Common Law Marriage

Colorado courts recognize common law marriage when two people agree to be married, live together and hold themselves out to friends and family as spouses; it does not matter how long the relationship lasted. Often these couples share a home, cars, bank accounts and file taxes jointly.

Colorado Common Law Marriage and Divorce

While there are no official documents to be filed to become “common law married,” when a couple who has been cohabitating decides to split and a court deems that you are common law married, the Dissolution of Marriage is treated as if the couple had a marriage license. This process involves untangling personal assets and debts from those obtained during the marriage, and equitably dividing the marital assets and debts.

We help our clients understand what they need to know about common law marriage before they decide to cohabitate and help separating couples understand how to navigate the legal system. We also offer mediation services to common law married couples to avoid taking your case to court if possible.