By April D. Jones, Founder and CEO, Jones Law Firm, PC

Updated June 2026

How Long Does Spousal Maintenance Last in Colorado?

When people think about spousal maintenance, they usually think about the amount. But there’s a second question that shapes your future just as much, and sometimes more. How long does it last? The number of years you’ll receive support, or pay it, is what determines what the next phase of your life looks like. The amount is covered in the first post in this series. This post covers how long maintenance lasts.

How the Duration Guideline Works

For marriages of at least three years, Colorado uses an advisory guideline that ties the length of maintenance to the length of the marriage. It starts at about 31 percent of the marriage length for a three-year marriage and increases steadily until it reaches 50 percent at twelve and a half years, where it levels off.

In plain terms, a three-year marriage points to about eleven months of maintenance. A ten-year marriage points to about four and a half years. A marriage of twelve and a half years or longer points to a term of roughly half its length, so a sixteen-year marriage points to about eight years.

The guideline is advisory, not binding. It’s the starting point the court works from, and a judge can order a longer or shorter term based on the circumstances of your case.

Marriages Under Three Years

The guideline doesn’t apply to marriages shorter than three years. A court can still award maintenance in a short marriage, but it isn’t the starting point, and it takes an exceptional set of facts, such as a disabling condition or one spouse giving up a career, to support it. In most short marriages, maintenance isn’t awarded at all.

Marriages Over Twenty Years

For a marriage that lasted more than twenty years, the guideline term levels off and the court has more room to decide. The court can award maintenance for a set term of years or for an indefinite term with no end date. There’s also a floor. For a marriage over twenty years, the court can’t order a term shorter than ten years without making specific written findings that explain why.

Indefinite maintenance isn’t automatic even after a long marriage. Courts lean toward it when the receiving spouse’s age, health, or years out of the workforce make meaningful financial self-sufficiency genuinely unlikely.

Does the Length Change Based on Income?

The dollar formula for the maintenance amount only applies when the couple’s combined income is $240,000 a year or less. Above that, there’s no formula, and a judge decides the amount by weighing the statutory factors. Duration works differently. The guideline term tied to marriage length isn’t capped by that income ceiling the way the amount formula is. Above $240,000 the court isn’t strictly bound by the guideline term either, but it still looks to it as the reference point, so a sixteen-year marriage still points to about eight years as the starting frame. If you’re in a higher-income divorce, this section still matters to you.

Temporary Maintenance During the Divorce

A court can order temporary maintenance while the divorce is still pending. It uses the same dollar formula as the final award, but it doesn’t use the duration table. It runs until the divorce is finalized and then ends. When the court sets the final term, it can take into account how many months of temporary maintenance were already paid.

What Can Move the Term Up or Down

The guideline term is a starting point, not a guarantee, and specific facts can move it in either direction. A larger property settlement can shorten the maintenance term, because a spouse who leaves the marriage with more assets needs support for less time. Serious health issues, an advanced age, or a long gap from employment can lengthen it, because those make it harder to rebuild an income. 

This is why the narrative behind the numbers matters. Two sixteen-year marriages can produce different terms once the court weighs the facts.

Frequently Asked Questions About How Long Maintenance Lasts in Colorado

How long does spousal maintenance last in Colorado?

For marriages of three to twenty years, the length is tied to the length of the marriage. It runs about 11 months for a three-year marriage, about four and a half years for a ten-year marriage, and up to half the marriage length for marriages of twelve and a half years or longer, so a sixteen-year marriage points to about eight years. The guideline is advisory, and a court can order more or less.

Does a long marriage mean lifetime maintenance in Colorado?

Not automatically. For marriages over twenty years, the court can award maintenance for a set term or an indefinite one, and it can’t set a term shorter than ten years without written findings. Indefinite support is most likely when the receiving spouse’s age, health, or time out of the workforce makes self-sufficiency genuinely unlikely.

Does the maintenance term change based on income?

The dollar formula for the amount only applies at combined incomes of $240,000 a year or less. The duration guideline isn’t capped that way, but above $240,000 the court isn’t strictly bound by it either. It uses the guideline term as a reference point while exercising broader discretion.

How long does temporary maintenance last during a divorce?

Temporary maintenance runs only while the divorce is pending and ends when the decree is entered. It uses the same amount formula as the final award, but not the duration table.

Knowing the Length Before You Agree

The term of your maintenance is not a detail to settle at the end. It sets the horizon for how long you have support, or owe it, and it is much harder to change after the fact. People do best when they understand what maintenance would actually look like in their case, how much and for how long, before they agree to anything. 

If you want to understand how the amount is calculated, that is covered in How Does Spousal Maintenance Work in Colorado, and what can change or end an order is covered in Can Spousal Maintenance Be Changed or Stopped in Colorado.

At Jones Law Firm, PC, we help people across Denver and Colorado understand the full picture before they sign. If you are weighing an offer or trying to plan around a term, find out where you stand first.

We choose sides. Yours.