Graham.Law Blog

Can Adultery Be Punished in a Prenuptial or Postnuptial Agreement? For more than 50 years since adopting the Uniform Dissolution of Marriage Act (UDMA) in 1971, we have had no-fault divorces in Colorado, and that means the traditional grounds for divorce, including adultery, are abolished. Does that mean an infidelity…

The Colorado Court of Appeals issued a decision recently concerning commingled assets which reminds us of the power that spouses have in marital agreements (in this case, a “prenup”, or prenuptial agreement) to deviate from the normal statutory property division in a divorce. For a complete discussion of prenuptial agreements…

Family law attorneys in Colorado don’t often have cases where there is an issue as to whether a marriage was irretrievably broken. We’ve blogged about the irretrievable breakdown element before, and in my career, I’ve seen probably a dozen times where one spouse tries to dispute the marriage was broken….

Back in 2019, the Colorado Court of Appeals held that a marital agreement (prenup or postnup) was required to be in writing and signed by both parties under the Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act, and reversed a trial court decision upholding an oral agreement which purported to set aside…

Basic Asset Division in a Colorado Divorce In contrast to Community Property states where marital property must be divided equally, Colorado is a “marital property” state, and our statute requires that marital assets and debts be divided “equitably” (i.e. fairly), not necessarily equally. Most of the time, however, equal means…

What Is a Covenant Marriage? In short, a covenant marriage is a way around a no-fault divorce whereby a couple entering into marriage agrees to make it harder to dissolve the marriage by requiring counseling, specific grounds, or a longer waiting period. Think of it as roughly analogous to a prenuptial…

Deviation From Child Support Guidelines Cannot Be Permanent With limited exceptions, courts are required to apply Colorado’s Child Support Guidelines when determining an appropriate amount of child support. And that means when parents sign a child support agreement, they too must generally adhere to the guidelines. And while parents may agree to…

NOTE – On February 16, 2021, the Colorado Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and found that an Interspousal Transfer Deed does not create separate property out of a presumptively marital asset without satisfying one of the four statutory criteria. See our new blog post for more details. Interspousal…

The Court of Appeals just confirmed what should have already been clear from the statute – only a written separation agreement is enforceable in Colorado. Colorado has adopted the Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act, as more completely discussed in the Prenuptial & Postnuptial Agreements article in the Colorado Family Law Guide. And…