file at the Clerk’s Office located in the courthouse at 270 S. Tejon St. in Colorado Springs.