Small Estate in Colorado: JDF 999, $88,000 Limit, and Debts

In Colorado, you can use a small estate affidavit to collect a deceased person’s personal property without opening probate when the estate’s net value is $88,000 or less for a death occurring in 2026.¹ You fill out a sworn form, have it notarized, and present it directly to the bank, brokerage, or other holder of the property. No court filing, no filing fee, no judge. The catch: it covers personal property only. Real estate held in the deceased person’s name alone needs a different route.

Who Can Use the Affidavit

Four conditions all have to be true before anyone can present the affidavit:

The net fair market value of property that would pass by will or intestacy is $88,000 or less for a 2026 death.¹
At least ten days have passed since the date of death.
No one has filed a petition to appoint a personal representative in any jurisdiction.
The person signing the affidavit is actually entitled to the property under the will or Colorado’s intestacy rules.²

If a court has already appointed a personal representative, the affidavit option is off the table. The ten-day wait gives other interested people a chance to come forward and open a formal case if they need to.

The $88,000 figure is tied to the year of death, not the year you file. Colorado adjusts the limit annually for inflation under C.R.S. § 15-10-112, and the Department of Revenue publishes the updated number before February 1 each year.³ If the person died in an earlier year, use that year’s limit.

How to Count the $88,000

Value is measured as of the date of death, and it’s a net number. Liens and encumbrances reduce what counts. A car worth $25,000 with an $18,000 loan balance contributes $7,000 toward the cap, not $25,000.²

Several common assets stay out of the calculation because they don’t pass by will or intestacy in the first place:

Property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, which goes to the surviving co-owner automatically.
Life insurance, retirement accounts, and other accounts with a named beneficiary, which go straight to that beneficiary.

Qualifying personal property located in other states does count toward the total.²

What You Can and Can’t Collect

The statute lists funds on deposit at financial institutions, safe deposit box contents, tangible personal property, stock, and instruments evidencing a debt or obligation.² In practice that’s bank accounts, brokerage accounts, CDs, personal belongings, and the like.

Real estate is excluded. If the deceased person owned a house or land in their name alone, you cannot transfer it with the affidavit, even if the rest of the estate is well under $88,000.⁴ That property needs probate.

Vehicles Use a Different Form

The Colorado DMV will not accept the standard JDF 999 affidavit for a vehicle title transfer.⁵ For vehicles, use DMV form DR 2712, which applies the same $88,000 threshold and the same basic eligibility rules but is built for the title process. A certified death certificate must accompany it.⁶

Filling Out and Using JDF 999

For everything other than vehicles, the form is JDF 999, “Collection of Personal Property by Affidavit,” from the Colorado Judicial Branch website.⁷ You’ll need to provide:

The deceased person’s full legal name and exact date of death.
Specific descriptions of the assets you intend to collect, with account numbers wherever possible and dollar amounts for financial accounts.
Names and mailing addresses of every person entitled to a share, their relationship to the deceased person, and each one’s share.
Sworn statements that the net value is within the threshold, that ten days have passed, and that no personal representative has been appointed.⁴

You sign under oath, with perjury consequences for false statements. Order several certified copies of the death certificate up front; each institution you visit will usually want its own. The completed form has to be notarized. It is not filed with any court, which is why there’s no filing fee and no judicial oversight.⁵

Collecting from Banks and Brokerages

Bring the notarized affidavit and a certified death certificate to each institution holding the property. Under C.R.S. § 15-12-1202, the holder is required to release the described property, and the law discharges them from liability once they do; they don’t have to verify your statements or track what you do with the money.⁸

Some banks still have their own internal procedures: extra ID, a specific branch, a few business days to process. If an institution refuses without reasonable cause, you can bring a court proceeding to compel release. If you win, the refusing party pays costs and attorney fees, and it bears the burden of showing its refusal was reasonable.⁸

What You Owe After You Collect

Receiving the assets doesn’t end your responsibilities. Anyone who collects property through the affidavit is “answerable and accountable” to a later-appointed personal representative or to anyone with a superior right to the estate.⁸ If you collected on behalf of multiple successors, you act as their agent and must distribute each person’s share as listed on the affidavit.¹

The affidavit process doesn’t include a formal creditor-claims procedure, but the deceased person’s legitimate debts don’t vanish. A successor who distributes everything while ignoring known debts could face personal liability to someone with a superior right. Paying known obligations such as final medical bills, utilities, and funeral costs before distributing the remainder is the safer approach. Keep clear records of what you collected and where it went.

Medicaid Estate Recovery

If the deceased person was 55 or older and received Medicaid-funded nursing facility services, home and community-based services, or related hospital and prescription drug costs, the state has a recovery claim against the estate. Colorado’s program reaches both real and personal property. A Medicaid lien can be a “superior right” that outranks distributions to heirs, so check with the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing before paying out if you know benefits were involved. Recovery is barred when the deceased person is survived by a spouse, a child under 21, or a blind or disabled child of any age, and a hardship waiver process is available.⁹

Taxes and Federal Benefit Reclamation

A final individual income tax return (Form 1040 or 1040-SR) is still due, covering income from January 1 through the date of death. If a refund is owed, attach Form 1310, Statement of a Person Claiming Refund Due a Deceased Taxpayer.¹⁰ Federal estate tax won’t apply at this size; the 2026 federal exclusion is $15,000,000, and Colorado has no state estate or inheritance tax.¹¹

Watch out for Social Security, VA, and other federal payments received by direct deposit. The U.S. Treasury can reclaim any payment deposited after the date of death directly from the account, and banks cannot release those funds to you while a reclamation is pending.¹² Before you count a bank balance as part of the estate, check whether any post-death payments landed there and expect them to be pulled back.

If the Estate Is Too Big

If net personal property exceeds $88,000, or if there’s real estate in the deceased person’s name alone, the affidavit won’t work. Before giving up, remember that liens and encumbrances reduce value: an estate with $95,000 in gross assets but $10,000 in secured debt has a net value of $85,000 and still qualifies.²

When the affidavit truly isn’t available, Colorado offers two probate paths. Informal probate is an uncontested process with minimal judicial oversight and a court-appointed personal representative; it’s the usual route for straightforward estates that just happen to exceed the threshold. Formal probate is court-supervised and used when there are disputes among heirs, a contested will, or complex creditor claims. Both are filed with the probate court in the county where the deceased person lived, and both carry court filing fees that the affidavit avoids.

1
Colorado Judicial Branch. JDF 998 Guide to Collecting a Decedent’s Personal Property
2
Justia. Colorado Code 15-12-1201 – Collection of Personal Property by Affidavit
3
Justia. Colorado Code 15-10-112 – Cost of Living Adjustment
4
Colorado Judicial Branch. Collection of Personal Property by Affidavit
5
Judicial Legal Help Center. Collection of Personal Property by Affidavit – When Do I Use This Form
6
Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles. DR 2712 – Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property Pursuant to Small Estate Proceeding
7
Colorado Judicial Branch. Collection of Personal Property by Affidavit
8
Justia. Colorado Code 15-12-1202 – Effect of Affidavit
9
Medicaid.gov. Estate Recovery
10
Internal Revenue Service. File the Final Income Tax Returns of a Deceased Person
11
Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax
12
U.S. Department of the Treasury. Green Book – A Guide to Federal Government ACH Payments