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Simplified Divorce - A Brief Overview
Over 50% of all District Court filings in Colorado involve families. Further, these family cases dominate court dockets. In response, Justice Mary Mullarkey created the Commission on Families in the Colorado Courts in 2001 to study policies, procedures, rules, and laws that impact families involved in the court system. On the District Court level, the Commission recommended the establishment of a non-adversarial alternative to traditional litigation for families, including a central case management process, the use of case facilitators and status conferences, and a client-driven process, with emphasis on disclosure over discovery - including the development (and on going improvement) of a more detailed financial affidavit to best aid that portion of the proceedings. Three Districts - El Paso, Arapahoe, and Denver - participated in the initial Pilot Project, which then, after assessment and recommendations by all who used it, evolved into Simplified Divorce.
Simplified Divorce is a court-based option where judges, magistrates, and court facilitators manage each family's case - status conferences are scheduled at regular intervals to keep the Court apprised of the case progress. In a Simplified Divorce case, the Rules of Civil Procedure are relaxed: typically, no motions are filed; information is exchanged "informally" and willingly; and there is one expert per disputed issue, as mutually agreed upon by the parties. Typically. The parties are still allowed to request additional experts, a formal exchange of information, and that a record be made of the proceeding.
After several years of District by District testing of various approaches, the Rules for Simplified Divorce are now standardized across the state. Rule 16.2, which governs domestic relations cases, went into effect January 1st, 2005.
The point of Simplified Divorce has always been to conduct divorce faster, simpler and less expensively (both financially and emotionally), while keeping the responsibility for decision-making in the family.
This is not a one-size-fits-all option. There is, for example, an underlying expectation that the spouses will "play fair" and be honest and forthcoming with each other in a spirit of cooperation and integrity.
As with any new process, Simplified Divorce is still evolving, despite passage of Rule 16.2. For example: each District issues a case management order, but there is still some disparity from District to District as to the specifics of how cases are handled.
In the face of both praise and criticism, trial and fine-tuning, Simplified Divorce has come a long way: from a Committee recommendation hoping for a less adversarial option than traditional litigation, to a viable process for those families seeking a reasonable, self-driven approach to that most unreasonable of times in their lives.
The main impact on clients of this new program is that they will be meeting the Judge or Magistrate in a series of meetings. This will have all the parties dealing with issues, face to face, relating to their case, which is in stark contrast to the old system in which parties sometimes only met across the courtroom.
Simplified Divorce is a court-based option where judges, magistrates, and court facilitators manage each family's case - status conferences are scheduled at regular intervals to keep the Court apprised of the case progress. In a Simplified Divorce case, the Rules of Civil Procedure are relaxed: typically, no motions are filed; information is exchanged "informally" and willingly; and there is one expert per disputed issue, as mutually agreed upon by the parties. Typically. The parties are still allowed to request additional experts, a formal exchange of information, and that a record be made of the proceeding.
After several years of District by District testing of various approaches, the Rules for Simplified Divorce are now standardized across the state. Rule 16.2, which governs domestic relations cases, went into effect January 1st, 2005.
The point of Simplified Divorce has always been to conduct divorce faster, simpler and less expensively (both financially and emotionally), while keeping the responsibility for decision-making in the family.
This is not a one-size-fits-all option. There is, for example, an underlying expectation that the spouses will "play fair" and be honest and forthcoming with each other in a spirit of cooperation and integrity.
As with any new process, Simplified Divorce is still evolving, despite passage of Rule 16.2. For example: each District issues a case management order, but there is still some disparity from District to District as to the specifics of how cases are handled.
In the face of both praise and criticism, trial and fine-tuning, Simplified Divorce has come a long way: from a Committee recommendation hoping for a less adversarial option than traditional litigation, to a viable process for those families seeking a reasonable, self-driven approach to that most unreasonable of times in their lives.
The main impact on clients of this new program is that they will be meeting the Judge or Magistrate in a series of meetings. This will have all the parties dealing with issues, face to face, relating to their case, which is in stark contrast to the old system in which parties sometimes only met across the courtroom.
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