Your actions after this depend largely on the actions that the other party takes when he or she receives the petition. The Respondent will typically have a period of time to respond to your petition, and this is usually thirty days. After this period passes, and if there has been no activity from the other party, you could possibly get a default judgment, but you should consult with a divorce attorney about specific Colorado laws or court procedures.

To ensure that you are prepared for all the possible actions after you file your petition, speak to a Colorado divorce attorney so that you are clear on what to expect. This will help move your case along and increase the chances that you are meeting all the requirements in order to obtain your divorce. Many of your other questions can be answered directly by a divorce attorney.

Sometimes, the other party will not respond, thinking that failure to respond will stall the divorce process. This is not the case in Colorado. Even if the other party objects, you simply need to convince the court that the marriage is irretrievably broken. This is, in fact, the only legal standard that Colorado uses to determine whether the divorce should be granted or not. For the most part, filing the divorce petition is usually all it might take to get the divorce approved on those grounds.

If the other party does not respond, this may give the court the opportunity to make decisions for that individual. Failing to respond may delay the divorce proceedings for the very short term, but eventually, the divorce will move forward so long as the judge is convinced that the grounds meet the “irretrievably broken” standard in Colorado. To be kept in the loop about your divorce, contact a divorce attorney early so that you know what to expect both in your local jurisdiction and under state rules.