What Colorado Residents Actually Owe When a Family Member Dies
Colorado has no inheritance tax and no estate tax. But Denver residents still face federal thresholds, real probate costs at Denver District Court, and one intestate succession rule that blindsides…
Colorado has no inheritance tax and no estate tax. But Denver residents still face federal thresholds, real probate costs at Denver District Court, and one intestate succession rule that blindsides unmarried couples every single year.
Colorado has no inheritance tax. Colorado has no estate tax. If a family member dies and leaves you money, the state will not send you a bill.
That should be the end of it. It rarely is.
The federal estate tax still exists, and its exemption drops sharply on January 1, 2026, unless Congress acts. Denver County probate is a real process with real costs and timelines measured in months. Colorado’s intestate succession law—the statute governing who inherits when there’s no will—produces outcomes that surprise blended families and can completely cut out an unmarried partner of fifteen years. And the cost of doing nothing, measured in actual Denver probate attorney fees, consistently dwarfs the cost of basic estate planning documents.
This piece answers the Colorado inheritance tax question, then gives Denver residents the local detail they need to actually do something about it.
Colorado Has No Inheritance Tax and No Estate Tax
An inheritance tax is paid by the person who receives the money. In states that have one, the rate sometimes depends on your relationship to the deceased. Colorado has never enacted one.
An estate tax is different — it’s paid by the estate itself before assets are distributed, out of the pot before anyone gets their share. Colorado did have a state estate tax, but it was tied directly to a federal credit that Congress eliminated. When that credit disappeared, Colorado’s tax evaporated with it, and the state formally abolished its estate tax in 2005. No legislative effort to revive it has succeeded since.
Several other states have held onto theirs. Oregon, Massachusetts, and Washington all tax estates above relatively modest thresholds. Maryland has both an estate tax and an inheritance tax. Colorado has neither, at any threshold, for any class of beneficiary.
That doesn’t mean Denver residents face nothing when someone dies. Three real exposures remain.
The Federal Estate Tax, and Why 2026 Actually Matters
The federal estate tax doesn’t touch most Denver households. But it touches more than people assume — particularly after a decade of real estate appreciation that has quietly pushed some longtime homeowners into uncomfortable territory.
For 2025, the federal exemption is $13.99 million per individual. A married couple can effectively double that through portability: if the first spouse dies and the executor files a timely estate tax return electing portability, the surviving spouse can stack the unused exemption onto their own, reaching roughly $27.98 million. At those levels, the overwhelming majority of Denver families aren’t in scope.
The critical date is January 1, 2026. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 roughly doubled the estate tax exemption on a temporary basis. That provision sunsets automatically at the end of 2025 unless Congress extends it. If nothing happens — and as of publication, no permanent fix has been enacted — the exemption reverts to its pre-TCJA level, adjusted for inflation. Most estimates land around $7 million per individual.
That’s a different calculation for Denver’s long-term homeowners. A couple in Hilltop or Wash Park who bought in the early 2000s might be sitting on a home worth $1.4 million today. Add a 401(k) at $800,000, a brokerage account, defined benefit pension rights, and a small business interest, and the math starts approaching $7 million per individual on the combined estate. Most of those couples have no idea they’re anywhere near the threshold.
Who should pay attention: anyone whose combined assets could plausibly exceed $6 million individually. Real estate at current market value, retirement accounts, life insurance death benefits, business interests, and investment accounts all count. That’s not a vast population in Denver, but neighborhoods like Cherry Creek, Congress Park, Country Club, and parts of Capitol Hill have seen enough appreciation to make this worth a conversation. The window to act isn’t infinite — “we’ll deal with it next year” is exactly the kind of plan that ages badly.
Who can set this aside: renters, anyone with estates well below $6 million, and most first-generation homeowners whose primary asset is a single-family home in the $500,000–$800,000 range with modest retirement savings.
What Denver County Probate Actually Costs
Probate is the court-supervised process by which a deceased person’s debts get settled and remaining assets transfer to heirs or beneficiaries. It moves at roughly the pace you’d expect from a government process handling some of the most emotionally charged paperwork imaginable.
In Colorado, probate runs through Denver District Court’s Probate Division. Colorado uses a tiered system: informal probate for uncontested, straightforward estates; formal probate for contested matters or those requiring direct court supervision. For a fuller look at how that process unfolds — including what a personal representative actually does and when you need an attorney — Denver County probate costs, timelines, and attorney requirements are covered in depth in our legal & finance coverage.
Filing fees for informal probate run approximately $198 to $220. On top of that, Colorado requires notice to creditors be published in a court-approved legal newspaper — in Denver County, that typically costs $100 to $200 depending on the publication. Your probate attorney will know which papers are currently accepted; the Daily Journal is one of them.
Under CRS 15-12-803, the creditor claim period runs one year from the date of death, or 60 days from the date a creditor received personal notice, whichever is later. Most personal representatives wait out this window before making final distributions, which means even a simple, uncontested estate sits open for several months — while surviving family members are grieving, managing the deceased’s affairs, and often paying carrying costs on property that can’t yet change hands.
An uncontested informal probate on a well-organized estate — valid will, clear asset list, no heir disputes, no creditor complications — typically closes in four to nine months in Denver County. Contested or formal matters run longer. Business interests, unclear title to real property, disputes among beneficiaries, or creditor litigation routinely stretch to 12 to 24 months.
The filing fees are modest. The real cost is professional time.
Colorado, unlike California, imposes no statutory percentage cap on probate attorney fees. California sets them by statute as a percentage of the estate’s gross value; Colorado does not. What Denver probate attorneys charge is based on time and complexity. For a $500,000 estate — not an unusual scenario given Denver home values — the realistic attorney fee range is $5,000 to $15,000, depending on how organized the estate is and whether anything gets contested.
Spend $800 to $1,800 in estate planning now, or face $5,000 to $15,000 in probate costs later. Add the time, the family conflict, and the fact that everyone involved is already grieving, and the math becomes uncomfortable pretty quickly. The only thing standing between most Denver households and a straightforward estate plan is inertia.
What Happens If You Die Without a Will
Colorado’s intestate succession statute, CRS Title 15, Article 11, decides who inherits when there’s no will. It runs a fixed hierarchy without asking what the deceased would have wanted. It doesn’t know your family. It applies the formula.
A surviving spouse inherits everything if the deceased had no children, or if all the children are also the surviving spouse’s children. If the deceased had children from a prior relationship, the surviving spouse takes the first $225,000 of the estate plus 50 percent of the remainder. The other half passes to the deceased’s descendants per stirpes.
That’s not unreasonable on its face. But in a blended family, it means a widowed spouse may be forced to sell a home neither party wants to sell, just to divide the equity with children from a prior marriage. Denver probate attorneys see versions of this regularly.
The scenario that causes the most harm is simpler and more absolute. Capitol Hill and Congress Park are among Denver’s densest neighborhoods for non-married partner households. Long-term cohabitation is common — couples together for five, ten, fifteen years who share mortgages and operate as complete financial units. Without a will, and absent a valid common-law marriage under Colorado law, a surviving partner has no legal standing under CRS 15-11. None. The estate passes to parents, siblings, or more distant relatives before it reaches a partner of a decade. The assumption that “we’ve been together long enough” carries legal weight is widespread and completely wrong.
Colorado does recognize common-law marriage, and that matters. It requires mutual agreement to be married — not just cohabitation — plus consistently holding out to the community as a married couple. It doesn’t happen automatically after any number of years, and it requires proof in a probate proceeding. Couples who file taxes separately, haven’t represented their relationship as a marriage to employers or lenders, and generally haven’t treated themselves as married may not qualify.
For Denver’s large population of cohabitating unmarried partners, a will or revocable living trust isn’t optional. It’s the only legal tool that actually protects the person you live your life with.
What Passes Outside Probate Entirely
A significant category of assets transfers completely outside probate regardless of what a will says — or whether there is one. Getting this right can save a family months of court time and thousands of dollars.
Beneficiary designations on life insurance policies, IRAs, and 401(k)s control those assets at death. The probate court has no jurisdiction. If your IRA names your brother as beneficiary, your brother gets the IRA — even if your will says otherwise, even if you remarried after setting the designation. Outdated beneficiary designations that no longer reflect the owner’s actual family situation are the most common estate planning error Denver attorneys encounter. If you haven’t reviewed yours in five years, that’s worth fixing this week. It takes a form.
Payable-on-death designations on bank accounts work the same way. Add one, and when you die, the named beneficiary presents a death certificate and takes the funds. No probate involved. Transfer-on-death registrations on brokerage accounts are identical — Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard, and virtually every major brokerage offer them.
Colorado’s Transfer on Death Deed, authorized under CRS 15-15-401, allows real property to pass at death without probate when a properly executed deed is recorded with the Denver County Clerk and Recorder before the owner dies. The grantor keeps full control during their lifetime; the deed activates only at death. For single-family homeowners who want to avoid probate on their home without paying for a revocable living trust, it’s a meaningful option.
Condo owners face complications. HOA governing documents and, in many cases, lender notification requirements can complicate the execution and recognition of a TOD deed. Some condo HOA declarations include transfer approval rights or first right of refusal provisions that a TOD deed doesn’t automatically override. A TOD deed on a mortgaged condo also requires careful review of the deed of trust terms. None of this makes a TOD deed impossible for condo owners, but recording one without reviewing those documents first is the kind of shortcut that creates more problems than it solves.
Joint tenancy with right of survivorship lets co-owners pass property to the survivor automatically at death, outside probate, by filing an affidavit with the county recorder. It’s commonly used by married couples but available to any co-owners.
Revocable living trusts allow a Denver resident to transfer assets into a trust structure during their lifetime; those assets pass under the trust’s terms at death without probate. Trusts require actual funding — assets must be titled in the trust’s name — and a pour-over will to capture anything left outside. For residents with significant real property, complex family situations, or concerns about the public nature of probate proceedings, the upfront cost is usually worth it.
The Small Estate Affidavit
Colorado’s small estate affidavit procedure under CRS 15-12-1201 lets heirs collect personal property without opening probate when the total estate value falls below approximately $82,000. That threshold adjusts periodically, so verify the current figure with the court. There’s a mandatory 10-day waiting period after death before the affidavit can be used. The heir presents it — signed under penalty of perjury — to the financial institution or other asset holder. No court filing required.
Real property does not qualify. No exceptions. Given that the median Denver home is worth somewhere around $560,000, any decedent who owned real estate will need probate or a trust to transfer it. The affidavit is most useful for estates consisting of bank accounts, a vehicle, and personal property with no real estate involved.
Vehicles have their own process. The heir completes a title application with the appropriate county motor vehicle office, presents a death certificate and an affidavit, and receives a new title. Denver’s DMV offices handle these regularly. In the context of everything else that can go wrong in estate administration, it’s a relatively painless step.
What Denver Estate Planning Attorneys Charge
A simple will at a smaller Denver boutique or solo practice runs $300 to $600. At mid-size firms with more overhead, expect $500 to $1,200 for a single will.
Most Denver estate planning attorneys recommend a full document package as the minimum for any adult with assets or health concerns: a last will and testament, durable financial power of attorney, medical power of attorney, and advance directive. That package runs $800 to $1,800 at most Denver firms, with variation based on complexity and experience level.
A revocable living trust package — trust document, pour-over will, powers of attorney, advance directive — runs $1,800 to $4,500 at Denver boutique estate planning firms. Hourly rates for Denver estate planning attorneys range from $300 to $500, with more experienced attorneys and larger firms at the upper end.
The Colorado Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral Service is a reliable starting point for vetting attorneys. Many offer brief initial consultations at a reduced or flat rate.
Before You Move On
If any of the above is unresolved in your household, here’s the short version of where to start.
Pull up every financial account — IRAs, 401(k)s, life insurance, annuities — and confirm the named beneficiaries are still correct. A remarriage, a death in the family, or a child born after you last looked may have made an old designation wrong. This takes an hour and is probably the highest-value hour you’ll spend this month.
Ask your bank whether payable-on-death designations are on file for your checking and savings accounts. If not, add them. It’s free. Check whether TOD designations are in place on brokerage accounts. If not, request the form.
If you own a home and haven’t addressed how it transfers at death, decide whether a TOD deed recorded with the Denver County Clerk and Recorder fits your situation, or whether a revocable living trust makes more sense. Don’t record a TOD deed on a mortgaged condo without reviewing your deed of trust and HOA documents with an attorney first.
If you’re not legally married and are sharing a home or a life with someone in Denver, a will or trust is the only thing that gives your partner any rights under Colorado law. That’s worth saying plainly, because people keep finding out too late.
If your combined assets could plausibly approach $7 million, talk to an estate planning or tax attorney about gifting strategies before the federal exemption drops at the end of 2025. The planning window is real, and Congress has shown no urgency about closing it cleanly.
Filing fees, attorney fee ranges, and statutory thresholds in this piece were verified against current court and legislative sources. Dollar amounts adjust periodically; confirm current figures with Denver District Court or a Colorado-licensed estate planning attorney before relying on them.
