Colorado Executor and Estate Kit: the $82,000 Small Estate Route After 10 Days, First Month Checklist and Estate Ledger

Who it is for

Whoever is settling the estate of someone who lived in Colorado. Handed to the bank or other holder. Presented to whoever is paying or delivering the property, who is then discharged as if dealing with a personal representative.

Not the right fit if

The person didn't live in or own property in Colorado, or a will contest or family dispute means you need an estate attorney. Not a form preparation or legal service.

Why it is different

• Sources, checked November 2026: Colorado Judicial Branch form JDF 999, Collection of Personal Property by Affidavit (rev. March 5, 2024); Colorado Judicial Branch: Collection of Personal Property by Affidavit (form page); Colorado Judicial Branch form JDF 966SC, Statement of Personal Representative Closing Small Estate (R6/19); Nolo (secondary source): How to Make a Will in Colorado (Nolo, updated September 2025); Justia (statute text) (secondary source): C.R.S. 15-11-505, Who may witness (Justia statute text, 2022 Colorado Code).
• All 11 Colorado facts are confirmed: on an official page, or where none could be read, on a vetted secondary source marked as such.

What is inside

• Colorado small estate route. Fair market value of everything the person owned, less liens and encumbrances, by year of death: $82,000 for 2024, $80,000 for 2023, $74,000 for 2022, $70,000 for 2020 and 2021, $68,000 for 2019, $66,000 for 2017 and 2018. The form we read stops at 2024. It can't transfer real estate. Real estate isn't counted, and the affidavit doesn't transfer it; it needs its own route. 10 days. At least 10 days after the death. Signed before a notary. Sworn before a notary public or a deputy clerk. Handed to the bank or other holder. Presented to whoever is paying or delivering the property, who is then discharged as if dealing with a personal representative. JDF 999, Collection of Personal Property by Affidavit. The Judicial Branch's statewide form, revised March 5, 2024. Small estate closed by sworn statement (JDF 966SC, C.R.S. 15-12-1204): When the whole estate, less liens and encumbrances, is no more than exempt property, the family allowance, administration costs, reasonable funeral expenses and the last illness's medical and hospital bills, the personal representative closes the estate with the Judicial Branch's sworn statement JDF 966SC (rev. 6/19).
• How a Colorado will had to be signed. Two witnesses who sign within a reasonable time after seeing the signing or acknowledgment, or instead the testator acknowledges the will before a notary (Nolo, citing C.R.S. 15-11-502). Allowed. Per Nolo (citing C.R.S. 15-11-504), the testator and witnesses sign an affidavit before a notary. Recognized without witnesses if the signature and material provisions are in the testator's handwriting (Nolo, citing 15-11-502). Allowed: a will, or any part of it, isn't invalid because an interested witness signed it (C.R.S. 15-11-505, Justia's 2022 code text). Disinterested witnesses are still the safer choice.
• Colorado estate ledger (Excel). Assets, debts, payments and distributions; it compares the countable assets with $82,000, picking the figure for the date of death, dates day 10 after the death and leaves real estate out of the count.
• First 30 days, tracker and letters. The first month in order with day 10 marked, a documents and accounts tracker, and plain letters to a bank, a utility and Social Security.