Colorado Small Estate Affidavit: Limits by Year of Death

General information, not legal advice. Colorado's threshold changes every year and the year of death controls. Check the current Department of Revenue adjustment table before relying on any figure you read online.

Check your year and value ↓

What is the limit for your year of death?

Colorado does not publish one flat number, it publishes a table, and the year of the decedent's death is what selects your row. The current figures run $88,000 for 2026, $86,000 for 2025, $82,000 for 2024, $80,000 for 2023, $74,000 for 2022, and $70,000 for 2021 and 2020. What you measure against that ceiling is the fair market value of all property subject to disposition by will or intestate succession, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances. Because the number climbs each year, an article written two years ago will understate it, which is exactly why the official form itself prints the whole table rather than a single figure.

Ten days, and that is the whole wait

Colorado has the shortest waiting period in the country for this kind of affidavit. Where Ohio makes families wait six months and Virginia sixty days, here only ten days need to pass from the date of death before a successor can use the affidavit, and there is no second waiting requirement stacked behind it. The other conditions are simple: no application or petition for appointment of a personal representative may be pending or granted, and the estate must contain no real property. For a family that needs access to a bank account to keep bills paid, that ten-day window is a meaningful practical difference.

Where the number comes from

The mechanics behind the figure explain why it keeps moving. Under C.R.S. 15-12-1201 the ceiling equals twice the exempt property allowance, and that allowance is adjusted for inflation under C.R.S. 15-10-112. The Department of Revenue set the 2026 exempt property allowance at $44,000, which is precisely why the small estate limit for a 2026 death is $88,000. Colorado built the indexing into the statute deliberately, so the small estate route keeps pace with rising asset values instead of quietly becoming useless the way fixed thresholds do elsewhere. It also means the authoritative source is the Department of Revenue's adjustment table rather than any secondary summary.

No court, but you carry the risk

The Colorado process runs entirely outside the courthouse. You complete the Collection of Personal Property by Affidavit, form JDF 999, sign it before a notary, and present it to whoever holds the asset, a bank, an insurer, a brokerage, an employer. That holder is protected from liability for releasing the property to the named successor, which is what makes them willing to act. For a vehicle, the DMV uses its own version, form DR 2712. The flip side of skipping court is that the affiant becomes personally liable for estate claims and debts up to the value of what they receive, so pay legitimate debts before distributing anything to family.

Written by the Trámites Notariales US editorial team, based on C.R.S. 15-12-1201 and the Colorado Judicial Branch form JDF 999. Verify the current-year figure with the official adjustment table.