§ 28-200. Creation and termination of committed partnerships.

(a)

To be a person's committed partner, an individual must:

(1)

Be an unmarried person eighteen (18) years of age or older and competent to contract;

(2)

Not have been prohibited from marrying his or her committed partner under the law of this state by reason of a blood relationship to the committed partner or by reason of adoption;

(3)

Share a common household, as defined herein, with the committed partner;

(4)

Not have a different committed partner under the provisions of this article or any other comparable domestic partnership provision;

(5)

Execute, with his or her committed partner, a certificate of committed partnership, attesting to the foregoing requirements and that the parties are in a close, committed relationship with the present intention to remain in that relationship; and

(6)

Not have terminated the committed partnership.

(b)

A "common household" is a place where both committed partners reside some or all of the time. The legal right to occupy the common household need not be joint.

(c)

The term "marriage," as used in this article, shall mean a marriage as defined in section 14-2-104 C.R.S.

(d)

A committed partnership is established when both parties execute a certificate of committed partnership, attesting to the foregoing facts, before the Clerk of the City and County of Denver.

(e)

A committed partnership ends when either of the committed partners dies, marries, or executes a certificate of termination, stating that one (1) or more of the criteria listed in paragraph (a) of this section no longer apply, subject to the following conditions:

(1)

The committed partnership shall terminate as of the date of the death or marriage of either partner, or as of the date of executing the certificate of termination;

(2)

In the event that only one (1) of the partners executes the certificate of termination, then that partner shall, in such certificate, attest to the fact that he or she has sent a copy of the certificate of termination to the other partner at the other partner's last known address, registered mail, return receipt requested.

(f)

To be effective, certificates of committed partnership and certificates of termination must be certified by the Clerk, City and County of Denver. Certificates of committed partnership and certificates of termination may be filed with the Clerk, City and County of Denver. The clerk shall assess a fee for certifying such certificates, and provide one (1) certified copy to one (1) or both of the parties, and the fee shall be commensurate with the actual cost of administering this article.

(g)

The office of the Clerk, City and County of Denver, may make available forms for creating and terminating committed partnerships, which forms shall meet all requirements for registering a committed partnership pursuant to this article. In addition to meeting the foregoing requirements of this article, any forms provided by the office of the clerk shall include a statement that under current law registering a committed partnership under the provisions of this article does not alter the parties' contract or property rights.

(Ord. No. 897-99, § 1, 11-29-99)