Free Colorado Prenuptial Agreement Template

A Colorado prenuptial agreement is a signed record in which future spouses set financial terms for their marriage. Colorado’s Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act, C.R.S. §§ 14-2-301 to 14-2-313, governs it.

Section 14-2-309 is the heart of the Act. It comes from a 2013 rewrite of the Act that took effect July 1, 2014.

Both Partners Sign a Record

A premarital agreement that isn’t in a record and signed by both partners is unenforceable under § 14-2-309(8).

Real Access to a Lawyer

Each partner must have had access to independent legal representation. Before signing, they need reasonable time to decide on a lawyer, find one, and weigh the advice.

There’s a money piece too. Suppose the other partner has a lawyer. Then this partner must be able to afford one, or the other partner must agree to pay reasonable fees.

Good-Faith Financial Disclosure

Before signing, each partner should receive a reasonably accurate description of the other’s property, debts, and income. That description needs a good-faith estimate of value. Otherwise, the partner must already have adequate knowledge of that information, or a reasonable basis for it.

Support and Fee Terms Get a Second Look

Terms that set, limit, or remove spousal maintenance, or that waive or allocate attorney fees, face another test. They’re unenforceable to the extent they are unconscionable when someone seeks to enforce them. The court decides that question as a matter of law.

Not always, but skipping one adds a drafting duty. Under § 14-2-309(1)(c), a partner who signs without a lawyer can later attack the agreement if it lacks key wording.

Your Colorado prenuptial agreement needs one of two things. It can carry the statutory notice of waiver of rights. Or it can explain, in plain language, the marital rights it changes or gives up.

A challenge can also succeed on three other grounds:

• Consent that was involuntary or the result of duress
• No access to independent legal representation
• Inadequate financial disclosure before signing

1. Share the draft early. Give each partner reasonable time to find a lawyer and weigh the advice.
2. Sort out legal fees. When only one partner has a lawyer, make sure the other can afford one too. Otherwise, agree in writing to cover their reasonable fees.
3. Exchange financial statements. List property, debts, and income with good-faith values.
4. Add the waiver notice. Place it where it’s easy to see if either partner signs without a lawyer.
5. Both partners sign the final record. Keep the disclosures and fee arrangement with it.

A Colorado prenuptial agreement signed by a partner without a lawyer needs a notice of waiver of rights, unless it explains those rights in plain language instead. Section 14-2-309(3) calls for conspicuous display and wording substantially similar to the statute’s, as it applies to your terms.

That notice warns the signer they may be giving up rights to:

• Support from the person they’re marrying
• Ownership or control of money and property
• Money and property if the marriage ends or the spouse dies
• Payment of their legal fees

Copy the exact notice from § 14-2-309(3) and keep only the lines that fit your terms. Beyond the notice, include:

• Each partner’s financial disclosure, with good-faith values
• Property and debt terms for the marriage and for divorce or death
• Any maintenance and attorney fee terms
• Signatures from both partners