Temporary Orders

A note before we begin: This guide is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. For advice about your specific situation, consult a qualified attorney.

Your Situation

A divorce or parental responsibilities case can take months to resolve, and in the meantime, real life doesn't pause. Someone still has to pay the mortgage, keep the lights on, decide where the kids sleep each night, and keep the health insurance from lapsing. Temporary orders are the court's tool for answering those "what happens right now?" questions while your case is pending. They cover parenting time, decision-making, child support, spousal maintenance, who uses the house and the cars, who pays which debts, and insurance coverage — all on an interim basis until your final decree is entered.

Here's the single most important thing to understand about temporary orders: they are meant to keep things stable while the case plays out, not to decide the final outcome.

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Temporary orders preserve the status quo and reduce harm to spouses and children during the divorce — but they are not final and do not control what the court decides at the permanent hearing.

This guide will help you understand what the law allows, how courts handle temporary orders in practice, and the concrete steps to request them.

What the Law Requires

Colorado law lets either party file a motion for temporary orders covering debts, use of property, maintenance (spousal support), parental responsibilities, child support, or attorney fees. The motion can be backed by an affidavit stating the facts and the amounts you're asking for.

When children are involved, the court decides temporary parenting time and decision-making based on the best interests of the child — the same set of statutory best-interest factors the court uses throughout the case. Importantly, the law treats temporary parenting decisions differently from final ones: temporary parenting-time changes are judged under the best-interests standard, not the higher "endangerment" standard that can apply later. A temporary parenting order does not create the kind of permanent "parenting time rights" that would trigger that tougher standard down the road.

The law is clear that temporary orders are not binding on the final result. They are not treated as settled matters — every issue decided temporarily can be fully revisited at the permanent orders stage. A temporary order can also be changed or revoked before the final decree if someone files a motion with an affidavit showing facts that justify the change. And temporary orders end when the final decree is entered, unless the court specifically continues them for good cause.

A few other legal points worth knowing:

• Temporary maintenance (spousal support) exists to put both spouses on more equal financial footing and to support a spouse who needs it while the case is pending. The coverage period starts at the latest of your separation date, the filing of the petition, or service on the respondent.
• Once the court sets temporary maintenance and child support, it then decides who temporarily pays marital debts and who uses which marital property.
• The court can grant one party exclusive temporary use of property — like the family home, household goods, and vehicles — but this is interim only and does not resolve who ends up with what.
• Either party can also request a temporary injunction restraining the other from transferring, hiding, or disposing of property except in the ordinary course of business or for life's necessities, and can ask the court to order the other party not to disturb the peace of the party or a child. A party can be excluded from the family home on a showing that physical or emotional harm would otherwise result.
• If your divorce case is dismissed, temporary support and parenting orders generally end. Once a case is dismissed, the court loses the power to enforce the temporary support orders that were entered in it — so don't assume a dismissed case leaves protections in place.

One cautionary rule: a temporary order has to actually be entered to be enforceable. An unsigned referee recommendation, with no separate court order, is not an enforceable temporary order. And an ex parte change to custody — one made without notice to the other parent, without evidence, and without a finding of irreparable harm — violates due process.

What Courts Typically Do

In practice, the court often addresses temporary orders at the Initial Status Conference — the first scheduling meeting in your case. Importantly, you cannot simply file a motion for temporary orders on your own; the court must authorize the filing first. The usual path is to raise the need for temporary orders at that conference with the family court facilitator, magistrate, or judge, who may then schedule a Temporary Orders Hearing.

At a Temporary Orders Hearing, the judge makes a short-term parenting plan and can set child support and spousal maintenance amounts. These orders stay in effect until the final decision is entered. Courts treat these as interim measures designed to hold things steady, not to lock in a permanent result.

When it comes to money, courts have broad discretion. Temporary maintenance, attorney fees, and suit money are all within the trial judge's discretion, and the paying spouse's ability to pay is something the court weighs. Judges can also look at what one party previously paid — a prior support allowance, or household expenses already covered — as evidence of the other party's reasonable needs. Because this is discretionary, outcomes vary widely from case to case; there is no fixed formula that guarantees a particular amount.

On property, courts can temporarily assign use of the home, household goods, and vehicles after a proper hearing, but they generally will not order a sale of property at this stage. Only in extreme circumstances — where a sale is needed to preserve the equity in co-owned property — might a court allow a sale before the divorce is finalized.

Temporary orders can also be entered by agreement, without a contested hearing, if the court approves. The court reviews the parties' agreement along with their financial affidavits, any parenting plan, and child support worksheets, and must find the agreement fair, not unconscionable, and in the best interests of any children. Even then, the court keeps discretion to add its own provisions beyond what you agreed to.

Step by Step: What to Do

1. Figure out what you actually need interim orders for. Walk through the categories: parenting time, decision-making, child support, maintenance, use of the home or other property, responsibility for specific debts, and medical/dental insurance coverage. Check every one that applies to your situation so nothing gets left unaddressed.

2. Confirm the court's procedure for temporary orders. Because you can't file the motion without the court's permission first, plan to raise the issue at your Initial Status Conference with the facilitator, magistrate, or judge. Ask whether the court will authorize a motion or schedule a Temporary Orders Hearing.

3. Gather your financial documentation. You'll need a sworn financial affidavit and, if children are involved, a child support worksheet. Pull together proof of income, recurring household expenses, debts and account information, and anything showing what each of you has been paying. Courts rely on this to set support and allocate debts.

4. Prepare and file your request. When paperwork is involved, you don't have to track down and hand-fill the right forms yourself — the guided wizard on this site will interview you about your situation and prepare and pre-fill the correct Colorado temporary orders paperwork for you, including the motion, any agreement document, and your financial affidavit and support worksheet.

5. Serve the other party and document it. When you file a motion for temporary orders, you must give a copy to the other party and complete a certificate showing the date, method, and address of service. Proper service matters — failing to do it correctly can delay or invalidate your request.

6. Try to reach agreement where you can. If you and the other party can agree on temporary arrangements, you can submit a joint temporary orders agreement for the court's approval instead of fighting it out at a hearing. Both of you must sign it for it to count as an agreement — a single signature turns it into one-sided information for the court. Attach the required financial affidavits and support worksheets, or the court may decline to act.

7. If there's no agreement, prepare for the hearing. Bring evidence supporting what you're asking for — especially on the children's best interests and each party's finances. If safety is a concern, know that the court can exclude a party from the family home on a showing that harm would otherwise result, and can order a party not to disturb the other's peace.

8. Track expiration dates and remember these orders aren't final. Temporary orders end when the decree is entered. If anything changes while the case is pending, either party can ask the court for new, expanded, or modified temporary orders.

What Research Shows Can Help

The items available here focus on what the law and courts do; they offer limited direct social-science research on temporary orders specifically. What the legal materials do emphasize — and this echoes the reasoning courts rely on — is that temporary support and parenting orders serve to reduce harm to spouses and children by preserving stability while the divorce is pending. The disruption of attachment and the loss of a stable environment for a child are treated as real concerns worth addressing early, which is part of why courts prioritize keeping arrangements steady during the case. Beyond that, the materials here don't provide specific research findings, so I won't speculate.

What to Do Today

• Make a list of every interim issue you need resolved — parenting time, decision-making, child support, maintenance, home and property use, debts, and insurance — so you walk into your Initial Status Conference knowing exactly what to ask for.
• Start pulling together your financial documents: income, expenses, debts, and records of who has been paying for what.
• Check your health and dental insurance situation now; if there's a risk of a gap in coverage for you or your kids, flag it as something to request in temporary orders.
• Begin the guided wizard so your temporary orders paperwork and financial affidavit are prepared and ready when the court authorizes filing.
• If you and the other party are on speaking terms, start a conversation about which temporary arrangements you might be able to agree on — an approved agreement can spare you a contested hearing.

Related Issues to Be Aware Of

• Child support: Temporary orders routinely set an interim child support amount, calculated from both parents' combined income as if the household were intact. Because the court can order support retroactive to the latest of separation, filing, or service, getting a temporary amount in place early affects what you may owe or receive for the period before final orders.

• Spousal maintenance: Temporary maintenance can be set at a Temporary Orders Hearing to balance the parties' finances during the case. The court must make findings on each party's income, resources, and needs, and advisory guidelines may apply depending on the length of the marriage and combined income — worth understanding before you ask for or respond to a maintenance request.

• Missed or modified parenting time: Because temporary parenting orders are judged under the best-interests standard rather than the endangerment standard, changes during the case are handled differently than changes to a final order. Know the rules around objections, makeup time, and which standard applies if someone seeks to change the schedule.

• Housing instability: Temporary orders can grant one party exclusive use of the home, and a protection order can exclude the other party where physical or emotional harm is shown. If you may be excluded, arrange alternative housing promptly; also note that instability in a child's environment, by itself, is not enough to justify restricting parenting time.

• Attorney fees and court costs: The court can order one spouse to pay toward the other's fees based on the parties' financial resources, and this can be requested at the temporary orders stage — not just at the final hearing. If there's a significant income gap between you, consider raising fees early.