In Colorado, estates with personal property of $88,000C.R.S. § 15-12-1201Verified Sep 8, 2026View source or less skip probate with the Collection of Personal Property by AffidavitC.R.S. § 15-12-1201Verified Sep 8, 2026View source, 10 daysC.R.S. § 15-12-1201Verified Sep 8, 2026View source after death. Real property cannot pass through the affidavitC.R.S. § 15-12-1201Verified Sep 8, 2026View source; an estate that includes real estate uses a separate process. Colorado sets the limit by the decedent's date of deathC.R.S. § 15-12-1201Verified Sep 8, 2026View source; an earlier death may be measured against a lower figure. An estate over the limit does not qualify, and no affidavit is prepared for it.

Colorado's recorded instrument, Affidavits referring to death, intestacy, heirship, rests on the general recording statute for affidavits of facts affecting title to land. What a recorded affidavit does, in the statute's words: statements relating to death, intestacy, heirship, relationship, age, sex, names, and identity of persons in an affidavit that has remained of record for twenty years are accepted and received as prima facie evidence of the facts stated, insofar as those facts affect title to real propertyC.R.S. § 38-35-113Verified Sep 24, 2026View source. The effect attaches once the affidavit has been of record for 20 yearsC.R.S. § 38-35-113Verified Sep 24, 2026View source. It is evidence of the facts it states, not a deed; it does not itself transfer title, and a purchaser, lender or title company decides whether to rely on it.

In the office of the county clerk and recorder of the county where the real property affected by the facts stated in such affidavits is situatedC.R.S. § 38-35-113; C.R.S. § 38-35-109(1)Verified Sep 24, 2026View source. The office records it as it records deeds, in the county where the land lies, and charges its recording fee per page.

It depends on what the person owned and how it was titled. Property with a named beneficiary, joint property with survivorship, and property in a trust pass outside probate. What remains goes through probate unless it is under the state's small estate limit, in which case a small estate affidavit collects it. The Probate Decision Tool applies your state's rules.