Does a Will Need to Be Notarized in Colorado?

No, a will does not need to be notarized in Colorado to be legally valid. State law offers two separate ways to execute a will: sign it in front of two witnesses who then sign it themselves, or acknowledge it before a notary public. Either path produces a binding document. Notarization still matters, though, because a notarized self-proving affidavit attached to a witnessed will can save your family real time and money during probate.

The Two Ways to Execute a Will in Colorado

Every standard Colorado will must be in writing and signed by the testator. If you can’t physically sign, someone else may sign your name for you, but only in your presence and at your direction.¹

After the signature, you validate the will one of two ways:

Have at least two individuals sign the will within a reasonable time after watching you sign it or hearing you acknowledge your signature.
Acknowledge the will before a notary public, with no witnesses required.

Both methods carry equal legal weight.¹ The notary route can be simpler because you only need one other person present. The witness route is the traditional choice and pairs naturally with a self-proving affidavit.

Who Can Witness

Colorado’s standard is broad: anyone “generally competent to be a witness” can sign your will. A beneficiary can serve as a witness without invalidating either the will or the gift that person receives.² Even so, choosing disinterested witnesses is the safer practice, because a beneficiary-witness can draw scrutiny if the will is later challenged.

The Notary Cannot Also Be a Witness

One mistake to avoid: asking the notary to double as one of your witnesses. Colorado prohibits a notary from performing a notarial act on any document where the notary is also a party or witness. Doing so risks suspension or revocation of the notary’s commission and makes the notarization voidable.³ If you plan to use two witnesses and add a self-proving affidavit, you need three separate people in the room: two witnesses plus the notary.

Why Notarize Anyway: the Self-Proving Affidavit

For a witnessed will, notarization plays a different role. It creates a self-proving affidavit, a sworn statement attached to the will in which you and your witnesses declare, under oath and before a notary, that every legal formality was followed. The notary signs the affidavit and applies an official seal.⁴

You can attach the affidavit when you sign the will, or add it later. Colorado’s statute provides specific form language for both situations. The affidavit doesn’t change what the will says. It just makes the will easier to prove in court, because the probate judge can accept a self-proved will as properly executed without any witness testifying or submitting a sworn statement.⁴

What Happens at Probate Without One

A witnessed will without a self-proving affidavit is still valid, but admitting it takes more work. In a contested proceeding, the court requires testimony from at least one original witness to confirm proper execution, provided that witness is in Colorado, competent, and able to testify.⁵

If the will was signed years or decades ago, witnesses may have moved out of state, become incapacitated, or died. Proper execution can still be established through other evidence, including a written affidavit from a witness or the attestation clause on the will itself.⁵ All of those alternatives cost time and legal fees that a self-proving affidavit would have avoided.

Handwritten Wills Don’t Need Either

Colorado recognizes holographic wills, which skip the witness-or-notary requirement entirely. A handwritten will is valid if the signature and the material portions are in the testator’s own handwriting.¹ The handwriting itself serves as proof of authenticity.

Holographic wills are a useful backup for emergencies. The tradeoff is that proving authenticity in probate typically requires handwriting evidence, which can be expensive and contested. If you have time to plan, a witnessed will with a self-proving affidavit is the more reliable option.

Electronic Wills

Colorado allows electronic wills under its adoption of the Uniform Electronic Wills Act. An electronic will must be readable as text at signing and signed electronically by the testator. Then you choose between two witnesses signing in the testator’s physical or electronic presence, or a notary acknowledgment. Each witness must be a resident of a U.S. state and physically located in a state at signing, and any notary must be authorized under Colorado law and physically located in Colorado at the time of the notarial act.⁶ Colorado also allows remote online notarization for electronic wills, with the notary in Colorado during the video session.

Wills Signed in Another State

If you signed a will elsewhere and later moved to Colorado, it remains valid here as long as it was properly executed under the law of the state where you signed it, the law of any state where you were living at the time, or the law of the state where you were living at your death.⁷ You don’t need to re-execute the will after crossing state lines, though reviewing the substance with a Colorado attorney is still a good idea.

The Harmless Error Backstop

Colorado has a safety net for wills that fall short of the formal execution rules. If the deceased signed or acknowledged a document as their will, a court can treat it as valid even without proper witnesses or notarization, provided the proponent proves by clear and convincing evidence that the deceased intended it to be their will.⁸ This isn’t a planning strategy. Clear and convincing evidence is a high bar, and the litigation to meet it can be expensive. It does mean a well-intentioned document with a technical flaw isn’t automatically worthless.

What Notarization Costs

Colorado caps notary fees at $15 per document for an in-person notarization and $25 for an electronic or remote notarization.⁹ Compared to the legal fees and delays that can pile up during a contested probate, notarizing a self-proving affidavit is inexpensive protection for the people you leave behind.

1
Justia. Colorado Code 15-11-502 – Execution – Witnessed or Notarized Wills – Holographic Wills
2
Justia. Colorado Code 15-11-505 – Who May Witness
3
Colorado Law. Colorado Code 24-21-504 – Authority to Perform Notarial Act
4
Justia. Colorado Code 15-11-504 – Self-Proved Will
5
Justia. Colorado Code 15-12-406 – Formal Testacy Proceedings – Contested Cases
6
Justia. Colorado Code 15-11-1305 – Execution of Electronic Will
7
Justia. Colorado Code 15-11-506 – Choice of Law as to Execution
8
Justia. Colorado Code 15-11-503 – Harmless Error
9
Colorado Secretary of State. Notary Public FAQs – Fees