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.
Why this question does so much work
Mediation ends at a gate you cannot negotiate with. A judge must accept the Separation Agreement, the Parenting Plan where applicable and the court filings before the marriage is dissolved. If any of it fails, somebody has to fix it.
Asking who pays tests three things at once: whether the mediator drafts the documents at all, whether the quoted price is genuinely fixed, and how confident they are that their paperwork clears. It is very hard to answer well without actually being good at the job.
The answers you will hear
| Answer | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| “We do not prepare the documents.” | Budget for a second professional. The quote you have covers half the job. |
| “We would fix it.” | Incomplete. Ask again, specifically about cost. |
| “Additional time would be billed.” | Honest, but the fixed price is not fixed at the moment it matters most. |
| “No further charges until it is approved.” | The provider has taken the risk. That is the answer to benchmark against. |
Split Simple's published position is the last one: its Guaranteed Court Acceptance states that if the judge does not accept the documents, there are no further charges to achieve court approval.
What the court is checking
The gate is not arbitrary. Divorce law is detailed, and an agreement that runs afoul of it will not be approved regardless of how firmly both spouses agreed to it. Knowing how to revise a settlement so it clears is its own skill — the earning a judge's approval page makes exactly that point.
Which is also the trap in a do-it-yourself divorce. Blank Colorado divorce forms are free and easy to download, so the paperwork looks like the trivial step until it comes back marked.
Who is signing off on your documents
Chris Griffith — Founder and attorney-mediator
Trained as a lawyer and also studied family therapy. He worked in family and mediation law for years before founding Split Simple, and helped develop the data-driven process the firm runs today. He works in Denver, serves clients across Colorado, and handles remote mediation for clients in other states.
- BA Psychology, Wake Forest University (cum laude)
- MS Marriage and Family Therapy, East Carolina University (first in class)
- JD, University of North Carolina School of Law
- Member, Colorado Bar Association
- Member, Mediation Association of Colorado
- Member, The Academy of Professional Mediators
Jaime Watman — Attorney-mediator
She spent over five years as a Family Court Facilitator working with unrepresented parties, which put her through the court's divorce process end to end. She is well versed in the document preparation a court needs before it will approve Separation Agreements and Parenting Plans. Before the court role she was in private practice with a family law focus. She works in the Greater Denver area.
- BA Political Science and Legal Studies, University of Delaware
- JD, Suffolk University Law School
Both are attorneys, and one spent over five years inside the court system as a Family Court Facilitator — which is to say, watching which documents get accepted and which get returned. Bios on about our attorney-mediators.
The rest of the fixed price
| 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.
Per spouse, no hourly billing, no retainer, published on the pricing page. The guarantee is what stops that list from having an asterisk at the end.
What a guarantee cannot cover
No guarantee moves the statute: 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.
And none of it makes mediation suitable for every case. Abuse, an unwilling spouse or concealed assets defeat the process itself, and a provider that says otherwise is selling. Where the case does fit, disagreement is normal — Uncontested describes the outcome, not the mood. It means both spouses sign one agreement and submit it jointly. Most Split Simple cases begin with real disagreement. Reading on why choose Split Simple and reviews.