Going through a divorce can be a difficult time for both parties involved. As part of a divorce, you probably know that martial assets must be distributed. Colorado is an equitable distribution state, which means equal or fair division of marital property. This differs from states that follow community property distribution.
Interestingly, Colorado happens to be one of just four states that use different methods of allocating personal injury settlements and workers’ compensation awards. So, let’s look at how both of those would be assessed during a dissolution of marriage.
Personal Injury Settlement
Colorado uses a “mechanistic” approach when it comes to personal injury settlements. That means, that the court will only look at the timing of the injury to classify the settlement as marital or separate property. There is a statutory presumption that all property acquired during a marriage is marital property. This presumption can of course be overcome. However, within the realm of personal injury awards, when looking at the statute concerning the distribution of marital property, C.R.S. 14-10-113(1), the amount of a personal injury settlement is subject to disposition along with other marital
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In In re Marriage of Smith, the court ruled that the approach taken with personal injury settlements was not necessarily the approach to take with workers’ compensation. The court in that case concluded that the Colorado Workers’ Compensation Act was about wage replacement for an injured employee and not necessarily a reflection of marital property. Thus, say in a situation where a workers’ compensation award compensates an employee for diminished earning capacity post-dissolution of marriage, that amount would not be marital property. Therefore, just because an injury and award may have occurred during the marriage does not necessarily make it marital
defend against an action of divorce should not allow the Plaintiff to be afforded further
In the 21st century, divorce has become commonplace not only in the United States, but in many parts of the world. Franklin and Boddie (2004) reported that within 10 years about 40-50% of American marriages end in divorce. In 2009, the divorce rate in the United States stood at 3.6 per 1,000 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009). Divorce, however, is not only a social issue, but it has serious health implications. Divorce has been researched extensively and is considered an adverse event (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009). Adverse events such as personal or parental divorce has been linked to many ailments and conditions including substance abuse, depression, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and premature mortality (Sbarra, Law, & Portley, 2011; CDC, 2009).
Waite, L. J., & Gallagher, M. (2000). Is Marriage A Hitting License. The case for marriage: why
The researchers in this study looked at various types of welfare such as food stamps, Women, Infant, and Children (the nutritional program), and many others. All of these government welfare programs used as a result of divorce cost taxpayers a total of $3.18 billion, 12% of Texas’ budget (Schramm et al., 2013). This article also discusses the possible implications that these statistics may have on future policy. One of the policies suggested in this paper is that the government should allocate money towards assisting couples who seek nonessential divorces and help them resolve their problems (Schramm et al., 2013). The author likens divorce to an illness. It is better to take preventative measures that may stop one from getting sick than it is to treat the symptoms of the illness (Schramm et al.,
Hilton, N Zoe, ed. Legal Responses to Wife Assault: Current Trends and Evaluations. Newbury Park: SAGE Pub. Inc. 1993.
Currently in the United States, divorce has always been present in society but more significantly after the Civil War. Today, it is estimated that 40%-50% of married couples divorce and subsequent marriages is even higher (“Marriage and Divorce”). When couples seek divorce, it is merely a formal dissolution of a marriage. Every divorce case is different and must find an agreement on issues they once shared. The couples may need to divide there assets, debt, and child custody. Just because the divorce is over, the partners will continue to have some type of relationship in order to meet with court’s final agreements. The divorce rates started to increase when Ronald Reagan signed the nations’ first no-fault divorce bill in 1969 (Wilcox, 2009). A “no-fault” divorce simply means that neither partner in the relationship does not have to have a valid reason or prove that the other partner did something wrong. Many have used the term “irreconcilable differences” where the couple do not see eye to eye anymore. Shortly after the divorce reform, almost every state had some form of “no-fault” divorce law.
Divorces are easy to obtain in the United States but the decision needs to be carefully examined. According to statistics, “divorce makes sense in the 10 percent to 15 percent of troubled marriages that involve high-level and persistent conflict with severe abuse and physical violence” (Dafoe 1). In the other 85 to 90 percent of marriages, the marriage can and should be reconciled. Many couples simply take the easy way out, find a lawyer, and end the marriage without ever trying to examine whether or not a conclusion can be reached other than divorce.
The concept of collaborative divorce is slowly making its way into American Court rooms. It provides an affordable alternative to litigation, and demands full cooperation of all parties. It reduces the risk of conflict, and in the event of disagreement there are trained professionals ready to intervene. A neutral law firm would function as the core for a movement for collaboration – a movemen...
Not only do divorcees spend substantial amounts of money from their initial transaction, they may also spend twice as much from trying to separate from their lawyer. Many lawyers around the country embezzle, cheat, steal, and bribe their way into winning any case. Because of this, many family attorneys end up being sued by their own clients causing a significant amount of pain, suffering and long lasti...
Every year approximately 2.4 million marriages occur.Out of those,2.1 millionwill file for divorce in the United States. These marriage and divorce rates have significantly increased since the years past(Coltrane and Adams, 364).According to Schoen, in the 1950’s, 15 out of 1,000 marriages ended in divorce.In the 1970’s, the rates of divorcedoubled,increasing to 40 per 1,000 marriages. Currently, the rate of marriages resulting in divorce remains the same. Most marriages are ending within seven years ofthemarriage for multiple different reasons. Sociologists haveestablisheddivorce as a social problem from the rise in divorcerates due to the early year of marriages (2006).
As with most life transitions, divorce can be liberating, depressing, frustrating, or traumatic to any person who experiences it. Perhaps the most painful part on the process of divorce is when the children get involved and when they all get trapped in the situation. These children may suffer significant losses in their lives and unless the situation can be handled in a civil manner, they will become prone to the psychological torment that could affect them for the rest of their lives. The issue of divorce however is becoming more and more intense since for the past ten years the divorce rate in the United States has skyrocketed to a record high of almost fifty- percent. It is also believed that the divorce rate in the United States is the highest in the world and the reason for this are primarily the ever-changing role of the husbands and wives in their household, early marriage, infidelity, extra marital affairs, domestic violence, financial instability and psychological incapacity.
According to an article by Cathy Meyers under Texas Law “in a decree of divorce or annulment, the court shall order a division of the estate of the parties in a manner that the court deems just and right, having due regard for the rights of each party and any children of the marriage” (Meyer, 1,2014). Texas being a community property states would mean that the judge would have to divide the assets and debts up 50/50. I would divide the property by first getting rid of the separate property first. That being said, Mary would be able to ...
Many people believe that it is a clear fact that the cons of a no-fault divorce outweigh the pros of a no-fault divorce, however, when taking a deeper look into the situation, the pros actually outweigh the cons by a landslide. For those who support no-fault divorce, there are little to no cons on the topic. If any, the cons would be that the relationship did not work out as expected, yet this is a part of life, so it is not an extremely significant con. Otherwise, the only other con is the bad reputation critics give no-fault divorce. For example, the claim “that no-fault divorce has contributed to a ‘divorce culture’ that emphasizes the pursuit of individual happiness and fulfillment over commitment to one’s spouse and children,” (Ehrlich, p. 164) significantly taints the idea behind a no-fault divorce and what
Divorces begin with an application to the court asking it to declare that there has been a breakdown of the marriage. This application must include paragraphs which refer to where and when the marriage took place, who the children were, who should have custody and why, if there is to be support for one of the spouses paid for by the other, and what is to become of the family property. Certified copies of the marriage certificate and any birth certificates are attached. The claim for support is known as "Corollary relief" and may be for the spouses and/or the children (claims for custody also fall under corollary relief claims). When corollary relief is requested, a financial statement which sets out your families monthly expenses in detail is required.
Restoring the importance of marriage to society and the welfare of children may require the courts to make this one of their tasks. Refocusing funds to preserve marriage by reducing divorce will be good for children and society, but in the long- run will save money. If the court would order a couple to stay and fight for their marriage, maybe the lesson would trickle into other areas of their life and other issues faced would become easier to solve. Making it harder for them to walk out would require participation in counseling and quality time spent together before granted a divorce. American society, through its institutions, must teach core principles: that marriage is the best environment in which to raise healthy, happy children. (Robert E. Rector Senior Research Fellow in Domestic Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation).