Your Position In the Absence of A Prenuptial Agreement. If you are married and living in Colorado, your spouse has certain rights granted by statute if the marriage terminates by divorce. Colorado statutes delineate two types of property which exist during the marriage, in the absence of a prenuptial agreement. First, there is separate property, which is all property you owned prior to the marriage, and all property received by gift or inheritance during the marriage.
Marital property exists regardless of how title is held.
The increase in value in those assets during the marriage would be marital property, subject to division upon divorce. In addition, if you used the income earned from those assets to purchase additional assets, those assets purchased with income from separate property would themselves be marital property. But, again, the income from and appreciation on that asset would be marital property. Further, the increase in value of your retirement account during the marriage is marital property. Consequently, upon divorce, the court could grant your spouse certain rights to your retirement plan account.