Petition to Probate a Will Requirements in Colorado

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Governing law and proceeding type

Section 15-12-102 makes a registrar's informal-probate order or a court's formal adjudication the ordinary way a will becomes effective to prove property transfer or nominate a representative. Informal probate proceeds on a verified application. Formal testacy under § 15-12-401 is litigation after notice and hearing and may, but need not, combine probate with appointment.

Court and venue

Section 15-12-201 uses the decedent's Colorado domicile or residence county. A nondomiciliary estate may proceed in any Colorado county containing decedent property. If the first proceeding was informal and an interested person shows venue belongs elsewhere, the court may transfer the case and file.

Who may petition

An informal applicant must state an interest in the estate, and the registrar must find that the applicant appears to be an interested person. Under § 15-12-401, an interested person may seek formal probate, set aside or prevent informal probate, or obtain an intestacy order.

Petition contents

Section 15-12-301 requires a verified informal application stating the applicant's interest; the decedent's identity, death, age, domicile, spouse, children, heirs, devisees, and known minors; venue for a nondomiciliary; existing representatives; notice demands; and timeliness. A testate application adds the original or authenticated foreign will, the applicant's belief in valid execution, diligent inquiry for revocation, and belief that this is the last will. A combined appointment application identifies the proposed representative, address, and priority.

Formal § 15-12-402 adopts the informal facts, identifies the particular instrument, requests a testacy and heir order after notice and hearing, and may request appointment.

Original will, copy, and lodging

The custodian lodges the will under § 15-11-516. Original informal probate requires the original in the registrar's possession. A will already probated elsewhere may use an authenticated will copy plus the foreign probate statement.

Formal probate permits the original, a copy certified by the state court administrator under the cited statutory route, or an authenticated foreign copy. If none accompanies the petition, § 15-12-402 requires the will's contents and a lost, destroyed, or unavailable allegation; the court must then establish execution, contents, and nonrevocation before admission.

Filing or production deadline

Section 15-11-516 requires delivery within ten days after death or as soon thereafter as the custodian learns of the death. Most original probate, testacy, and appointment proceedings have § 15-12-108's three-year outer limit, subject to its listed exceptions. Informal probate and informal appointment also require 120 hours to have elapsed after death under §§ 15-12-303 and 15-12-308.

Proof and self-proving route

For informal probate, § 15-12-303 admits a will carrying the required signatures and qualifying attestation clause without further proof. Otherwise the registrar may assume execution from appearance or accept a sworn statement or affidavit from any knowledgeable person, whether or not a witness.

An unopposed formal case may be decided on the pleadings or after an open-court hearing. If execution proof is needed, one attesting witness's affidavit or testimony suffices; other evidence may substitute if unavailable. In a contested case, § 15-12-406 gives a self-proved will execution effect without witness testimony absent affidavit fraud or forgery, gives a notarized will a rebuttable execution presumption, and specifies the witnessed-will proof route. The proponent retains the prima facie burden under § 15-12-407.

Notice, hearing, and objections

Informal probate and appointment are not universally noticed before action. Sections 15-12-306 and 15-12-310 require notice to demanders, an existing representative, and unwaived persons with prior or equal appointment rights, then limit other pre-action notice. If no representative has been appointed after informal probate, the moving party supplies the statutory information within thirty days; a representative generally provides appointment information to heirs and devisees within thirty days.

Formal testacy requires a court-set hearing and notice to the surviving spouse, children, other heirs, will devisees and executors, and any existing representative. Unknown claimants may receive publication. Section 15-10-401 ordinarily requires mail or personal delivery at least fourteen days before hearing; qualifying publication runs once weekly for three consecutive weeks with the last at least fourteen days before hearing. Section 15-12-108 gives an informal-probate contest the later of twelve months after informal probate or three years after death.

Executor, bond, and letters

The probated-will nominee has first priority under § 15-12-203. A representative must be at least twenty-one and not found unsuitable in formal proceedings. Before letters, §§ 15-12-601 and 15-12-602 require any bond, acceptance of duties, and submission to the court's estate jurisdiction.

For a nondomiciliary decedent, §§ 15-12-307 and 15-12-308 govern informal appointment. Section 15-12-307 generally delays it until thirty days after death unless the domiciliary representative applies or the will directs Colorado-law treatment.

Informal appointment generally requires no bond unless the will requires one, a special administrator is appointed, or the court-demand statute applies. In a formal case, a will's bond relief controls unless an interested person requests bond and the court finds it desirable; a will's bond requirement also may be dispensed with if unnecessary.

What trips people up

Colorado's 120-hour rule is not the will custodian's deadline and not the outer probate limit. The custodian has a ten-day-or-knowledge-triggered delivery duty, informal action waits 120 hours, and most original proceedings face a separate three-year limit.

Informal probate does not require notice to everyone before the registrar acts. The statute names limited pre-probate recipients and then uses a thirty-day information step. Formal probate instead starts with notice and a court hearing.

Common questions

Does Colorado require every will to go through a hearing?

No. Informal probate is handled by the registrar on the verified application and statutory findings. Formal testacy is the noticed court proceeding.

Can a copy replace the original will?

Only through a statutory route. An authenticated will already probated elsewhere can support informal probate, while formal probate recognizes the identified certified and authenticated copies. An unavailable ordinary original requires the formal petition and proof route.

Does the will's no-bond clause control?

Generally in formal appointment, but an interested person's request can still lead the court to require bond if desirable. Informal appointment normally has no bond unless a statutory exception applies.

Statutes and sources

• Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 15-11-504 and 15-11-516 — self-proof and will lodging (accessed August 4, 2026).
• Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 15-12-102, 15-12-108, and 15-12-201 — probate order, outer limit, contest period, and venue (accessed August 4, 2026).
• Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 15-12-301 through 15-12-310 — informal application, original, proof, notice, appointment, and 120-hour findings (accessed August 4, 2026).
• Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 15-12-401 through 15-12-409 — formal petition, notice, proof, hearing, and order (accessed August 4, 2026).
• Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 15-12-203 and 15-12-601 through 15-12-603 — priority, qualification, acceptance, bond, and letters (accessed August 4, 2026).
• Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 15-10-401 and 15-12-705 — notice timing, publication, and post-appointment information (accessed August 4, 2026).