Title 15, Probate, Trusts, and Fiduciaries

(1) Subject to section 15-11-1308 (4), and except as provided in section 15-11-1306, an electronic will must be: (a) A record that is readable as text at the time of signing under subsection (1)(b) of this section; (b) Signed by: (I) The testator; or (II) Another individual in th…

Section 15-11-503 applies to a will executed electronically. Source: L. 2021: Entire part added with relocations, (SB 21-266), ch. 423, p. 2798, § 11, effective July 2.

(1) An electronic will may revoke all or part of a previous will. (2) All or part of an electronic will is revoked by: (a) A subsequent will that revokes all or part of the electronic will expressly or by inconsistency; or (b) A physical act, if it is established by clear and con…

(1) An electronic will may be simultaneously executed, attested, and made self-proving by acknowledgment of the testator and affidavits of the witnesses. (2) The acknowledgment and affidavits under subsection (1) of this section must be: (a) Made in the physical presence of an of…

An individual may create a certified paper copy of an electronic will by affirming under penalty of perjury that a paper copy of the electronic will is a complete, true, and accurate copy of the electronic will. If the electronic will is made self-proving, the certified paper cop…

In applying and construing this uniform act, consideration must be given to the need to promote uniformity of the law with respect to its subject matter among states that enact it. Source: L. 2021: Entire part added with relocations, (SB 21-266), ch. 423, p. 2800, § 11, effective…

This part 13 applies to the will of a decedent who dies on or after July 2, 2021. Source: L. 2021: Entire part added with relocations, (SB 21-266), ch. 423, p. 2800, § 11, effective July 2.

(1) "Bona fide purchaser" means a purchaser for value in good faith and without notice of an adverse claim. The notation of a state documentary fee on a recorded instrument pursuant to section 39-13-103, C.R.S., is prima facie evidence that the transfer described therein was made…

(1) Elective-share amount. The surviving spouse of a decedent who dies domiciled in this state has a right of election, under the limitations and conditions stated in this part 2, to take an elective-share amount equal to fifty percent of the value of the marital-property portion…

(1) Subject to section 15-11-208, the value of the augmented estate, to the extent provided in sections 15-11-204, 15-11-205, 15-11-206, and 15-11-207, consists of the sum of the values of all property, whether real or personal, movable or immovable, tangible or intangible, where…

The value of the augmented estate includes the value of the decedent's probate estate, reduced by funeral and administrative expenses, family allowance, exempt property, and enforceable claims. Source: L. 2014: Entire part R&RE, (HB 14-1322), ch. 296, p. 1223, § 2, effective Augu…

The value of the augmented estate includes the value of the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others, not included in the decedent's probate estate under section 15-11-204, of any of the following types, in the amount provided respectively for each type of transfer: (1) Property…

Excluding property passing to the surviving spouse under the federal social security system after the decedent's date of death, the value of the augmented estate includes the value of the decedent's nonprobate transfers to the decedent's surviving spouse, which consist of all pro…

(1) Except to the extent included in the augmented estate under section 15-11-204 or 15-11-206, the value of the augmented estate includes the value of: (a) Property that was owned by the decedent's surviving spouse at the decedent's death, including: (I) The surviving spouse's f…

(1) Exclusions. (a) The value of any property is excluded from the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others: (I) To the extent the decedent received adequate and full consideration in money or money's worth for a transfer of the property; or (II) If the property was transferred …

(1) Elective-share amount only. (a) In a proceeding for an elective-share, the following are applied first to satisfy the elective-share amount and to reduce or eliminate any contributions due from the decedent's probate estate and recipients of the decedent's nonprobate transfer…

(1) Only original recipients of the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others, and the donees of the recipients of the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others, to the extent the donees have the property or its proceeds, are liable to make a proportional contribution toward sati…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, the election must be made by filing in the court and mailing or delivering to the personal representative, if any, a petition for the elective-share within nine months after the date of the decedent's death or within six m…

(1) Surviving spouse must be living at time of election. The right of election may be exercised only by a surviving spouse who is living when the petition for the elective-share is filed in the court under section 15-11-211. If the election is not exercised by the surviving spous…

(1) Any affirmation, modification, or waiver of a marital right or obligation, as defined in section 14-2-302, C.R.S., made on or after July 1, 2014, is unenforceable unless the affirmation, modification, or waiver is contained in a premarital or marital agreement, as defined in …

(1) Although under this part 2, a payment, item of property, or other benefit is included in the decedent's nonprobate transfers to others, a payer or other third party is not liable for having made a payment or transferred an item of property or other benefit to a beneficiary de…

(1) If a testator's surviving spouse married the testator after the testator executed his or her will, the surviving spouse is entitled to receive, as an intestate share, no less than the value of the share of the estate he or she would have received if the testator had died inte…

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, if a testator becomes a parent to a child after the execution of the testator's will and fails to provide in the will for the child, the omitted child receives a share in the estate as follows: (a) If the testator had no c…

This part 4 applies to the estate of a decedent who dies domiciled in this state. Rights to exempt property and a family allowance for a decedent who dies not domiciled in this state are governed by the law of the decedent's domicile at death. Source: L. 94: Entire part R&RE, p. …

The provisions of sections 38-41-201 and 38-41-204, C.R.S., provide for a homestead exemption but shall not create an allowance for the surviving spouse or minor children. A personal representative's obligation to distribute property as an exempt property allowance under section …

(1) (a) Prior to January 1, 2012, the decedent's surviving spouse is entitled to exempt property from the estate in the form of cash in the amount of or other property of the estate in the value of twenty-six thousand dollars in excess of any security interests therein. If there …

(1) In addition to the right to exempt property, the decedent's surviving spouse and minor children who the decedent was obligated to support and children who were in fact being supported by the decedent are entitled to a reasonable allowance in money out of the estate for their …

(1) (a) (I) If the estate is otherwise sufficient, property specifically devised or disposed of by memorandum under section 15-11-513 to any person other than a person entitled to exempt property may not be used to satisfy rights to exempt property. Subject to this restriction, t…

An individual eighteen or more years of age who is of sound mind may make a will. Source: L. 94: Entire part R&RE, p. 997, § 3, effective July 1, 1995.

(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (2) of this section and in sections 15-11-503, 15-11-506, and 15-11-513, a will shall be: (a) In writing; (b) Signed by the testator, or in the testator's name by some other individual in the testator's conscious presence and by the …

(1) Although a document, or writing added upon a document, was not executed in compliance with section 15-11-502, the document or writing is treated as if it had been executed in compliance with that section if the proponent of the document or writing establishes by clear and con…

(1) A will that is executed with attesting witnesses may be simultaneously executed, attested, and made self-proved by acknowledgment thereof by the testator and affidavits of the witnesses, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the state in…

(1) An individual generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will. (2) The signing of a will by an interested witness does not invalidate the will or any provision of it. Source: L. 94: Entire part R&RE, p. 1000, § 3, effective July 1, 1995.

A written will is valid if executed in compliance with section 15-11-502 or 15-11-503 or if its execution complies with the law at the time of execution of the place where the will is executed, or of the law of the place where, at the time of execution or at the time of death, th…

(1) A will or any part thereof is revoked: (a) By executing a subsequent will that revokes the previous will or part expressly or by inconsistency; or (b) By performing a revocatory act on the will, if the testator performed the act with the intent and for the purpose of revoking…

Except as provided in sections 15-11-803 and 15-11-804, a change of circumstances does not revoke a will or any part of it. Source: L. 94: Entire part R&RE, p. 1001, § 3, effective July 1, 1995.

(1) If a subsequent will that wholly revoked a previous will is thereafter revoked by a revocatory act under section 15-11-507 (1)(b), the previous will remains revoked unless it is revived. The previous will is revived if it is evident from the circumstances of the revocation of…

A writing in existence when a will is executed may be incorporated by reference if the language of the will manifests this intent and describes the writing sufficiently to permit its identification. Source: L. 94: Entire part R&RE, p. 1001, § 3, effective July 1, 1995.

(1) A will may validly devise property to the trustee of a trust established or to be established (i) during the testator's lifetime by the testator, by the testator and some other person, or by some other person, including a funded or unfunded life insurance trust, although the …

A will may dispose of property by reference to acts and events that have significance apart from their effect upon the dispositions made by the will, whether they occur before or after the execution of the will or before or after the testator's death. The execution or revocation …

Whether or not the provisions relating to holographic wills apply, a will may refer to a written statement or list to dispose of items of tangible personal property not otherwise specifically disposed of by the will, other than money. To be admissible under this section as eviden…

A contract to make a will or devise, or not to revoke a will or devise, or to die intestate, if executed after July 1, 1995, may be established only by (i) provisions of a will stating material provisions of the contract, (ii) an express reference in a will to a contract and extr…

A will may be deposited by the testator or the testator's agent with any court for safekeeping, under rules of the court. The will shall be sealed and kept confidential. During the testator's lifetime, a deposited will shall be delivered only to the testator or to a person author…

(1) Within ten days after a testator's death or as soon thereafter as the death becomes known to the custodian of an instrument purporting to be the testator's will, the custodian shall deliver the will to the court having probate jurisdiction in the Colorado county where the dec…

A provision in a will purporting to penalize an interested person for contesting the will or instituting other proceedings relating to the estate is unenforceable if probable cause exists for instituting proceedings. Source: L. 94: Entire part R&RE, p. 1003, § 3, effective July 1…

In the absence of a finding of a contrary intention, the rules of construction in this part 6 control the construction of a will. In the absence of a finding of a contrary intention, the provisions of sections 15-11-603 and 15-11-604 shall apply to wills and codicils executed or …