What Is A Common Law Marriage?
Unlike the vast majority of states, the State of Colorado will allow parties to consider themselves "married" even though they have not obtained a marriage license or participated in a civil or religious ceremony formally consecrating their marital relationship.
A broad definition of the use of "Common Law" can be found on the Wikipedia site. Howver, the law in Colorado carefully defines a "common law" marriage as one where the "parties mutual consent or agree to be husband and wife, followed by a mutual and open assumption of a marital relationship."
The Colorado courts first recognized the existence of a common law marriage in a court decision in 1907. Therefore, the parties agreement that they are married, cohabitate as husband and wife, and engage in other conduct and circumstances that indicate that they have entered into a marital relationship, may be strong enough to convince a judge that the relationship should be treated by the law, the same as a ceremonial marriage. This is significant in light of the thousands of divorce and legal separation cases that are filed each year in the State of Colorado.
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