How to Modify Child Support or Alimony in Colorado
Life goes on after divorce. Incomes change, people retire, and children grow up. In Colorado, you can ask the court to change spousal support (commonly known as alimony) or modify child support. But each support modification has its own rules, and when you request the changes matters as much as why.
Key Takeaways
Both child support and alimony modification require a continuing and substantial change in circumstances. For alimony, the change must also make the current terms unfair.
A change of less than 10 percent to the original support Order is not considered substantial and continuing. However, a change of 10 percent or more is not automatically enough.
Once you file a motion to modify child support, the modification can only be made retroactive to the first of the month following the filing of the motion, unless the parents previously mutually agreed to a change in physical custody.
You may be able to update child support without a hearing by exchanging financial information annually with court approval.
When Can You Modify Alimony in Colorado?
I get this question regularly: “Does alimony change if income changes?” The answer is: sometimes. Under C.R.S. 14-10-122(1)(a), an alimony modification requires a change of circumstances so substantial and continuing that the current terms have become unfair.
The individual requesting the change needs sufficient financial evidence to support it. Examples of evidence to support a maintenance modification can include:
a verified significant decrease in the recipient’s income or earning ability
a justified increase in their financial obligations and responsibilities
a delay in the improvement of the recipient’s economic condition or employment prospects
unavoidable loss of financial assets from fire, flood, or fraud
Either spouse may apply for maintenance modification. You may request to extend or shorten the payment period, and alimony can be reduced or increased.
Non-Modifiable Alimony
If your separation agreement includes contractual, non-modifiable alimony, then it cannot be changed (family courts cannot modify civil contracts). There are pros and cons to non-modifiable alimony, but one downside is the inability to adjust the payments — even in the event of job loss or remarriage — unless the contract includes a specific modification provision.
Recent case law in Colorado has addressed these types of contractual agreements and, in many cases, requires specific language in the agreement to be upheld. If you are considering such an agreement, it is important to reach out to an attorney to have any such provision reviewed for compliance with these new interpretations in Colorado.
Is a Prenuptial Maintenance Waiver Enforceable?
Under C.R.S. 14-2-309(5), a prenup’s maintenance and attorney-fee terms are unenforceable if the court finds them unconscionable at the time of enforcement. A maintenance waiver stipulated in a prenup agreement is also unenforceable under Colorado law if the resisting party proves:
Involuntary consent, or duress
No access to independent legal representation
Missing statutory notice of waiver of rights, or missing plain-language explanation where that party was unrepresented
Inadequate financial disclosure
An unrecorded agreement and an agreement missing one party’s signature also cannot be enforced.
When Can You Modify Child Support?
Modification of child support under Colorado law requires you to demonstrate how there has been a continuing and substantial change in circumstances. For changed circumstances, Colorado law uses a 10 percent test to screen out changes that don’t qualify.
How Does the 10 Percent Rule Work?
Under C.R.S. 14-10-122(1)(b), a change of less than 10 percent in monthly child support under the guidelines is deemed not substantial and continuing. However, Colorado law does not state that a 10 percent change is automatically sufficient. Instead, the parent has to show that the substantial and continuing change in circumstances is evident. Factors the court will consider include:
A parent who spends more time with the child than the standard overnight calculation shows
Unusually high medical expenses for a parent or the current spouse
Unusually high costs related to parenting time
A significant difference in income between the parties
Owning a large asset that does not generate income
Regular overtime work that is not included in gross income
Earning income from a second job in addition to full-time work.
Having one of these factors present doesn’t mean the court must make an exception. The court can still make an exception even if none of these factors apply.
Waiting to Request a Modification Can Cost You Long Term
If you lose your job in January but do not file a motion to modify until August, you still owe child support at the old rate for those seven months. The court can’t change payments due before the first of the month following the filing date. The Court can, however, adjust payments due between the first of the month following the filing date and the new order, even if your situation changes again.
Under C.R.S. 14-10-122(1)(d), modification is effective as of the first of the month following the date the motion was filed, unless the court finds undue hardship or substantial injustice. Once you file, the court can adjust payments that come due while your motion is pending, even if your circumstances change again before the order is entered.
Where the parents mutually agreed to a change in physical care, child support can be modified back to the date care changed, but not more than five years before filing, unless that limit would be substantially inequitable, unjust, or inappropriate. C.R.S. 14-10-122(5)
Can You Update Child Support Without a Hearing?
Often, yes. Under C.R.S. 14-10-115(14)(a), unless the court orders otherwise, parties must exchange financial information on approved standardized forms once a year or less often so the order can be updated without a hearing.
Following this exchange of information, if you and the other parent determine there has been a continuing and substantial change to the financial circumstance, you can submit the forms with your agreed modification. If the amount falls outside the guidelines, you must add an explanation. The court then tells you by mail whether it needs more information or grants or denies the change.
If you cannot agree, either party can request a hearing. The court may also schedule one.
Your agreement is not effective until the court approves it and enters it as an order. C.R.S. 14-10-115(14)(c)
How to File a Motion to Modify Child Support or Alimony
You (or your attorney) will file through the Colorado Courts E-Filing system or with the court that issued your original order. Pay the fee or request a waiver and mail a copy to the other parent unless you both signed a stipulation. The court may then require a hearing or mediation.
Filing | Fee | When it applies |
Motion to modify decree or final order | $105 | Filed more than 60 days after the order |
Response | $146 | Only if that party has not already paid a filing fee in the case. |
Fee waiver | N/A | If you cannot afford the fee: use forms JDF 205 (motion) or JDF 206 (order). |
Fees reflect the Judicial Branch’s January 2025 list, after the HB24-1286 increase, and are subject to change.
Form | Alimony | Child support |
Motion | ||
Stipulation | ||
Order (caption only) |
How Do Arrears and Interest Accrue?
Unpaid child support can accrue interest, but this doesn’t happen automatically. Under C.R.S. 14-14-106(1)(b), child support owed on or after July 1, 2021, carries interest at two percent above the statutory rate in C.R.S. 5-12-101, which may be compounded annually. Older amounts carry four percent above that rate, which may be compounded monthly. The person owed may collect or waive the interest and does not have to track it.
If you owe child support, you can ask the court to disallow some or all of the interest for good cause under C.R.S. 14-14-106(2). The court weighs, among other things, whether you had good cause for not paying and the hardship or injustice to each side. It may also set an equitable repayment period.
Take Control of Your Support Order: Contact Robinson & Henry Today
If your income has changed, your children are growing up, or your alimony term is ending, a Colorado alimony or child support modification attorney can tell you whether you have grounds to modify, what documentation you need, and when is best to file. Every support modification case is different. Robinson & Henry’s Family Law Team can provide legal guidance in cases where:
You need to change child support because a parent’s income has shifted enough to move the guideline calculation by 10 percent or more.
Your alimony term is about to expire and you haven’t filed to extend it.
You’re falling behind on child support and arrears are accruing interest while the order goes unaddressed.
You and your co-parent have agreed on a new child support number and need it reviewed and entered as a court order.
You’ve retired, or you’re about to, and you need to know what happens to your alimony obligation.
With numerous offices along the Front Range, we’ll handle your post-decree modifications at a place and time that suits you. Call 303-688-0944 or schedule a case assessment online 24/7.
No. A raise matters only if the guidelines produce a change of at least 10 percent in monthly support, and even then, a modification is not guaranteed. C.R.S. 14-10-122(1)(b)
Unless your decree or a written agreement specifically says otherwise, yes—alimony ends when the recipient remarries or enters into a civil union. C.R.S. 14-10-122(2)(a)
Yes, often without a hearing, but the agreement is not effective until the court approves it and enters it as an order. C.R.S. 14-10-115(14)
Yes, that is enforceable. When a divorcing couple agrees to non-modifiable alimony, they are signing a legally binding contractual agreement that cannot be changed in family court.
Only in one specific situation. Modification runs from the first of the month following the filing of the motion unless the parent made a mutually agreed change of physical care, in which case, child support may be modified as of the date care changed, generally for no more than five years before the motion was filed.
If you retire after reaching full retirement age, the law presumes you did so in good faith. The presumption is rebuttable.