Petitioner v. Co-Petitioner v. Respondent

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You might be familiar with the legal terms Plaintiff and Defendant from legal TV shows. These are common terms for the positions that certain parties (or businesses or the state) hold during most legal proceedings. But in Colorado divorces, legal separations and allocation of parental responsibilities, we don't use those terms.

This is because it is important in Colorado for parties in these domestic cases to not view each other or be viewed by the Court as adversaries where the case is one person vs another.

Instead, in a family law case in Colorado you are either the Petitioner, the Respondent or a Co-Petitioner. What is the difference? And does this label mean anything at all?

To initiate a divorce, legal separation or allocation of parental responsibilities case in Colorado, one party files a Petition for Dissolution/Legal Separation/Allocation of Parental Responsibilities. If one party files this independent of the other, that party is called the Petitioner. This is because they are petitioning the Court for the relief of a dissolution/legal separation/allocation of parental responsibilities.

If one party files the Petition, the next step will be for the Petitioner to either have the other party served or have the other party sign a Waiver of Service. If this is the scenario, then the other party is called the Respondent. Once the Petition and other initiating documents are served on or given to (with the signing of a Waiver) the other party, they will be required to file a Response to that Petition. Hence, that party is called the Respondent.

Sometimes the parties initiate the process for a domestic case together. When this happens, instead of one party filing a Petition, both parties complete, sign and file a Co-Petition. When this happens, neither party needs to be served or sign a Waiver for this document. Further, neither party is required to file a Response to the Petition. In this instance, both parties are referred to as Co-Petitioners. Often times in pleadings or settlement documents, instead of referring to the parties both as Co-Petitioner, they may be referred to as Wife, Husband or by their first names to differentiate between them in the file.

Colorado is a no-fault state for divorce, legal separation and allocation of parental responsibilities. This means that the only criteria that needs to be established to initiate this process is that one person says, "I don't want to be married/together (and we have children) anymore."

As such, the label or position that either party has in one of these matters is inconsequential. The Petitioner will not have a privileged stance or "look better" to the Court simply because they filed first.

If you are looking to initiate one of these cases, you should feel free to consult with an attorney on the best timing for filing would look like for you. Whether you are the Petitioner, Respondent or Co-Petitioner, you will have the same obligations for disclosure, deadlines and procedure.