Colorado Already Has an Estate Plan for You. You Probably Don’t Want It.

What every Roaring Fork Valley family should know about wills, trusts, incapacity, and the documents that actually protect the people you love.

If you live in the Roaring Fork Valley and have never signed an estate plan, you still have one. Colorado wrote it for you.

It is called intestacy — the state’s default rules for who inherits when there is no valid will — plus the court processes that kick in if you become unable to manage your own affairs. That default plan is public. It is slower and more expensive than most families expect. And it almost never matches what a household in Carbondale, Basalt, Aspen, or Glenwood Springs actually wants.

We recently sat down with neighbors in River Valley Ranch for a Life & Legacy conversation about this. The questions were the same ones we hear in the office: Do I need a trust, or is a will enough? What happens to the house? What if someone I love has a disability? Who talks to the doctors if I cannot?

This post is the written version of that conversation — general education, not legal advice for your specific situation. Every family is different. Colorado law has important nuances once we look at real assets, real people, and real goals.

The heart of the message

Estate planning is not a document package for wealthy people. It is a set of decisions about who speaks for you if you cannot speak, who cares for the people who depend on you, and how what you have built is transferred with as little delay, cost, conflict, and public process as possible.

That matters here for reasons that are particular to this valley. Blended families. Adult children living in another state. A cabin or second home. A closely held business. Accounts that still list an ex-spouse as beneficiary. A child or grandchild with a disability. Those facts change the plan. The state’s default rules do not know them.

1. Planning for incapacity is as important as planning for death

Most people think “estate plan” means “what happens when I die.” In practice, the documents that protect your family while you are alive often matter first.

• A financial power of attorney names the person who can pay the mortgage, talk to the bank, file taxes, and manage property if you are in the hospital or declining. Without one, your family may have to petition the court for a conservatorship — a public, costly process.

• A medical durable power of attorney names the person who can speak with doctors when you cannot. Pair it with a living will that states your wishes about life-sustaining treatment.

• A HIPAA authorization lets the people you trust actually receive information from providers. Without it, even a spouse or adult child can be shut out of the conversation.

These documents only work if they are signed while you still have capacity, shared with the people named in them, and given to your physician and financial institutions. A beautiful binder on a shelf that no one can find does not help.

2. A will and a trust do different jobs

A last will and testament says who receives probate assets, nominates a personal representative, and, if you have minor children, nominates a guardian. A will does not avoid probate. It is the instruction sheet the probate court uses.

A revocable living trust is a legal container you create during life. You typically serve as your own trustee and keep full control. You can change it or revoke it. Assets titled in the name of the trust generally pass to your chosen beneficiaries without going through probate — more privacy, fewer delays, and an easier path if you own real estate in more than one state.

A trust only works if it is funded. Creating the document and then leaving the house and accounts in your individual name is one of the most common — and most expensive — mistakes we see. Funding is part of the plan, not an optional follow-up.

3. Probate in Colorado, in plain language

Colorado follows the Uniform Probate Code and offers informal probate that is more workable than in many states. Even so, probate is still a court process. It is public. A typical informal administration often takes six to twelve months. There are filing fees, publication requirements, a creditor period, and work for the personal representative.

Two Colorado specifics are worth knowing:

• Colorado has no state estate tax and no inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax applies, and only to very large estates. For 2026, the federal basic exclusion is $15 million per person — $30 million for a married couple, with portability available if an estate tax return is filed. Most families we meet will never owe this tax. That does not mean they do not need a plan. Tax is only one reason to plan.

• Colorado allows a small-estate affidavit for personal property when the probate estate is under the inflation-adjusted threshold — $88,000 for deaths in 2026. It cannot transfer real estate. A house titled only in the decedent’s name generally still needs a probate, a trust, or a properly recorded transfer-on-death deed.

  
  

Many assets never go through probate at all if they are set up correctly: life insurance, IRAs and 401(k)s, payable-on-death bank accounts, transfer-on-death brokerage accounts, jointly titled property with rights of survivorship, and real estate with a valid Colorado transfer-on-death deed. That is why beneficiary designations matter as much as the will.

4. Beneficiary designations can override everything you just wrote

This is the point that surprises people most. Your will and trust do not control an IRA, 401(k), life insurance policy, or POD/TOD account. The beneficiary form on file with the company does.

If that form still names an ex-spouse, a deceased parent, or “my estate,” the documents you just signed may never touch that money. A complete plan includes a beneficiary review: retirement accounts, life insurance, bank and brokerage designations, and any transfer-on-death deed on Colorado real estate. After a marriage, divorce, birth, death, or a move, those forms should be checked again.

5. If you have a child or loved one with a disability

Leaving an inheritance outright — or naming that person as a direct beneficiary on an account — can jeopardize SSI, Medicaid, and other needs-based benefits. It can also leave a vulnerable person with more money than they can safely manage.

• A third-party supplemental needs trust holds gifts or inheritances you leave for a person with a disability. Done correctly, it can improve quality of life without counting as that person’s own asset for benefits purposes.

• A first-party special needs trust holds the beneficiary’s own money — for example, a personal injury settlement or an inheritance that was left to them directly. These trusts have tighter rules and a Medicaid payback requirement at death.

• ABLE accounts can be a useful companion tool for qualified disability expenses, with their own contribution and eligibility rules.

• A letter of intent is not a legal document, but it is often the most valuable pages in the binder: daily routines, providers, communication style, what a good day looks like, and who should be at the table.

  
  

This is a core part of our practice. If this is your family, say so when you book a conversation. The planning is different, and it should be.

6. Guardianship for minor children is a decision, not a hope

If you have children under 18, your will is where you nominate a guardian. If you do not, a judge who has never sat at your dinner table will decide.

Talk with the people you want to name before you put them on paper. Consider a short-term or temporary guardian as well, so there is no gap if something happens while the permanent nominee is traveling. And remember that a guardianship of the person is not the same as management of the money. A trust can hold funds until ages you choose, rather than handing a teenager a check at 18 or 21.

7. Business owners and families with cabins, ranches, or out-of-state property

An LLC operating agreement, a buy-sell arrangement, and the way membership interests are titled are part of the estate plan, whether they live in the same binder or not.

Out-of-state real estate can force a second probate — called ancillary probate — unless it is in a trust or otherwise arranged to pass outside court. If this is you, bring the entity documents and deeds to the planning meeting.

8. A plan is not finished on signing day

Life changes. Laws change. Accounts get opened and forgotten. Review your plan when any of the following happen — and at least every three years even if nothing dramatic has changed:

• Marriage, divorce, or a long-term partnership

• Birth or adoption of a child or grandchild

• A death in the family, or a change in who you trust

• A significant change in assets, including the sale of a business, an inheritance, or real estate

• A move to or from Colorado

• A new diagnosis, disability, or long-term care concern

• A child reaching adulthood, or a beneficiary developing a creditor, substance-use, or divorce concern

  
  

What to gather if you are ready to talk

You do not need a perfect spreadsheet. Bring what you have:

• A simple list of what you own and how it is titled — home, other real estate, bank and investment accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance, business interests, vehicles. Approximate values are enough.

• Current beneficiary designations, if you can pull them easily.

• Any existing will, trust, power of attorney, or advance directive, even if it is old or from another state.

• The names of the people you would trust with finances, health decisions, children, and the administration of your plan — plus a backup for each role.

• Anything you already know you want to be different from “whatever the default is.”

  
  

We would rather meet families around a table than meet them in a crisis.