Common Law Marriage in Colorado

The Real Requirements

Common law marriage in Colorado rests on statute as well as case law. C.R.S. 14-2-104, as restored by HB26-1218 in 2026, preserves otherwise valid common law marriages, and C.R.S. 14-2-109.5 sets the only formal requirements: for a common law marriage entered into on or after September 1, 2006, each party must be eighteen or older and the marriage must not be one the law prohibits. As of this writing, the Colorado Bar Association's Colorado Lawyer counts roughly ten or fewer U.S. jurisdictions that still allow a common law marriage to form. The legislature reaffirmed the doctrine as recently as May 2026, restoring a statutory provision that had been repealed in 2025, when HB26-1218 was signed into law.

The test comes from two cases. People v. Lucero (1987) held that a common law marriage is established by the mutual consent or agreement of the parties to be husband and wife, followed by a mutual and open assumption of a marital relationship. Hogsett v. Neale (2021) refined that test, partly because the old wording did not fit same-sex couples: a common law marriage may be established by the couple's mutual agreement to enter the legal and social institution of marriage, followed by conduct manifesting that agreement. The core question is whether both people intended to share a life as spouses in a committed, intimate relationship of mutual support and obligation.

Colorado courts weigh the totality of the circumstances. Relevant conduct includes living together, reputation in the community as spouses, joint accounts and property, joint tax returns, shared leases and bills, joint estate planning, and symbols of commitment such as ceremonies, anniversaries, gifts, and how the couple referred to one another. No single factor is required, and none decides the question on its own. The burden of proof rests on the person claiming the marriage, by a preponderance of the evidence.

The Seven Year Rule and Other Myths

The most persistent myth is the seven year rule. No number of years of living together creates a common law marriage in Colorado, and no number defeats one. C.R.S. 14-2-109.5 contains no time requirement at all. The length of the relationship by itself proves nothing either way: Colorado courts have recognized marriages formed quickly and rejected claims made after decades of living together.

The 2021 cases prove the point in both directions. In Hogsett v. Neale, the couple had been together for roughly thirteen years, yet the court found no marriage, because one partner testified she did not believe in marriage and never intended to enter one, and mutual agreement is the heart of the test. In LaFleur v. Pyfer (2021), a same-sex couple exchanged vows and rings before family and friends at a 2003 ceremony, and the court affirmed that a common law marriage began that day, years before Colorado recognized same-sex couples' right to marry, because Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) applies retroactively.

Shared bills alone do not settle the question either. Hogsett recognized that many unmarried couples now share homes and finances, which makes the old markers less reliable on their own. Conduct matters as evidence of mutual intent, not as a scorecard.

What a Common Law Marriage Means for Divorce

A common law marriage is not a lesser category. Once it exists, it carries every consequence of a licensed marriage, and it can only be ended the same way, through a formal dissolution case. Partners cannot simply move apart and treat it as over. Leaving one formally undissolved can leave property division, maintenance, and other marital claims open long after the relationship ends.

LaFleur shows what that means in practice. Once the marriage was established, the supreme court sent the case back because the trial court had not properly applied C.R.S. 14-10-113, which governs division of marital property, and C.R.S. 14-10-114, which governs spousal maintenance. A proven common law spouse steps into the full dissolution framework: the same divorce process, the same equitable property division, and the same maintenance analysis that apply in any other marriage.

How a Common Law Marriage Is Proven

There is no registry of common law marriages, so the question usually surfaces when the relationship ends, one way or another. In family court, one partner files for divorce or seeks maintenance and the other denies a marriage ever existed, which is what happened in both Hogsett and LaFleur. In probate court, a surviving partner claims inheritance rights or priority to serve as personal representative under C.R.S. 15-12-203, as in In re Estate of Yudkin (2021), where the supreme court stressed that the absence of joint tax returns, joint property, or a shared last name does not by itself defeat the claim.

However it arises, the court decides the question on the facts, weighing the whole record of the couple's life under the Hogsett test, with the burden on the person claiming the marriage. Anyone on either side of that question, in Denver, Broomfield, or anywhere in Colorado, can talk it through with us; the consultation is free. Divorce work is billed hourly, and how your fee works is explained up front.

This page is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney client relationship.