Hard times

Divorce with no savings

The income is about to split in two, there is nothing in the house, and there is nothing in the bank. Most people who call us are here, not in a mansion with a portfolio. This page is the honest plan for the next twelve months, in the order the bills arrive.

Call the divorce team 303-955-4220 Help lines and legal aid How to afford a divorce

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Month one

Stop the bleeding

Own account, own card, credit freezes, a list of every joint bill and who is paying it. Ask the court for temporary support if you need it.

The court

Fee waiver and legal aid

JDF 205 waives the $260 filing fee below 125 percent of the poverty line. Colorado Legal Services, self-help centers and unbundled attorneys keep the cost down.

Housing

Under a third of take-home

Rent or payment plus utilities. If the house cannot be carried on one income, selling or a short sale early beats a foreclosure late.

Support

Temporary orders exist for this

The court can order temporary maintenance and child support and decide who pays the mortgage while the case is pending.

The short answer

Ask for temporary orders early, file for the fee waiver if you qualify, keep the mortgage current with whoever the orders say pays, and decide the house on the numbers before the decree: on one income a house is a payment, not a nest egg. Colorado has free help for every step: the self-help center for the forms, legal aid for the hearing, the foreclosure hotline for the mortgage, 2-1-1 for everything else.

The twelve-month plan

Weeks 1 to 2Open your own checking account and one card; route your pay there. Freeze your credit at all three bureaus. List every joint bill and who is paying. Photograph balances. Change your own passwords. Do not move joint money; the injunction covers it.

Weeks 2 to 6File or respond (fee waiver on JDF 205 if you qualify). Ask for temporary orders: maintenance, child support, who pays the mortgage and utilities during the case. Book the free discovery call about the house.

Months 2 to 4Disclosures. The written valuation of the house, free, to both of you. If the house cannot be carried alone, decide the sale or short sale now, not after the decree.

Months 4 to 6Mediation. Housing decided, support set, debts allocated. A lender’s honest read on one-income qualifying before any refinance deadline is written.

Months 6 to 12Decree. Deed and loan handled. One emergency month in savings before any furniture. Update the W-4, the insurance and the beneficiaries. Rent for a year if buying is not real yet.

Where the money comes from when there is none

Temporary support. The court can order it while the case is pending, based on the maintenance guideline and child support worksheet. Ask early; it is not retroactive to the day you should have asked.
The fee waiver. JDF 205: filing fees, service and some costs waived under 125 percent of the federal poverty guideline.
Legal aid and unbundled help. Colorado Legal Services for qualifying households; unbundled attorneys who handle one hearing or one document; the self-help center in every district for free.
Retirement, carefully. A QDRO transfer at the decree is tax-free; a withdrawal before it is not. Do not raid a 401(k) to keep a house you cannot carry.
The house itself. If there is equity, a sale before the decree with proceeds held at title is the cleanest source of the cash both of you need to start over.
Programs. CHFA and metroDPA for buying again on one income later; LEAP for heating; Connect for Health Colorado for insurance credits; 2-1-1 for rent and utility assistance.

What people in this spot get wrong

Fighting over a house neither can afford, and paying attorneys with money that should have been the deposit on an apartment.
Letting the mortgage slide “until it is decided.” The foreclosure clock does not wait. The clock.
Agreeing to a refinance deadline nobody checked with a lender.
Not asking for temporary orders because it felt aggressive. It is a form.

Questions people ask

Can I get divorced in Colorado if I cannot afford a lawyer?

Yes. Most Colorado divorces are filed without attorneys. The self-help centers walk you through the forms free, legal aid takes qualifying cases, and unbundled attorneys charge by the task.

Who pays the mortgage while we are getting divorced?

Whoever the temporary orders say; until then, usually whoever has been paying. Ask the court to decide it if you cannot agree. Credit during the case.

We have no equity and no savings. What happens to the house?

Usually a sale or a short sale, or one spouse assumes an FHA or VA loan. Upside down in the house.

Is there rent help in Colorado?

Dial 2-1-1 or text your ZIP to 898-211 for current rental, utility and food assistance in your county.

Hard times, handled quietly

We have sold underwater houses, negotiated short sales and stopped foreclosure clocks for divorcing owners. Quietly.

A divorce with no equity, two incomes that just became one, and a lender who does not care about the decree is the file we see most in a down year. The Kenna divorce real estate team, led by Damon L. Chavez, Certified Real Estate Divorce Specialist, runs the numbers first and tells you the truth: sell, short sale, hold, or fight the foreclosure.

Your information stays with us. We will not contact you without your permission, and nothing here is logged to an account.

A written net sheet with the house sold, short-sold and kept

The Colorado foreclosure timeline against your court dates

A lender who will tell you the truth about a refinance on one income

The hotline, legal aid and fee-waiver numbers, free

Talk to the team, free

Where to go next

Plain-language education, not advice. Divorce Decisions is published by The Kenna Real Estate Group at Keller Williams DTC, a real estate team. Nothing here is legal, tax, lending or financial advice, and reading it does not create any professional relationship. Colorado law and lender rules change; confirm anything that matters to your case with a licensed Colorado attorney, a tax professional, and your lender. See our full disclaimer.

Call your Colorado divorce agent

Questions about the house, the deed or the decree?

Call us today to talk through your situation and how we can help. A live person answers. Not a robot, not a phone tree.

Call today 303-955-4220 Download the free divorce-home guide

Ask us, quietly

Tell us where you are in the process and what is scaring you most. We will send the numbers and the free resources, and we will not contact you without your permission.

Call or text 303-955-4220

A live person answers. Not a robot, not a phone tree. Prefer email? homes@kennarealestate.com