Like it or not, while Colorado has adopted the concept of common law marriage, there is no such thing as a “common law divorce.”

When people in a common law marriage break up, the court handles issues such as asset division, parental rights, child support, and maintenance in the exact same manner that it would for a legally married couple. This means that the same marital equitable property laws apply and any assets acquired after the start of your common law marriage may be subject to division.

If you do not have a common law marriage, you must use a partition action to divide your jointly-owned assets if you are not able to otherwise resolve your ownership issues between yourselves. A partition action allows someone with an interest in certain real or personal property to request that a judge issue a distribution order.