Spousal Maintenance for High Earners in Colorado
Colorado’s spousal maintenance formula is advisory, not presumptive. That’s true for everyone. But for high earners—couples with combined adjusted gross income over $240,000 a year—the formula doesn’t even apply. It’s not advisory. It’s irrelevant. The Colorado Court of Appeals has reversed trial courts for applying it above the threshold. If your household earns more than $240,000, you are in uncharted territory every time, and the outcome depends entirely on advocacy.
So What Does Apply?
The statutory factors under C.R.S. §14-10-114(3)(c). That’s a list—not a formula. It includes each party’s income and financial resources, the marital property each spouse receives, the standard of living during the marriage, the duration of the marriage, each spouse’s contributions (economic and noneconomic), and the requesting spouse’s need versus the paying spouse’s ability to pay.
In practice, this means the court is making a judgment call. A well-supported, evidence-heavy judgment call—but a judgment call nonetheless. Two cases with similar incomes can produce very different maintenance awards depending on the evidence, the arguments, and the judge. That’s the reality of high-earner maintenance in Colorado.
Standard of Living Matters. A Lot.
When a family has been spending $40,000 a month—or $60,000, or more—the court considers what is necessary to allow the lower-earning spouse to maintain a reasonably comparable standard. Not identical. Comparable. That requires detailed evidence: lifestyle analyses, expense documentation, historical spending patterns. The more thorough your evidence, the more predictable the outcome.
Duration Gets Complicated Too
For marriages under twenty years, the advisory guidelines suggest a duration ranging from about a third of the marriage length to half. For marriages over twenty years, there is no cap—the court can award maintenance indefinitely. In high-earner cases, duration is often as hotly contested as amount, because the numbers compound quickly over time.
A Word About Emotion
Maintenance is the area of divorce law that triggers the deepest resentment. The paying spouse feels penalized for earning. The receiving spouse feels their contribution is being minimized. Both reactions are understandable. Neither is a legal argument.
Approach maintenance the way you’d approach a business negotiation: with data, a clear understanding of your financial picture, and a team that can translate your situation into the evidence the court needs. The clients who do this well spend less, resolve faster, and end up closer to the result they wanted.
Burnham Law regularly handles high-income maintenance cases across Colorado’s Front Range. If you’re above the $240,000 threshold, call us. This is exactly the kind of case where experience and preparation make the difference.