Current Status Of Same Sex Marriage & Divorce In Colorado
On June 26, 2015 the U.S. Supreme Court in Obergefell et al. v. Hodges, Director, Ohio Department of Health, et al. (No. 14-556; cite: 576 U.S.) ruled that the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out of state (37 states had allowed same sex marriage prior to the decision).
On October 7, 2014 Colorado Legalized Same Sex Marriage
Colorado Enacted Civil Union Legislation Effective May 1, 2013
In June 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court in U.S. v. Windsor, 570 U.S. (Docket # 12-307) struck down a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), ruling that to deny same sex married couples federal benefits and procedures was unconstitutional.
In 2014, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Kitchen v. Herbert found Utah’s ban on same sex marriage unconstitutional, and stayed the ruling pending review by the U.S. Supreme Court. On October 6, 2014, The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of that decision. Colorado’s Attorney General asked the Tenth Circuit to lift a stay in a similar Colorado case, and on October 7, 2014, same sex marriage became legal in Colorado.
Currently, in Colorado the same statutes apply to same sex couples (whether in a Civil Union or married) as to married non-same sex couples that are divorcing.