Probate Without a Will
When a person dies without a valid will, they are said to have died “intestate,” and Colorado’s rules of intestate succession decide who inherits their property. The estate is still administered through probate, but the court must first appoint someone to serve as personal representative, since no one has been named in a will.
Who Inherits
Colorado’s intestacy rules follow family relationships. In general terms:
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A surviving spouse inherits the entire estate if the deceased person left no descendants or parents, or if all of the deceased person’s descendants are also the surviving spouse’s descendants and the surviving spouse has no other descendants. In other cases (e.g., where either spouse has children from another relationship, or where the deceased person left no descendants but a parent survives), the surviving spouse receives a set dollar amount plus a share of the balance, and the rest passes to the deceased person’s descendants or parents.
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With no surviving spouse, the estate passes to the deceased person’s descendants by representation (i.e., in equal shares by family line).
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With no spouse or descendants, the estate passes to parents, then to siblings and their descendants, and then to more distant relatives.
The result is often not what the person would have chosen. A long-term partner who was never married to the deceased person, a stepchild who was never adopted, and a close friend all receive nothing under the intestacy rules.
Who Serves as Personal Representative
Colorado law sets an order of priority for appointment, beginning with the surviving spouse and then other heirs. Where several family members have equal priority, the others may need to consent or be given notice before one of them is appointed. After appointment, the estate proceeds much as described on our Probating a Will page.
Smaller Estates
If the deceased person owned no real estate and the total value of their personal property is under the limit set by statute, the heirs may be able to collect it with a small estate affidavit instead of opening a probate. Real property titled in the deceased person’s name alone requires probate, unless it was held in joint tenancy or covered by a recorded beneficiary deed. We will tell you at the first meeting whether a probate is needed at all.
The best way to keep your own family out of this process is a Will, and better still, a plan for Avoiding Probate.