Did you know that Colorado is a “no-fault” divorce state? All this means is that, in order to get a divorce in Colorado, you do not have to prove that anyone was at fault or that anyone did anything to damage the marriage. To get the divorce, one spouse has to be able to say that the marriage is “irretrievably broken”. There are three reasons for having no-fault divorce: to promote the amicable settlement of disputes that have arisen between the parties to a marriage; to lessen the potential harm to the spouses and their children that can be caused by the legal system in obtaining the divorce; and streamline the legal system for dealing with the realities of marriage and obtaining a divorce.
Because Colorado is a no-fault divorce state, it does not mean that fault does not have any role to play in a divorce case. For example, a couple may wind up getting a divorce because of the infidelity of one of the spouses. That spouse’s infidelity is not going to impact the proceeding in a no-fault jurisdiction like Colorado. However, if the unfaithful spouse had the bad taste and judgement to spend marital funds in the pursuit of his/her extramarital affair, such funds would have to be accounted for in the divorce case. This means that the unfaithful spouse would have to pay for expenditures out of his/her share of the proceeds of the marriage.
Another example of bad behavior (fault) that can play a role in a divorce case is domestic violence. Domestic violence will be taken into account with regard to matters such as child custody that involves the fitness of the parent. So keep in mind that “no-fault” in the marriage zone simplifies the process of getting a divorce. It does not mean that bad behavior will have no impact on the case. As a purely practical matter, a divorced person should be able to view exactly where the fault was that caused the demise of his/her marriage.
