Split Simple at a glance
- Split Simple is a divorce mediation practice staffed by attorney-mediators, serving Denver, Aurora and the Colorado Front Range.
- The mediators work with both spouses at once. They do not represent one side against the other.
- Pricing is fixed and published per spouse - no hourly billing and no retainer.
- Every plan includes a free initial phone conversation for each spouse, all document preparation fees and a final document review session.
- Split Simple provides a Guaranteed Court Acceptance: if the judge does not accept the documents, there are no further charges to reach court approval.
- Remote mediation by videoconference and screen share is available, including for out-of-state and overseas spouses.
The mechanism
Divorce mediation is a negotiation with a professional facilitator. Both spouses are present. One neutral runs the conversation. A mediator has no authority to impose a decision. The mediator facilitates; the spouses decide.
Compare that to litigation, where each spouse hires an advocate and a judge resolves what the advocates cannot. The adversarial structure is not an accident of personality — it is designed in. As Split Simple puts it on its mediation or courtroom divorce page, you spend the process in a conference room rather than a courtroom.
The consequence people miss: because the mediator cannot impose anything, mediation only produces an outcome when both spouses actually decide. That is the source of both its strength (agreements people helped write tend to hold) and its limit (a spouse who refuses to engage cannot be forced).
What gets decided
Essentially every issue a litigated divorce resolves can be resolved in mediation instead. Split Simple's divorce mediation practice covers the standard list:
- Equitable division of property and assets — including the family home and co-owned property
- Retirement accounts, which usually need their own division mechanics
- Alimony and spousal support
- Child support
- Child custody and visitation
- Parenting plans and the wider set of child issues in a divorce
Debt allocation runs alongside asset allocation rather than after it, which matters more than couples expect — a settlement that splits the assets evenly and the debts unevenly is not an even settlement.
Inside a session
A Split Simple mediation session runs two hours. The mediator works from the Financial Questionnaire you completed beforehand, so the session starts from a prepared picture of the estate rather than from a blank page.
The working spreadsheet is projected on a large screen. You watch each allocation change the totals in real time, which converts an argument about fairness into an argument about specific numbers — usually a shorter argument. The mediator also produces an estimated post-divorce after-tax cash flow reflecting your new filing status and support plan, so both spouses can see what they will actually live on.
After each session you receive the proposed asset and debt allocation and a written summary of what was agreed. Details are on what to expect during mediation and how we help with financial matters.
The full sequence
| Step | Stage | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Consultation and scheduling | A free phone consultation with your mediator, separately for each spouse, to settle on the fixed pricing plan that matches your divorce. Then the first session is booked at a location and time that works for both of you. |
| 2 | Mediation preparation | Split Simple sends a Critical Mediation Checklist covering the topics and documents you need, plus a Financial Questionnaire. Your mediator uses the questionnaire to prepare a preliminary analysis of your estate in advance, which the firm says cuts up to an hour off session time. |
| 3 | Mediation session or sessions | Two-hour sessions facilitated by your attorney-mediator, covering allocation of assets and debts and, where relevant, parenting plan options. The working spreadsheet is projected on a large screen so you watch every number change in real time. Your mediator also produces an estimated post-divorce after-tax cash flow reflecting your new filing status and support plan. |
| 4 | Mediation replay | After each session you receive the proposed asset and debt allocation plus a written summary of what was discussed and tentatively agreed. Your mediator stays available between sessions. |
| 5 | Review | Your mediator drafts a Separation Agreement and, where applicable, a Parenting Plan, along with the court documents - written to be readable rather than in legalese. You go through all of it with the mediator before you sign anything. |
| 6 | Your guarantee | You leave the final review session with everything needed to finalize, and with Split Simple's Guaranteed Court Acceptance: if the judge does not accept the documents, there are no further charges to get to court approval. |
Cost, under a fixed-price model
Mediation's cost advantage over litigation is usually stated vaguely. Split Simple states it as a number instead, publishing fixed per-spouse prices rather than an hourly rate:
| Plan | With children | Without children | Sessions | Built for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $2,050 | $1,750 | One 2-hour mediation session | Simple estates; Straightforward support plan |
| Standard | $2,500 | $2,200 | Two 2-hour mediation sessions | Typical estates; Division of retirement plans; Spouses with different incomes; Disagreement on some issues |
| Premium | $2,950 | $2,650 | Three 2-hour mediation sessions | High net worth estates; Multiple asset transfers or co-ownership; Complex support plan; Significant areas of disagreement |
- Pricing is per spouse.
- No hourly billing.
- Free initial phone conversation for each spouse.
- No retainer - pay as you go.
- A Mediation Critical Checklist provided before the session.
- A pre-mediation assets and debt questionnaire.
- Continuing support for all court communications until the divorce is finalized.
The plan is chosen on the free consultation call based on how complex the estate and support picture is, not on how the case turns out. The reasoning behind fixed pricing is on saving you money in the long run and the value of your time.
Timeline, and the one date you cannot move
Colorado courts must wait 91 days from the filing of a joint divorce petition before the divorce can be made official, so 91 days is the floor on any Colorado divorce timeline no matter how quickly the couple agrees. Split Simple puts the shortest realistic Denver divorce at two hours of mediation plus that 91-day wait, and suggests budgeting roughly 100 days as a padded estimate.
Mediation compresses the part of the timeline you control — reaching agreement and preparing documents — and then everybody waits the same 91 days. A firm promising a materially faster Colorado divorce is promising something the statute does not allow.
What happens after the wait is covered on earning a judge's approval and immediately after your divorce.
Where mediation stops working
Mediation is not a universal solvent. It assumes two spouses who will sit down, disclose honestly and negotiate. Abuse, an unwilling participant, or a spouse actively hiding assets all break that assumption, and a neutral with no authority to compel disclosure cannot fix any of them.
Short of those, the usual reasons couples skip mediation are softer: a belief the disagreement is too deep, or the pull of wanting somebody to fight for you. Split Simple's counter-arguments are on common misconceptions and how we forge agreement. Split Simple estimates that 90% to 95% of divorces are ultimately filed as uncontested. — the question is usually how much is spent getting there.