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Ascent Legal Group A Colorado law firm that cares about the outcome of your case.

10/17/2026

If an affair played a part in the end of your marriage, it’s natural to wonder whether the court will take that into account. In Colorado, the short answer is mostly no.

Colorado is a no-fault state, so the only thing a court needs to find to grant a divorce is that the marriage is irretrievably broken. Blame generally doesn’t change how property is divided or whether maintenance is awarded either, since Colorado law directs courts to make those decisions without regard to marital misconduct.

Where an affair can matter is money. If marital funds were spent on the relationship, through things like trips, gifts, or a separate apartment, the court can treat that as a dissipation of marital assets and account for it when dividing property. The focus is on the financial impact, not the affair itself.

A similar idea applies to parenting time. A judge won’t weigh a parent’s conduct unless it affects that parent’s relationship with the children.

If you’re trying to understand how this applies to your situation, give us a call for a free consultation.

10/16/2026

You don’t have to prove betrayal or place blame to ask for a divorce in Colorado. If the marriage no longer feels like a place you can grow, that’s enough.

Ending it doesn’t mean you failed, it may just mean you're ready for peace, clarity, and a different kind of future.

If you're quietly wondering what your options are or what life may look like afterward, give us a call to talk through your situation. We're here to help.

Student loans are one of the more complicated debts to sort out in a Colorado divorce, partly because the rules don’t al...
10/13/2026

Student loans are one of the more complicated debts to sort out in a Colorado divorce, partly because the rules don’t always match what people expect.

Loans taken out before the marriage are generally treated as the borrower’s separate debt. Loans taken out during the marriage are often considered marital, even if only one spouse’s name is on them. From there, the court looks at what’s fair, which can depend on whether the degree helped support the household, who’s been making the payments, and how far apart the two incomes are now.

What surprises some people is that Colorado courts don’t treat a degree itself as property that can be divided, so a spouse who helped put the other through school can’t claim a share of the degree. However, the support they gave along the way can factor into how debt, property, and maintenance are worked out.

It’s also worth knowing that a divorce decree doesn’t change your agreement with the lender. If you co-signed a loan, the lender can still come to you for payment, even if the decree assigns that debt to your ex.

If student loans are part of your situation, we’re here to help you sort out where you stand. Give us a call for a free consultation.

We're incredibly grateful for feedback like this. Thank you for trusting us with something that matters so much!
10/09/2026

We're incredibly grateful for feedback like this. Thank you for trusting us with something that matters so much!

10/08/2026

For couples divorcing later in life, Social Security often gets left out of the conversation because it isn't divided the way a house or a retirement account is. But if your marriage lasted at least 10 years, you may be able to collect benefits based on your ex-spouse's work record, even after the divorce is final.

The benefit can be up to half of what your ex would receive at full retirement age. You generally need to be at least 62 and unmarried, and it only applies if that amount is higher than what you'd receive on your own record. Claiming it doesn't reduce your ex's benefit, and if you've been divorced for at least two years, you can usually claim even if your ex hasn't started collecting.

The 10-year mark is measured to the date the divorce becomes final. For a marriage close to that line, timing can make a real difference.

If you're facing a divorce later in life and have questions about where you stand, give us a call for a free consultation. We're here to help.

10/06/2026

When parents think about protecting their kids during a divorce, custody is usually where the conversation starts. It matters, and it shapes a lot of daily life. But kids tend to absorb more than just the schedule. They also absorb the tone of an exchange at drop-off, or what it feels like to be asked to pass a message along to the other parent. These things can stay with them longer than which weekend they spent where.

The courts look at this as well. When deciding parenting time, judges consider each parent's ability to put the child's needs ahead of their own and to support the child's relationship with the other parent. A parenting plan can reflect that by going beyond the calendar to address how parents communicate with each other and how the kids stay in touch with whichever parent they aren't with that day.

If you're thinking through what a parenting plan should cover for your family, we're happy to talk it through. Schedule a free consultation.

10/01/2026

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

For someone living with abuse, leaving is rarely a single decision. It's a series of smaller ones, often made quietly, about where the kids will stay, how to get access to money, and what happens if the other person finds out. Parenting time and financial security can feel especially fragile in these moments.

There are legal protections that don't require waiting for a divorce. A judge can grant a temporary civil protection order, often on the same day it's requested, and you don't need to have filed for divorce to ask for one. When there is a divorce or custody case, Colorado courts are required to consider domestic violence in decisions about parenting time and decision-making.

If you or someone you know isn't safe at home, the National Domestic Violence Hotline is available 24 hours a day at 1-800-799-7233, or by texting START to 88788. When you're ready to talk through the legal side, our team can walk through your options with you.

10/01/2026

A lot of what people believe about divorce sometimes comes from movies, friends who went through it somewhere else, or from assumptions that just don't apply in our state. Here are a few of the biggest misconceptions we commonly hear:

1. "It has to be someone's fault"
Colorado is a no-fault state. The only legal standard is that the marriage is irretrievably broken. Affairs, blame, and who did what generally don't determine the outcome.

2. "Everything gets split 50/50"
Colorado follows equitable distribution, which means fair, not equal. What's "fair" depends on a variety of factors including the length of the marriage, each spouse's financial situation, and what each person contributed.

3. "If we agree on everything, we don't need to worry about the process"
Even an uncontested divorce still has to go through Colorado's 91-day waiting period, and the clock starts when the petition is served, not when it's filed.

If you've heard something about divorce that doesn't match what you're actually experiencing, give us a call for a free consultation. We're here to help.

Efficiently resolving cases while making sure clients feel supported is always the goal. We’re grateful for the trust an...
09/29/2026

Efficiently resolving cases while making sure clients feel supported is always the goal. We’re grateful for the trust and the kind words!

09/28/2026

If you own a business and are facing divorce, the business itself can sometimes become one of the most complicated pieces of the case. In Colorado, a business started or grown during the marriage is typically treated as marital property, even if only one spouse ran it day to day.

That doesn't mean the business gets split in half. Courts typically look at its value as a whole, often through a formal valuation process, then work out how to account for that value between spouses. Sometimes that means one spouse keeps the business and buys out the other's share. Other times it factors into how the rest of the marital property gets divided.

What complicates things further is separating the value of the business itself from the value tied to one spouse's personal effort or reputation, especially in service-based businesses where the two can be hard to untangle.

If you're a business owner facing divorce, this is exactly the kind of conversation worth having early. Give us a call to discuss your situation today.

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