Most people in Timnath have a general sense of who they want to receive their property when they die. They assume those wishes will be carried out. But without a valid will, those assumptions have no legal standing. Colorado’s intestate succession law, which governs what happens to an estate when someone dies without a will, distributes property according to a fixed statutory formula. That formula doesn’t know who you’d actually want to inherit, and the results often surprise the families left behind.
How Colorado Distributes Property Without a Will
Colorado follows the Uniform Probate Code for intestate succession, codified at C.R.S. § 15-11-101 et seq. The distribution formula works through a priority hierarchy based on the surviving family relationships:
Surviving spouse and children. If you’re survived by a spouse and children who are also the spouse’s children, your spouse inherits everything. If you have children from a prior relationship, your spouse receives the first $225,000 of the estate plus half of the remainder, and your children share the other half. The math can produce an outcome that leaves the surviving spouse with less than expected.
No surviving spouse. If you die without a surviving spouse, your children inherit in equal shares per stirpes, meaning a deceased child’s share passes to their children.
No surviving spouse or children. The estate passes to parents, then to siblings, then to more distant relatives following the statutory priority chain.
No surviving relatives. If no qualifying relatives are found, the estate escheats to the State of Colorado.
Who Gets Left Out Under Colorado Intestacy
The intestacy formula is built around legal relationships. It has no mechanism for honoring personal relationships that don’t fit the statutory categories:
Unmarried partners. A long-term partner who isn’t legally married receives nothing under Colorado intestate succession. The depth or duration of the relationship is legally irrelevant without a will.
Stepchildren. A stepchild who isn’t legally adopted by the deceased has no inheritance right under intestate succession, even if the relationship was close and the deceased considered them a child in every meaningful way.
Close friends. A lifelong friend, a neighbor who provided care during a final illness, or anyone outside the family tree receives nothing under the intestacy formula regardless of the deceased’s actual wishes.
Specific bequests. Leaving a specific item to a specific person isn’t possible under intestacy. Assets go to whoever the formula designates in the proportions the formula specifies.
What a Valid Colorado Will Requires
Colorado recognizes two types of valid wills. A formally executed will under C.R.S. § 15-11-502 must be in writing, signed by the testator, and witnessed by at least two individuals who sign during the testator’s lifetime. A holographic will, meaning one that is handwritten and signed by the testator, is valid in Colorado without witnesses under C.R.S. § 15-11-502(2). Holographic wills are legally recognized but carry execution risks that make an attorney-drafted will the more reliable choice for most situations.
A will allows Timnath residents to name specific beneficiaries, designate an executor to manage the estate, name a guardian for minor children, create testamentary trusts for young beneficiaries, and make specific bequests to individuals or organizations outside the family.
W.B. Moore Law works with Timnath and Northern Colorado families on wills and complete estate plans, with consultations available after normal business hours and by Zoom. Reach out to a Timnath will lawyer to discuss what your estate looks like under Colorado’s intestacy rules and what a will needs to say to change that outcome.