Colorado divorce lawyers are a necessary and useful service in Colorado. Divorce laws fall under family law, a broader category which is handled by family courts. There are two kinds of divorces, absolute and limited.

In an absolute divorce, the couple separates on a permanent basis and has no legal bindings or obligations once the divorce decree is served. In a limited divorce, the couple separate and are no longer cohabitants.

Common grounds for divorce are and include cruelty and mistreatment, abandonment, imprisonment for more than three years, adultery and inhuman treatment.

Under the new Colorado divorce laws, family courts are to actively manage divorce cases as well as other family law cases. Also, the affected parties should disclose information on a full and complete basis.

Though Colorado does not have formal certification for mediation practitioners, the Colorado Council of Mediators and Family Law Section of the Colorado Bar Association have developed the Recommended Guidelines for Mediator Education and Training.

This assists the various consumers, judges, attorneys and other professionals while choosing a mediator in Colorado. The mediators who meet these guidelines require a specified course in mediation training and education. They also require tenure of experience including oversight by a mentor. They should also be actively participating in continuing education in mediation ethics.

There are many experienced divorce mediators in Colorado. They strive to offer a positive and affordable alternative to adversarial divorce, child custody, child support and other related family law disputes.

Colorado divorce lawyers should have experience and be well read about family, divorce and other Colorado legal issues.

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As a new generation of twenty-something’s reaches marriage age; more and more couples are opting to live together and either delay or entirely forego that long trip down the aisle. This is not surprising considering that many of today’s young adults carry deep wounds from a record high divorce rate that plagued their parents’ generation in the 1980’s and 90’s.

In an attempt to avoid becoming part of a divorce statistic, it is possible that young couples avoid marriage in order to avoid divorce. Unfortunately, the legal consequences of a breakup for unmarried couples can actually be far worse than the legal consequences of divorce.

The most effective way to gain the legal benefits of marriage is by getting married, but same-sex couples are denied the legal right to marry in Illinois, and many heterosexual couples are resistant to marriage. Thus, there are steps that Illinois attorneys can take to ensure that cohabiting couples receive most of the legal benefits of marriage.

The legal disadvantages of cohabitation

When a married couple divorces, each person is generally entitled to 50% of all assets attained during marriage. Co-habiting couples, on the other hand, do not have the luxury of a legal formula to determine what happens to all of their assets when they break up. For example, when a married couple buys a car, only one person’s name is on the title, but courts recognize that each person has equal ownership of it, whereas courts would give 100% ownership of a co-habiting couple’s car to the title holder. There is no assumption that a co-habiting couple’s assets are jointly owned, and neither person is entitled to anything that they did not specifically pay for or gain title to.

The 1970 lawsuit of Hewitt v. Hewitt, 77 Ill 2d 49, 394 NE2d 1204 (1979), is the most recent Illinois Supreme Court case involving the division of assets between non-married cohabitants. The Hewitt’s lived together outside of marriage, but Ms. Hewitt changed her name and the couple presented themselves as husband and wife. The couple agreed that Mr. Hewitt would be the primary wage earner while Ms. Hewitt fulfilled all other tasks involved in maintaining the household. When the couple broke up, the Illinois Supreme Court decided that because Mr. Hewitt supported the household financially, Ms. Hewitt had no right to any of the couples’ assets.

If the facts in the Hewitt case were different, and instead of breaking up, Mr. Hewitt died, technically, the result would have been the same. Ms. Hewitt could have been served with an eviction notice from Mr. Hewitt’s relatives and been forced to leave her home.

Cohabitation is considered socially undesirable in Illinois, and thus far, courts have not gone out of their way to extend the benefits of marriage to cohabitants. Because the result of breakups and death among cohabiting couples can be unfair, it is important for unmarried couples to hire attorneys and secure the legal benefits of marriage.

Contracts for cohabitants

The lesson from Hewitt v. Hewitt is that cohabiting parties should form written contracts regarding living arrangements. One simple written document drafted by an attorney could have changed the result of the entire case for Ms. Hewitt.

Although written contracts and wills cannot provide all of the legal benefits of marriage, such as social security benefits based on a spouse’s earnings or loss of consortium based on a spouse’s damages in a lawsuit, an effective attorney can ensure that cohabitants receive most of the legal benefits of marriage.

Contracts can indicate that all assets attained during cohabitation are joint assets, to be divided equally in the event of a break up. Furthermore, written contracts between unmarried couples can establish each person’s services to the household, such as who makes money and who is responsible for household management.

Estate planning is another step that cohabitants should consider to give members of a couple rights to one another’s property and health care in the event of death or serious medical illness. Ordinarily, when one member of a cohabiting couple becomes ill or dies, the other has no right to make serious medical decisions or inherit the other’s estate. Typically, the deceased partner’s estate is left in the hands of his or her family, which can be particularly troublesome when the decedent’s relatives hate the other partner.

Unmarried couples risk ugly battles in the event of death or breakups, with no assistance from Illinois courts unless their relationships are governed by contracts. By drafting contracts and wills, attorneys can provide cohabiting couples most of the legal benefits of marriage.

Emily Gleason is a law student at John Marshall in Chicago. For more information about Illinois family law, please visit http://www.findgreatlawyers.com/HotTopics/IllDivorce.htm, and http://www.findgreatlawyers.com/HotTopics/EstatePlanning.htm, leading resources for referrals to Illinois divorce lawyers and Illinois estate planning lawyers.

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Let me preface this by saying right up front - this is NOT for everyone. The key is that my situation was friendly enough to still communicate with each other after we split. My ex-wife and I agreed that our kids were certainly worth that! And we still have to deal with one another until they are through college. This is offered as a life experience only and not intended as legal advice. As such, this may not apply to you.

After 25 years of marriage, I decided that I did not want to be married to my wife. We had drifted apart and in the last few years, things were getting worse. We had little in common anymore… including friends. By and large, mine were different from hers. She would go away on her weekends and I would go on mine. Other than our children, whom we both love very much, we were just a couple living together. She is still a good woman, just not one I wanted to be married to. There had to be something else… Sound familiar?

As our situation unfolded, she retained an attorney early on and we began negotiations in earnest within a month of separation. Sure we had our differences! But with an open line of communication available, we (her attorney and I) talked out our problems and came to an agreement within a few months.

I felt confident in representing myself after performing a few hours of research on the internet. And you bet, I was prepared to bail out and get an attorney too. But having done the research, nothing that came up was a surprise at all. I was very pleasantly surprised and amazed. I found that many things were already prescribed by statute as being pretty cut and dried. Child support? Maintenance? In NY, where I live, it was a matter of using past incomes to arrive at an appropriate level. The method and level were already set.

When it seemed to be all sorted out, I went to an attorney that a friend recommended highly. He had an offer of the first consultation costing only $50. for a one half hour conference. All I did was take the agreement to him for review. At the consultations conclusion, his exact words were “It seems that you have a pretty good handle on this. If you can get this signed and executed, you don’t need me. Just call me if anything changes.” Frankly I was overwhelmed! I had just saved $3,000. minimum! Money that could be used to put MY kids through college, not his!

I don’t really know how unique my situation was. Hence, I do credit some luck on my part, as I said in the article summary. But it wasn’t difficult.

I have performed a few legal services for myself in the past such as setting up a corporation, partnership, and purchase agreements. I believe that a person of reasonable intelligence can save an incredible amount of money on legal services, if they will do the research and use the preprinted legal forms that so many attorneys use themselves. It helps if you have gone through similar situations in the past. But had I ever had a divorce? Heck no! I had been married for over 25 years.

But here’s the catch, I don’t have a degree in law either! I urge you to not take this as a slam on attorneys. They have an excellent purpose in society, in spite of the jokes. I had the comfort level that allowed me to proceed beyond what I had anticipated I could. It won’t work for everyone. Certainly, not everyone has that comfort level. It worked for me.

As a result of his life experiences, the author, George R Devendorf, was able to save several thousand dollars in legal fees. As a result, Mr. Devendorf has created a website to help others that feel able to represent themselves in certain legal matters. http://www.GotLegalHelp.com offers downloadable legal forms that are the same forms used by attorneys themselves! Whether your issue is Divorce, Incorporation, Last Will & Testament, Prenuptial Agreement, or Bankruptcy, GLH forms are available for most states.

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