In the Marriage of Stacey Fortner and Christopher Fortner

Colorado Springs, Colorado family law lawyers represented the parties in a divorce.



Wife and husband married in 2013 and have two children. In

2019, husband and wife's mother purchased a home for the family

to live in together. In 2020, husband moved out of the home and

wife and wife's mother continued to live there. In 2021, wife

petitioned to dissolve the marriage.



After a hearing, the district court issued a decree of

dissolution and permanent orders. As relevant here, the court

ordered that "[a]ny remaining student loans will be considered

marital debt and the parties will evenly divide liability.” The court

also ordered that the parties would equally split the marital equity

in the home, but it did not determine the value of the home or the

marital equity in it because wife's mother did not agree with the

parties regarding how much of the equity was marital. Instead, the

court ordered that the parties would "apply” the fifty-fifty division

"once the net marital share is realized.”



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Reversed