Colorado Inheritance Rules: Intestacy, Probate, and Deadlines

Colorado inheritance rules start with good news: the state imposes no inheritance tax and no estate tax, so heirs keep what they receive without a state-level deduction.¹ What property reaches which person is decided by the will, if there is one, and by a specific order set out in the Colorado Probate Code if there isn’t. Either way, a surviving spouse carries protections that even a will cannot fully strip away.

Is Inherited Property Taxed in Colorado?

No. Colorado repealed its estate tax for deaths after December 31, 2004, and has never had a separate inheritance tax.¹ An heir owes the state nothing simply for receiving money or property from someone who died.

Federal estate tax is a different question, but it reaches only very large estates. For 2026, the federal exemption is approximately $15 million per person. Inherited assets also get a stepped-up basis for federal income tax, meaning the heir’s cost basis resets to the fair market value at the date of death. Appreciation that built up during the deceased person’s lifetime is wiped out for capital gains purposes, which matters most for inherited real estate and investments.

Who Inherits When There Is No Will

When a Colorado resident dies without a valid will, the intestate succession statutes decide who inherits.² The surviving spouse is first in line, but the share depends on which other close relatives also survived.

A surviving spouse inherits the entire intestate estate in two situations: when no descendant and no parent of the deceased survives, or when every surviving descendant is also a child of the surviving spouse and the spouse has no other children. In other family configurations the spouse takes a fixed dollar amount off the top plus a fraction of what remains:³

A parent of the deceased survives but there are no descendants: the first $300,000 plus three-fourths of the balance.
All descendants are shared with the spouse, but the spouse has other children of their own: the first $225,000 plus one-half of the balance.
At least one descendant is not the spouse’s child: the first $150,000 plus one-half of the balance.

Those dollar thresholds are base figures that adjust each year for cost of living. The blended-family rules catch many spouses off guard. A surviving spouse who assumed the whole estate was theirs can end up sharing it with stepchildren or with a parent of the deceased.

Whatever portion does not go to the spouse passes to the deceased person’s descendants, distributed per capita at each generation. That method shares property equally among living members of the closest generation, then pools and redistributes to the next generation only where someone in the closer group has already died.⁴ If no descendants survive, the estate goes to the deceased person’s parents, then to the parents’ descendants (siblings, nieces, nephews), then to grandparents or their descendants.

Adopted children inherit on the same footing as biological children. Half-siblings are treated identically to full siblings. A child born outside marriage must have established paternity to qualify.

Designated Beneficiary Agreements

Colorado offers an option most states don’t. Two unmarried adults can sign and record a designated beneficiary agreement with the county clerk and recorder, giving each other inheritance rights under intestate succession.⁵ The designated beneficiary takes the entire estate if no descendants survive, or one-half if descendants do.⁶ The agreement is a backstop only; a valid will, power of attorney, or named beneficiary on a financial account overrides it.

What a Will Can and Cannot Do

A valid Colorado will controls distribution of probate assets, but the probate code builds in protections the testator cannot fully override.

The Spouse’s Elective Share

A surviving spouse who is left little or nothing can elect to take 50 percent of the marital-property portion of the “augmented estate.”⁷ The augmented estate is broad: probate assets, non-probate transfers to others, non-probate transfers to the surviving spouse, and the surviving spouse’s own property all count.⁸

The marital-property portion scales with the length of the marriage, from a supplemental amount only for marriages under one year, up through 10% at one year, 50% at five years, and 100% at ten years or more.⁸ Because the election is 50% of that portion, the effective claim on the total augmented estate runs from about 5% after one year of marriage to 50% after ten.

Exempt Property and Family Allowance

The surviving spouse can also claim an exempt property allowance (a statutory base of $30,000 as of 2012, adjusted annually for cost of living) that comes off the top before creditors or beneficiaries receive anything.⁹ A reasonable family allowance for living expenses during probate is available to the spouse and any minor or dependent children the deceased was supporting, capped at one year if the estate cannot pay all approved claims.

Disinheriting a Child

A parent can disinherit a child in Colorado, but the will needs clear, unambiguous language saying so. The trap is the child born or adopted after the will was signed. If the will doesn’t account for an after-born or after-adopted child, that child is entitled to an intestate share as if there were no will. Where the testator had other children when the will was made and left property to them, the omitted child shares proportionally in those gifts rather than taking from the full estate.¹⁰ The fix is updating the will after any birth or adoption.

Assets That Pass Outside the Will

Not everything a person owned moves through probate or follows the intestate rules. Several common asset types transfer automatically at death and override whatever the will says about the same property:

Joint tenancy with right of survivorship. Ownership passes to the surviving co-owner by operation of law.
Payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts. Bank accounts, brokerage accounts, and vehicle titles with a named beneficiary go directly to that person.
Living trusts. The trust already holds legal title, so trust assets are not part of the probate estate.
Life insurance and retirement accounts. Benefits go to the named beneficiary on file.

A conflict between a beneficiary designation and a will is won by the designation every time. Updating a will without updating the account form is a frequent and expensive mistake.

How the Estate Actually Transfers

How property moves to heirs depends on the size of the estate and whether anyone contests the proceeding.

Small Estate Affidavit

When the total value of the deceased person’s property (minus debts secured by that property) does not exceed $88,000 for a 2026 year of death, heirs can skip probate court by using the JDF 999 Small Estate Affidavit.¹¹ At least ten days must pass after the death before the affidavit can be used, and no personal representative appointment can be pending or already granted.¹² The affidavit is presented directly to banks, brokerage firms, or the motor vehicle division. It cannot be used to transfer real estate.

Informal and Formal Probate

Larger estates, and any estate that includes real property, go through either informal or formal probate in the district court of the county where the deceased lived. Informal probate works when nothing is in dispute. The personal representative files paperwork and the court issues Letters Testamentary (where there is a will) or Letters of Administration (where there isn’t).¹³ Those letters authorize the representative to collect assets, pay debts, and distribute what remains.

Formal probate requires a court hearing and is used when the estate is contested, the will’s validity is in question, or a document is being offered as a will under the “clear and convincing evidence” standard rather than the standard execution requirements.¹⁴ The filing fee to open a probate estate is $229.¹⁵

Debts of the Deceased

Heirs are not personally responsible for the deceased person’s debts. Creditors can collect only from the estate itself. Administration costs, funeral expenses, taxes, last-illness medical bills, Medicaid recovery, child support, and general unsecured debts are paid in a statutory order.¹⁶ The surviving spouse’s exempt property and family allowance are paid even before those creditor categories. If the estate runs dry before reaching every claim, the unpaid balances are not pursued against the heirs.

Deadlines That Forfeit Rights

A missed deadline in Colorado probate can erase a right permanently. The ones to watch:

Lodging the will. Colorado requires the original will to be filed with the district court within ten days of the death, even if no probate case is opened.
Small estate affidavit. Cannot be used until at least ten days after the death.¹²
Elective share petition. The surviving spouse must file within nine months of the death or six months after the will is probated, whichever is later. Extensions are available but only if requested inside the original nine-month window.¹⁷
Creditor claims. Four months from the date of published notice, with an absolute one-year outer limit from the date of death.

A spouse who files for the elective share after nine months without an extension already in place loses the right to pull the deceased person’s non-probate transfers into the augmented estate, which can shrink the claim dramatically.¹⁷

1
Colorado General Assembly. Estate Tax
2
Justia. Colorado Code 15-11-101 – Intestate Estate
3
Justia. Colorado Code 15-11-102 – Share of Spouse
4
Justia. Colorado Code 15-11-103 – Share of Heirs Other Than Surviving Spouse and Designated Beneficiary
5
Justia. Colorado Code 15-22-106 – Statutory Designated Beneficiary Agreement
6
Justia. Colorado Code 15-11-102.5 – Share of Designated Beneficiary
7
Justia. Colorado Code 15-11-202 – Elective Share
8
Justia. Colorado Code 15-11-203 – Composition of the Augmented Estate
9
Justia. Colorado Code 15-11-403 – Exempt Property
10
Justia. Colorado Code 15-11-302 – Omitted Children
11
Colorado Judicial Branch. Guide to Collecting a Decedent’s Personal Property
12
Colorado Judicial Branch. JDF 999 – Collection of Personal Property by Affidavit
13
Colorado Judicial Branch. Open an Estate
14
Colorado Judicial Branch. General Information on Probate Considerations
15
Colorado Judicial Branch. List of Fees
16
Justia. Colorado Code 15-12-805 – Classification of Claims
17
Justia. Colorado Code 15-11-211 – Proceeding for Elective Share – Time Limit