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court decrees are silent on the issue, we look to Colorado law6
in order to determine whether Mr. Lovejoy's legal duty to pay
unallocated family support would terminate upon Ms. Miller's
death. Cf. Brown v. Commissioner, 50 T.C. 865 (1968), affd. per
curiam 415 F.2d 310 (4th Cir. 1969).
Colorado has enacted the Uniform Dissolution of Marriage Act
(UDMA), Colo. Rev. Stat. secs. 14-10-101 through 14-10-133
(1998). As enacted in Colorado, the UDMA specifically authorizes
two types of support orders: Maintenance and child support. See
Colo. Rev. Stat. secs. 14-10-114, 14-10-115. The term
"maintenance" is defined to include the term "alimony". Colo.
Rev. Stat. sec. 14-10-103(1).
Under the UDMA as enacted in Colorado, the obligation to pay
future maintenance terminates upon the death of either party or
the remarriage of either spouse, unless otherwise agreed in
writing or expressly provided in the decree. See Colo. Rev.
Stat. sec. 14-10-122(2); Menor v. Menor, 391 P.2d 473, 477 (Colo.
1964). On the other hand, the obligation to pay child support is
6Because Mr. Lovejoy and Ms. Miller reside in Colorado, they
are bound by Colorado law on the issue of when the unallocated
child support and maintenance payments terminate. See Napolitano
v. Napolitano, 732 P.2d 245 (Colo. Ct. App. 1986); McDonald v.
McDonald, 634 P.2d 1031 (Colo. Ct. App. 1981);. Under Colorado
law, support orders are governed by the law of the State that
issued the orders. See Colo. Rev. Stat. secs. 14-5-303, 14-5-604
(1998).
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