> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://blog.denverdivorce.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Imputed Income in Colorado: Quitting Your Job Won't Lower the Number - URL: https://blog.denverdivorce.com/imputed-income-colorado-divorce/ - Published: 2026-10-13T14:30:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-13T14:30:00.000Z - Description: When a spouse is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, Colorado courts calculate support on potential income — what the person could earn — often proven through a vocational evaluation. The doctrine cuts both ways. - Author: Aaron Herzberg - Tags: Support, Valuation & Support Every family lawyer has seen the pattern. A successful spouse's income collapses the year the divorce is filed — a resignation, a demotion, a sudden pivot to a passion project — and the support calculation is expected to follow it down. Colorado law has an answer. ## Potential Income, Not Chosen Income Colorado's child support statute, C.R.S. § 14-10-115, provides that if a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, child support is calculated on the parent's potential income rather than actual income. The maintenance statute adopts the same definition of income, so the doctrine applies to spousal maintenance as well. Potential income is what the person could reasonably earn, and the statute directs the court to consider the whole picture: employment history and earnings, education and job skills, the availability of jobs in the local market for someone with that profile, prevailing earnings, age and health, and any barriers to employment. The analysis is individualized, and it is evidentiary — the court must make findings, and the party seeking imputation must prove the number. ## The Exceptions Imputation is not automatic. The statute carves out parents who are physically or mentally incapacitated, parents caring for a very young child of the parties, parents who are incarcerated, and parents enrolled in an educational program reasonably likely to result in a higher income within a reasonable time. Good-faith career changes can also be treated differently from choices made to reduce support, though the line is heavily litigated and fact-dependent. ## How It Is Proven: The Vocational Evaluation The typical vehicle is a vocational evaluation. A vocational expert reviews the spouse's education, work history, and skills, tests where appropriate, surveys the local labor market, and testifies to a range of jobs the spouse could obtain and what they pay. Judges rely on these evaluations heavily, and a well-supported evaluation often sets the imputed number. A spouse facing imputation should expect to respond with evidence — a documented job search, medical evidence, or a competing expert — rather than testimony alone. ## The Doctrine Cuts Both Ways Imputed income is usually discussed as a shield against a payor who reduces income strategically. It applies with equal force to the recipient. A spouse who has been out of the workforce may be expected to work toward self-sufficiency, and the court can impute income to that spouse when setting maintenance, particularly where education, prior career, and the job market support it. In longer marriages with an established division of roles, courts are more cautious, and the maintenance statute's factors — age, health, time out of the workforce, the need for retraining — shape the result. But the era of assuming a non-working spouse will never be expected to earn is over. ## High Earners and the Cap For high-income families, imputation interacts with the limits of the guidelines. Colorado's child support schedule extends to a defined level of combined income; above it, the court sets support by discretion. Maintenance's advisory formula stops at its own income ceiling. In those cases the argument is less about the schedule and more about what the family's resources and lifestyle actually were — and a strategic drop in income is measured against a documented history. ## Careers Are Evidence The practical lesson is that employment decisions during a divorce are scrutinized. A spouse contemplating a career change, a sabbatical, or an early retirement should understand how the court will view it before acting. Voluntary choices made in good faith and documented as such fare better than unexplained declines that coincide with the filing date. ## Talk to a Denver Divorce Attorney Who Handles Complex Estates Aaron Herzberg is a divorce attorney in Greenwood Village, Colorado, serving Denver and the Front Range, with more than 30 years of trial experience and a practice focused on high-net-worth and financially complex divorce. Whether you are defending against imputation or seeking it, the case is built on evidence of earning capacity — and that evidence should be assembled early. [Request a Consultation](https://denverdivorce.com/contact.html?ref=blog.denverdivorce.com#consult) or call 303-507-5529 This publication is attorney advertising. It is educational information only, it is not legal advice, and it may not reflect the most current legal developments. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. No attorney-client relationship exists until a conflicts check is complete and both parties have signed a written engagement agreement. Read the full guide on DenverDivorce.com: [Vocational Assessment in Colorado](https://denverdivorce.com/practice-areas/vocational-assessment-colorado.html?ref=blog.denverdivorce.com).