The Colorado Supreme Court will take up a case that questions whether common law same-sex marriages should be recognized in the era before the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the practice in Colorado in 2015.

Dean LaFleur, who lives in Jefferson County, held a commitment ceremony with his then-boyfriend, Tim Pyfer, in 2003. When Pyfer sued LaFleur years later for spousal support, Westword reported, LaFleur lost a “sizeable amount” of his assets because, in a twist, a judge ruled that the two had been legally married and needed to seek a divorce.

LaFleur said that Pyfer wanted the commitment ceremony, and LaFluer acquiesced because he felt it was not legally binding. Pyfer countered that he presented it as a proposal for marriage.

“Even the decorations were called into question” in the lawsuit, LaFleur told Westword. “Like, ‘Aren’t those wedding bells hanging over your head?’ But how do you decorate for a commitment ceremony? It was just a decoration.”

The relationship soured and LaFleur moved away. In 2009, he returned to Colorado and moved in once more with Pyfer. LaFleur described the arrangement as “roommates,” although he did support Pyfer financially. According to LaFleur, when he asked Pyfer to leave in December 2017, Pyfer sued him.

A district court judge found that the commitment ceremony constituted a wedding, which called for a legal separation. Consequently the two men formally divorced each other in September 2018.

“I’m just asking to be held to the laws that were in place at the time, not the way the laws might be in the future,” LaFleur said after the ruling. Pyfer disagreed with LaFleur’s representation of events, disputing that LaFleur was the victim.

“I did my research and found a lawyer to determine whether or not it was a common-law marriage,” he said to Westword. “And she said, ‘I think you’ve got a case.'”

The case is Dean LaFleur v. Timothy Pyfer.