Probate in Colorado

Probate is the court-supervised way a person's property is collected, their debts are paid, and what is left goes to the right people. The personal representative, often called the executor, gets legal authority from the court in a document called Letters. Not everything goes through probate: accounts with a named beneficiary, joint accounts with survivorship, assets in a living trust, and a house with a recorded beneficiary deed often pass outside it.

For a death in 2026, Colorado lets families use a small estate affidavit instead of opening a court case if what the person owned that passes by will or by the default rules, minus what is owed on it, is $88,000 or less, at least ten days have passed since the death, and no personal representative has been appointed. The limit is set by the year of death; it was $86,000 for deaths in 2025. It cannot move real estate, so a house in the person's name usually still needs a probate case. Whether it fits depends on exactly what the person owned and how it was titled, so I can't tell anyone they qualify.

Informal probate is an application to the court's probate registrar, with no hearing and no advance notice to the family when the person applying has priority to serve. Formal probate is a petition with notice to everyone interested and a hearing, used when there is a dispute, doubt about the will, only a copy of the will, or unknown heirs. Which one fits is for the attorneys to say.

1. Step 1

   Petition filed

   Someone asks the court to open the estate: an application for informal probate, or a petition for formal probate when there is a dispute or only a copy of the will. Filing can start five days after the death.

2. Step 2

   Letters issued

   The court or registrar issues Letters Testamentary when there is a will, or Letters of Administration when there is not. Letters are the document banks and title companies ask for.

3. Step 3

   Notice and the claim period

   Within 30 days of appointment the personal representative notifies the heirs and devisees. A notice to creditors runs in a local newspaper for three weeks, and creditors get at least four months from the first publication. Claims from before the death are barred one year after it.

4. Step 4

   Inventory

   Within three months of appointment the personal representative prepares an inventory of what the person owned. It is not filed with the court unless an interested person asks for it.

5. Step 5

   Debts and expenses

   Valid debts and expenses are paid in the order Colorado law sets, which decides who is paid first if the estate cannot pay everyone. The state Medicaid agency's claim for care it paid for is one of the claims in that order.

6. Step 6

   Distribution

   What is left goes to the people named in the will, or to the heirs Colorado law names when there is no will.

7. Step 7

   Closing

   The simplest close is a sworn statement that everything is paid and distributed, filed no earlier than six months after appointment, or one year after the death, whichever comes first.

A simple estate with no disputes commonly takes about six months to a year in Colorado, because creditors get at least four months after the notice and the simplest way to close cannot come until six months after appointment or one year after death, whichever comes first. A house to sell, missing relatives, taxes or a family disagreement can stretch it past a year. The attorneys can give a realistic timeline once they know what is in the estate.

A personal representative, or executor, is a fiduciary, held to a duty of care like a trustee's. Day to day that generally means securing the home and valuables, finding and valuing the assets, opening an estate account, giving notice to heirs and creditors, paying valid debts in order, filing the final tax returns, and distributing what is left. A personal representative can be held responsible for mistakes, like paying an heir before valid creditors, so people usually want an attorney before they pay or distribute anything.

When there is no will, Colorado law sets who inherits. A surviving spouse generally takes everything when all of the person's children are also the spouse's children. In blended families the spouse gets a set amount plus a share, and the children split the rest. With no spouse, it goes to children, then parents, then brothers and sisters and their children. Blended families are where the details matter most, so please talk to the attorneys before anyone divides anything.

When someone died years ago owning an interest in Colorado real property, like a fractional mineral or royalty interest, and no one ever probated it, a court process called a determination of heirship can sort out who inherited it, even across more than one generation. The court's decree gets recorded in the county where the property is. Eric's bio lists heirship determinations for oil and mineral interests among his work.