Marriage of Bailey

CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 6, 2025
Docket23CA1280
StatusUnpublished

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Marriage of Bailey, (Colo. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

23CA1280 Marriage of Bailey 03-06-2025

COLORADO COURT OF APPEALS

Court of Appeals No. 23CA1280 Jefferson County District Court No. 21DR30933 Honorable Jack W. Berryhill, Judge

In re the Marriage of

Charlene M. Bailey,

Appellee and Cross-Appellant,

and

David E. Bailey,

Appellant and Cross-Appellee.

JUDGMENT AFFIRMED IN PART AND REVERSED IN PART, AND CASE REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS

Division III Opinion by JUDGE TOW Dunn and Graham*, JJ., concur

NOT PUBLISHED PURSUANT TO C.A.R. 35(e) Announced March 6, 2025

Belzer Law, Aaron B. Belzer, Ashlee N. Hoffman, Boulder, Colorado; Stahly Miner, LLC, Todd A. Stahly, J.P. Prentiss, Denver, Colorado, for Appellee and Cross-Appellant

Caplan & Earnest, LLC, Andrew C. Littman, Craig A. Weinberg, Boulder, Colorado, for Appellant and Cross-Appellee

*Sitting by assignment of the Chief Justice under provisions of Colo. Const. art. VI, § 5(3), and § 24-51-1105, C.R.S. 2024. ¶1 David E. Bailey (husband) appeals the permanent orders

entered on the dissolution of his marriage to Charlene M. Bailey

(wife). He argues that the trial court erred by holding that the

parties’ premarital agreement (PMA) was invalid and otherwise

unenforceable. Wife cross-appeals the trial court’s division of the

marital property, asserting that the court erred in its valuation of

husband’s business. We affirm the judgment as to wife’s cross-

appeal, reverse the judgment as to husband’s appeal, and remand

for further proceedings.

I. Background

¶2 The parties married in 2006. In January 2000, over six years

before their marriage, wife executed the PMA, which already bore

husband’s signature when it was presented to her. At the time, the

parties had been in a relationship for approximately five years. Wife

testified that while the parties had previously discussed entering

into a premarital agreement, it had been a source of disagreement

in their relationship because she adamantly opposed such an

agreement.

¶3 According to wife, husband presented the PMA to her shortly

after the parties had moved together into a new house, and his

1 presentation of the PMA resulted in a significant argument. While

wife initially refused to sign, she testified that over the course of the

argument, husband became “angry” and was “personally attacking”

her. She asserted that she was not afforded any time to read the

PMA, discuss it with an attorney, or review certain handwritten

annotations that husband had made on the document. After an

hour of arguing, wife angrily signed the PMA on a page titled,

“Statement of Counsel,” which contained signature blocks for the

parties’ respective attorneys to acknowledge the PMA. The PMA was

not notarized, and the signature block for wife’s signature was left

blank.

¶4 Wife explained that she eventually signed because husband

would not stop “pressuring” and “badgering” her to sign, and she

“needed to get out of the situation” because she was afraid husband

would “snap.” Exhibits where the parties could provide financial

disclosures were left blank. However, wife acknowledged that she

had been generally aware of husband’s finances before the parties

were married.

¶5 The dissolution proceedings were bifurcated. After an initial

hearing on the validity of the PMA, the trial court held that the PMA

2 was neither valid nor enforceable under Colorado law based on

“procedural unconscionability” surrounding the PMA’s execution.

¶6 At the hearing on the division of the marital property, the

parties called multiple expert witnesses to opine on the premarital

and present value of husband’s interest in his family’s longstanding

business, Erie County Investment Co. (Erie). The trial court

ultimately adopted, with minor alterations, the valuations proposed

by husband’s experts. Accordingly, the trial court found that

husband’s separate, premarital interest in Erie was worth

$19,355,581 and his present interest in Erie was worth

$21,754,061, meaning that there was a $2,398,480 increase in the

value of Erie that qualified as marital property, which the court

allocated.

II. Husband’s Appeal Concerning the Validity and Enforceability of the PMA

¶7 Husband’s sole contention on appeal is that the trial court

erred by refusing to enforce the PMA. Because we agree that the

trial court strayed from the applicable legal standards and

otherwise made insufficient factual findings, we conclude that

further proceedings are necessary.

3 A. The Colorado Marital Agreement Act

¶8 Because the PMA was executed by wife in 2000, the Colorado

Marital Agreement Act (CMAA) applies. See § 14-2-310, C.R.S.

2000 (providing that the CMAA is applicable to all premarital

agreements signed after July 1, 1986); § 14-2-303, C.R.S. 2024

(applying the later, Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act

to all premarital agreements signed after July 1, 2014).

¶9 Under the CMAA, a marital or premarital agreement must be

in writing and signed by both parties. § 14-2-303, C.R.S. 2000.

However, a premarital agreement is not otherwise enforceable if the

party opposing enforcement proves (1) that “[s]uch party did not

execute the agreement . . . voluntarily” or (2) that “[b]efore execution

of the agreement . . . such party was not provided a fair and

reasonable disclosure of the property or financial obligations of the

other party.” § 14-2-307(1), C.R.S. 2000; In re Marriage of Goldin,

923 P.2d 376, 380 (Colo. App. 1996) (“Absent involuntary execution

or unfair and unreasonable disclosure . . . , a marital agreement is

enforceable.”).

¶ 10 While the CMAA does not define “voluntarily,” or what

constitutes a “fair and reasonable disclosure,” see § 14-2-307(1),

4 C.R.S. 2000, the supreme court has explained that “[t]he General

Assembly’s overriding intent in passing the CMAA was to codify

Colorado’s common law regarding marital agreements.” In re

Marriage of Ikeler, 161 P.3d 663, 668 (Colo. 2007). Thus, we may

look to Colorado cases concerning premarital agreements that

predate the CMAA to inform our interpretation of the statute. See

id.

¶ 11 We review the trial court’s interpretation of the CMAA and its

other conclusions of law de novo. Id. at 666. In interpreting the

CMAA, we first look to the language of the statute and afford the

words their plain and ordinary meanings, and we must consider the

statute as a whole and interpret it in order to give consistent,

harmonious, and sensible effect to all its parts. Id. at 666-67. If

the language in the statute is clear, it must be applied as written.

In re Marriage of Zander, 2019 COA 149, ¶ 12, aff’d, 2021 CO 12.

¶ 12 We defer to the trial court’s factual findings unless they are

clearly erroneous, meaning that there is no evidence to support

them. In re Marriage of Dean, 2017 COA 51, ¶ 8. However, the

court must make findings of fact and conclusions of law sufficiently

5 explicit to give us a clear understanding of the basis of its order.

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