Legal Question in Family Law in Colorado

Re: marital property

A lease or a loan would provide a clear method and remedies to your dad if the money he lends is not repaid. However, neither of those prevents the car from being classified as marital property. The best way to avoid the marital property classification is to have him give it to you as a gift. You may be taxed on part of the value of the car if it's given as a gift, but usually you are allowed to keep any gifts you receive during your marriage. (I think the IRS allows for gifts of $10K per person per year and anything over that would be income.) That being said, your assets and liabilities will be equitably divided. So you may be allowed to keep the car but it might mean she gets more of the value of some other asset- like your house. If you're contemplating divorce though it might be better not to enter this type of transaction.