How to Write a Will in Colorado: 9 Common Mistakes

Colorado's will execution rules require two competent adult witnesses who watch the testator sign — and then sign the will themselves. Miss one witness, and the will is void under C.R.S. § 15-11-502. Colorado courts don't make exceptions for intent.

Witnesses must be at least 18. They don't need to read the document, but they must see the testator sign or acknowledge the signature. Interested witnesses — people who inherit under the will — can witness in Colorado without automatically losing their bequest, but it complicates probate. Use disinterested witnesses every time.

One scenario I see repeatedly: someone prints a will, signs it alone at their kitchen table, then gets two signatures later. That doesn't satisfy the contemporaneous witness requirement. The order matters.

Colorado does recognize holographic wills under C.R.S. § 15-11-502(2). A holographic will requires the material portions to be in the testator's own handwriting and signed — no witnesses needed.

Here's where people wreck it: they print a template, handwrite in their name and assets, and sign it. That's not holographic. The material provisions must be entirely handwritten, not a mix. Partial handwriting on a printed form fails both tests simultaneously — not witnessed, not fully handwritten.

Holographic wills are harder to probate too. Courts may require handwriting analysis, which adds cost and delay. Use a typed, witnessed will unless you're in an emergency.

Colorado requires the testator to be at least 18 years old and of "sound mind" at the moment of signing — not necessarily at all times. This is testamentary capacity, and it's a lower bar than most people assume.

Sound mind means the person knows: what a will is, what property they own, who their natural heirs are, and how the document distributes their estate. A person with early dementia can still have valid testamentary capacity during a lucid interval. A person under acute medication effects may not.

Every time I've seen a will challenged on capacity grounds, the fight was expensive regardless of outcome — typically $8,000–$25,000 in legal fees. If there's any question about capacity, get a physician's letter dated the same day as signing. It costs almost nothing and forecloses the challenge.

If your sole beneficiary dies before you and you haven't named an alternate, Colorado's anti-lapse statute (C.R.S. § 15-11-603) may kick in — but only for certain relatives. For everyone else, that gift falls into the residuary estate. If there's no residuary clause, it goes to intestacy. That means a court decides.

Name a contingent beneficiary for every gift. This is one of those fixes that takes 30 seconds in drafting and saves months of probate confusion. Example: "To my sister Jane; if Jane predeceases me, to her children in equal shares."

Also: beneficiary designations on life insurance and retirement accounts override your will entirely. A will that leaves everything to your children means nothing if your ex-spouse is still listed on your 401(k). Review beneficiary designations as part of the same process.

Colorado is an elective share state. Under C.R.S. § 15-11-201, a surviving spouse can claim up to 50% of the augmented estate regardless of what the will says — the percentage depends on the length of the marriage, scaling from 3% (less than one year) to 50% (five or more years).

This catches people who think they can simply disinherit a spouse. You can't, fully. You can structure assets to minimize the elective share — through certain trusts, joint tenancy titling, or prenuptial agreements — but those require careful planning, not just will language.

Quick note: Colorado is not a community property state. Everything is common law property ownership. That distinction matters when people move here from Arizona, California, or New Mexico expecting different rules.

"My jewelry to my daughters" sounds clear. Six daughters, $40,000 in jewelry, no specific allocations — and suddenly you have a probate dispute. I've watched families spend more fighting over personal property than it was worth.

Be specific. Describe items with enough detail to be identified: make, model, approximate value, location. For real property, use the full legal description from the deed — not just "my house." Colorado allows a separate signed list for personal property under C.R.S. § 15-11-513; that list can be updated without re-executing the whole will, which is useful for tangible personal property.

For digital assets — cryptocurrency, investment accounts, online businesses — Colorado adopted the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act. Name a digital executor and leave account access instructions somewhere secure and referenced in the will.

This is the most emotionally avoided section of any will. Parents skip it because they don't want to think about it. Courts decide anyway, and they don't always choose who you'd have chosen.

Colorado courts give "great weight" to a parent's nomination of a guardian under C.R.S. § 15-14-204, but the appointment isn't automatic. The court still evaluates the child's best interest. Name both a primary and an alternate guardian. Confirm in writing that the nominated guardian is willing to serve — surprise nominations create delays and sometimes refusals at the worst possible moment.

Also address the money separately. The guardian of the person and the trustee managing assets for minor children don't have to be the same person. Splitting those roles can actually reduce conflict and protect the child's finances.

A valid will that no one can locate is legally treated as if it doesn't exist. Colorado courts require the original. A photocopy creates a rebuttable presumption that the original was revoked.

Store the original in a fireproof location your executor knows about: a home safe, with your attorney, or at a Colorado bank in a safe deposit box. Quick note on safe deposit boxes: access can be tricky immediately after death depending on how the box is titled. Your executor needs to be named on the box or have a legal mechanism to access it.

Tell your executor — in writing, separately — exactly where the original will is. Don't rely on them remembering a conversation. The Colorado Judicial Branch does not maintain a central will registry, unlike some other states.

A will signed in 2010 doesn't know you got divorced in 2018, had another child in 2020, or sold the vacation property in 2023. Colorado's revocation-by-divorce statute (C.R.S. § 15-11-804) does automatically revoke provisions in favor of an ex-spouse, but it doesn't rewrite your whole document.

Review your will after every major life event: marriage, divorce, birth, death of a named beneficiary, significant asset acquisition or sale, or a move to or from Colorado. Estate planning attorneys generally recommend a full review every three to five years regardless.

Per the U.S. Census Bureau, the average American moves 11.7 times in their lifetime. Each move to a new state is a trigger point — will requirements vary by state, and a will valid in Texas may not meet Colorado's formalities, or vice versa.

Updating a will typically costs $150–$500 with an estate planning attorney if the changes are minor. A full redraft runs $300–$1,500. That's a fraction of what a contested probate costs.