A person who has cohabited with another to whom he or she
is not legally married in the good faith belief that he or she was married to that person is a
putative spouse until knowledge of the fact that he or she is not legally married terminates his or
her status and prevents acquisition of further rights. A putative spouse acquires the rights
conferred upon a legal spouse, including the right to maintenance following termination of his or
her status, whether or not the marriage is prohibited under section 14-2-110, declared invalid, or
otherwise terminated by court action. If there is a legal spouse or other putative spouses, rights
acquired by a putative spouse do not supersede the rights of the legal spouse or those acquired by
other putative spouses, but the court shall apportion property, maintenance, and support rights
among the claimants as appropriate in the circumstances and in the interests of justice.
Source: L. 73: R&RE, p. 1019, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 90-1-11. L. 2018: Entire section
amended, (SB 18-095), ch. 96, p. 753, § 6, effective August 8.
Cross references: For the legislative declaration in SB 18-095, see section 1 of chapter
96, Session Laws of Colorado 2018.
Notes of Decisions
Parental Responsibilities Concerning D.P.G, 2020 COA 115 (Colo. Ct. App. 2020).
· cites it 29× “— Family Law — Marriage and Rights of Married Persons — Putative Spouse A division of the court of appeals considers whether a party may attain putative spouse status under section 14-2-111, C.R.S. 2019, after a magistrate determined that no common law marriage existed.”
In re the Marriage of Joel & Roohi, 404 P.3d 1251 (Colo. Ct. App. 2012).
· cites it 2× “1987) (“Section 14-2-111 [addressing the rights of one believing in good faith that he was married to another with whom he cohab-itated] was enacted to protect innocent participants ■ in meretricious relationships and the children of those relationships.”
Manker v. Manker, 644 N.W.2d 522 (Neb. 2002).
· cites it 2× “See, also, Colo.Rev.Stat. Ann. § 14-2-111 (West 1997); 750 111.”
Combs v. Tibbitts, 148 P.3d 430 (Colo. Ct. App. 2006).
· cites it 7× “Following a bench trial, the court ruled that the parties were putative spouses pursuant to § 14-2-111, C.R.S.2006. It based its ruling on plaintiffs admission that he entered into the agreement because of his mistaken religious belief that he was married to defendant.”
Williams v. Williams, 97 P.3d 1124 (Nev. 2004).
· cites it 2× “Code § 2251 (West 1994); Colo. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 14-2-111 (West 2003); 750 Ill.”
People v. McGuire, 751 P.2d 1011 (Colo. Ct. App. 1987).
· cites it 4× “Defendant argues that he is the putative spouse of the complaining witness pursuant to § 14-2-111, C.R.S. (1987 Repl. Vol. 6B), which provides: “Any person who has cohabited with another to whom he is not legally married in the good faith belief that he was married to that…”
Williams v. Fireman's Fund Ins. Co., 670 P.2d 453 (Colo. Ct. App. 1983).
· cites it 3× “Section 14-2-111, C.R.S.1973, states, in pertinent part: “Any person who has cohabited with another to whom [s]he is not legally married in the good faith belief that [sjhe was married to that person is a putative spouse until knowledge of the fact that [s]he is not legally…”
Grabois v. Jones, 89 F.3d 97 (2d Cir. 1996).
“What Kay Jones contends-and what we sought guidance about in certifying a question to the New York Court of Appeals-is that the payment of benefits does not inevitably depend on the validity of a marriage.”
Est. of Petri (Colo. Ct. App. 2025).
· cites it 10× “2024, or was, in the alternative, his putative spouse, see § 14-2-111, C.R.S. 2024. Mayo also alleged that, one day after the decedent’s death, several of the decedent’s relatives forcibly entered the decedent and Mayo’s house, 1 took his personal property, changed the locks,…”
Grabois v. Jones, 77 F.3d 574 (2d Cir. 1996).
“See Colo.Rev.Stat. § 14-2-111 (1995); Ill.Ann.”
Duoc Van Nguyen v. Huyen T. Lai (Colo. Ct. App. 2022).
“¶ 11 Nor are we persuaded that the district court was divested of jurisdiction after it determined that Ms. Lai wasn’t a putative spouse.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.