Do I Need A Will?

A will allows you to determine who gets what and when.

If you have assets or property that you want to leave to specific beneficiaries such as family, friends or charity, then you will need a will.  A will ensures that your assets are distributed to your designated beneficiaries.  Additionally, your will may contain a testamentary trust that specifies when a beneficiary may receive his/her distribution, e.g., when they turn 30 years of age.  If there is not will, an individuals estate "passes by interstate succession to the decedent's heirs" pursuant to Colorado law.  C.R.S. 15-11-101.

A will can save your estate money.

A will provides you with the opportunity to appoint a personal representative to administer your estate pursuant to the terms in your will.  this appointment eliminates any costs associated with having a court appointed personal representative.

A will gives you peace of mind.

A will can make provisions for caring for a minor child or an adult child incapable of managing his/her own finances by creating a trust and providing for a trustee and guardian.

A will helps your family make decisions and avoid arguments.

A will is your instructions to your personal representative explaining what you want done with your assets and property upon your death.  Rather than having daughters fight over who gets your jewelry box, your will can indicate which daughter gets the jewelry box.  Additionally, if you have a child that you want to continue being able to live in your home, your will can indicate that.

Why is my case taking so long?

            Going through a dissolution of marriage, or divorce can be one of the most stressful events in a person’s life.  Having to wait for orders can make that stress worse.  Judges understand that, and do their best to get your orders out as soon as possible.  In this article, you will see some of the reasons why your case may be taking longer than you think it should.

            First, every single divorce case in the state of Colorado requires that 90 days pass from the beginning of the case until a decree is entered.  This does not mean that you will be divorced on the 90^th day after your divorce is filed, but that it cannot be any sooner than that.  The 90 day waiting period starts the day the case is filed if you file the divorce action as a Co-Petitioner with your spouse, or on the date that your spouse is served, or waives service if not.  This may add some additional time to your waiting period if you are not able to get your spouse served right away.

            Once your waiting period starts, the next step is getting the matter set for hearing.  The type of hearing you set, and the length of hearing factors into how long it takes to have the matter heard by a judge or magistrate.  If you have resolved all of your issues, you may set a non-contested hearing in front of a magistrate, which will get set sooner than a contested matter.  If there are contested matters, the longer the hearing may affect how soon your matter is heard.

            Unfortunately, the number of cases and the amount of time a judge or magistrate is in Court may make it difficult for you to get a hearing date as soon as you would like.  There are also deadlines in certain types of matters, such as criminal cases, or restraining orders that give those types of cases priority over a dissolution case.  This means that those priority cases may be set sooner than your case, or that type of case may cause your case to get continued to a later date.

            If you have filed a specific type of motion in your case, you may be wondering why the judge has not ruled on it.  One factor may be that the response time has not passed.  Most motions require that a waiting period of fifteen days (plus a few extra days for mailing time) pass before a judge or magistrate can even rule on the motion.  This waiting period is to allow the other side to respond.  If a response is filed, a reply time of ten days is also required. 

            Judges and magistrates then have to balance the amount of time they are in court with the review of the motions that are received.  While in Court, the judge or magistrate must be focused on the hearing, and must wait until they are out of court to rule on written motions, which may cause some delay.

            Errors on the motions may also cause a delay.  A common error in a motion is a failure to fill out the “Certificate of Mailing” which certifies that the person who filed the motion has mailed a copy to the other side.  If the certificate of mailing is incomplete, or if the address that the motion as mailed to is not the address the Court has in the file, the motion may not be ruled upon until the Court is satisfied the other person has gotten a copy of the motion.

            Once the hearing is held, judges and magistrates try very hard to rule on your motions that day while you are in court.  This is not always possible.  Reasons for a judge not ruling during your hearing include not having sufficient time to make the ruling before the next matter is scheduled to be heard,  the judge needing to do additional research, or perhaps the judge has not been able to make a final decision on a difficult issue without additional time. 

            Court staff keep track of motions and deadlines and along with the judicial officers work to make sure that your cases move through the system as efficiently as possible.  If your case has not been ruled upon, it may be for any of the reasons stated above.  Each case is very important, and judicial officers recognize this.  If you have questions regarding your specific case, if none of the information above describes your information, you may contact the court directly.  You should understand, however, that court clerks cannot give legal advice, and you cannot talk to the judicial office assigned to your case.  You may also consider contacting a lawyer for further assistance.

Filing Fees and Waiving Fees

A common obstacle to accessing the court or defending an action is the costs associated with legal work.  The most expensive cost is the service of an attorney.  Beyond the attorney's work, there are costs associated with filing paperwork, serving papers on others, witness fees, making copies of papers, and court costs.  This post will discuss some of those costs, and ways in which parties to an action can minimize the cost or have the costs waived.

As stated above, the cost of an attorney is likely the most expensive cost in a case.  To help alleviate this cost, many states and communities provide legal services offices for low-income litigants and certain other qualified individuals.  If charged with a crime in Colorado, the Office of the State Public Defender and the Office of the Alternate Defense can be appointed for persons declared to be indigent.  Both offices have attorneys, investigators, and staff to assist persons accused of misdemeanor and felony offenses.  

For civil cases, Colorado Legal Services has offices around the state to help low income persons.  CLS handles cases involving family law (divorce, custody, child support modification), bankruptcy, victims of domestic violence, protection orders, consumer fraud, creditor-debtor, and landlord-tenant.  CLS attorneys not only handle individual cases--they also conduct training sessions for community members and provide information to the public.  

In Mesa County, the Pro Bono Project provides referrals to local attorneys who will handle cases on a pro bono ("free") basis.  Although there is not a mandatory requirement for attorneys to provide a certain amount of pro bono hours per year, lawyers are encouraged to participate and volunteer their time to help the community, and many Mesa County attorneys have helped low income persons through the Pro Bono Project.

Besides the cost of an attorney, there are costs associated with litigating cases in Court.  The following are some common costs in Colorado:

• Filing a Civil Complaint in County Court: $97
• Filing an Action for Name Change: $100
• Filing for a Civil Protection Order: $97
• Filing an Answer to a Civil Complaint in County Court: $92
• Jury Demand (County Court): $98.  Jury Demand (District Court): $190
• Filing a Civil Complaint in District Court: $224
• Filing an Answer to a Civil Complaint in District Court: $158
• Filing a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage: $230
• Filing a Response to a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage: $116
• Filing a Petition for Allocation of Parental Responsibilities: $222

For a list of all filing fees in Colorado, see the Colorado State Judicial, Filing Fees tab.

Despite the above stated costs, there are procedures available to waive most of these costs for low-income persons.  The fees that can be waived are filing fees, jury demand fees, reasonable copy fees, E-file fees, E-file services fees, and research fees.  If persons who have not been declared indigent, there are procedures available to pay the fees by installment.

For victims of domestic violence filing a civil protection order, the Court waives the filing fees for the victims.

To have the filing fees waived, you must file a motion to file without the payment of fees with the Court, and the Court must grant the motion.  This motion is filed with the clerk's office, and it includes an income sheet that the party must file out.  This sheet will determine if the person's income is below the necessary level for the waiving of fees.  Be prepared to provide evidence of your income and assets, such as disability payment receipts, paystubs, and unemployment benefits receipts.  The motion to waive the fees are available upon request at the clerk's office, or at the Colorado State Judicial website stated above.

Before paying any fees, you should always contact the clerk's office to determine if there is a procedure available for waiving the fees.  As stated above, a motion to waive the fees may be the only step necessary to achieve your goal.  With the waiving of fees, low-income parties can avoid some of the financial burden of the Court and achieve greater access to the legal system.