Colorado’s estate-planning framework follows the Uniform Law Commission’s model statutes for most topics — the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, the Uniform Probate Code, and the Uniform Trust Code among them. The state-specific features that matter most for caregiving families are MOST orders, the End-of-Life Options Act, and the Family Caregiver Tax Credit (covered in the caregiver-life guide).
The four documents to have in place
1. Statutory Power of Attorney (CRS §15-14-701 et seq.)
Colorado adopted the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, codified at CRS §15-14-701 et seq. A properly-drafted Colorado statutory POA names an agent to handle your parent’s financial affairs during incapacity.1
- Durability is presumed under the Uniform Act.
- Specific authority is required for hot powers — making gifts, creating or revoking a trust, changing beneficiary designations.
- Third-party acceptance is addressed.
Notarization is required. A new statutory POA runs $200–$500 through an attorney.
2. Medical Durable Power of Attorney + Living Will
Colorado separates the financial DPOA from the medical DPOA. The Medical Durable Power of Attorney (CRS §15-14-501 et seq.) names a healthcare proxy to make medical decisions when your parent cannot. The Living Will (CRS §15-18-101 et seq., the Colorado Medical Treatment Decision Act) expresses wishes about life-sustaining treatment in terminal or persistent-vegetative-state conditions.2
Both can be combined in a single document or executed separately. The Living Will requires two adult witnesses.
3. Will
A will directs how assets pass at death and names a personal representative. Colorado requires two adult witnesses; the will becomes self-proving with notarized affidavits attached. Colorado follows a Uniform Probate Code framework.
4. Revocable Living Trust
A revocable living trust is the workhorse of probate avoidance. Your parent transfers assets into the trust during life, retains control as trustee, and names a successor trustee to administer assets at death without probate court involvement. Colorado has adopted versions of the Uniform Trust Code; administration is comparatively straightforward.
MOST: Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment
Colorado’s MOST(Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment) is the state’s POLST-equivalent. Codified at CRS §15-18.7-101 et seq., MOST is a portable medical order — signed by a clinician and the patient (or surrogate) — that directs emergency responders and other providers about life-sustaining treatments when the patient cannot communicate.3
MOST differs from a Living Will in two ways: it’s a medical order (binding on EMS and clinicians as orders, not as expressions of preference), and it’s designed for patients with serious advanced illness or significant frailty rather than for healthy adults planning ahead. For Colorado families with a parent in late-stage illness, MOST is the right tool alongside (not instead of) the Living Will.
The Colorado End-of-Life Options Act
Colorado was the sixth US state to authorize medical aid in dying. Proposition 106 (November 2016) enacted CRS §25-48-101 et seq., the End-of-Life Options Act. The Act allows mentally capable terminal adults (18+) with a prognosis of six months or less to live to request a prescription for medical aid in dying.4
Procedural requirements include:
- Two oral requests separated by a statutory waiting period
- One written request witnessed by two qualifying witnesses
- Evaluation by an attending physician and a consulting physician
- Self-administration of the medication by the patient (the law does not permit physician administration or family administration)
The Act interacts with advance directives, hospice care, and the broader end-of-life planning conversation. Colorado hospice physicians and palliative-care specialists are the appropriate clinical contacts for families considering this option.
Probate in Colorado
Colorado probate is administered through District Courts. Two main paths:
- Formal administration. Required for contested estates and most larger estates. Personal representative is appointed; creditors are noticed; assets are inventoried and distributed.
- Informal probate. Colorado offers a streamlined informal probate process when the will is uncontested and the estate is not subject to other complications. Faster and less expensive than formal administration.
- Small-estate affidavit. Under CRS §15-12-1201, available for estates with personal property below approximately $80,000. Uses an affidavit; avoids formal administration.
Probate-avoidance tools commonly used in Colorado: revocable living trusts, beneficiary designations, joint tenancy with right of survivorship, and Beneficiary Deeds (Colorado’s Transfer-on-Death deed equivalent for real estate).
Colorado homestead exemption
Colorado’s creditor-protection homestead exemption under CRS §13-54-102 protects the primary residence from forced sale by most judgment creditors up to a statutory dollar amount (~$250,000 in recent years, with a higher figure for homeowners 60+ or disabled).5
Colorado also offers a Property Tax Homestead Exemption for seniors 65+ who have owned and occupied the property for 10+ years — reducing the assessed value used for property tax. The exemption is funded annually by the General Assembly and may be partially suspended in budget-constrained years. Apply through the county assessor.
Elder abuse and civil remedies
Colorado’s Protection of Persons from Abuse Act (CRS §26-3.1-101 et seq.) provides for state protective services. The Colorado Department of Human Services investigates reports of mistreatment of at-risk adults. Reports may be filed at 1-844-CO-4-KIDS (1-844-264-5437). Mandatory-reporter status applies to physicians, nurses, social workers, law enforcement, and certain others.
No state estate tax, no state inheritance tax
Colorado has neither. The state estate tax was effectively repealed when the federal pickup credit ended in 2005; Colorado has never had an inheritance tax. That leaves only the federal estate tax for most Colorado families (exemption ~$13.99M per individual in 2025).6
What to do this quarter
- Locate (or create) your parent’s four documents: financial POA, medical DPOA, Living Will, will, and (if appropriate) Revocable Living Trust.
- For a parent with advanced illness, discuss MOST with their clinician.
- If your parent is 65+, confirm Property Tax Homestead Exemption at the county assessor.
- If real estate is in the estate, consider a Beneficiary Deed as a low-cost probate-avoidance option.
- For Medicaid planning interactions, see our Colorado Medicaid guide.