Summary of Colorado's Will Requirements:

Statutes Governing Colorado's Will Requirements:

Who may make a will

An individual eighteen or more years of age who is of sound mind may make a will.

Colorado Requirements for a Will - Revised Statutes, 15-11-501

Execution; witnessed wills; holographic wills

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section and in sections 15-11-503, 15-11-506, and 15-11-513, a will shall be:

(a) In writing;

(b) Signed by the testator, or in the testator's name by some other individual in the testator's conscious presence and by the testator's direction; and

(c) Signed by at least two individuals, either prior to or after the testator's death, each of whom signed within a reasonable time after he or she witnessed either the testator's signing of the will as described in paragraph (b) of this subsection (1) or the testator's acknowledgment of that signature or acknowledgment of the will.

(2) A will that does not comply with subsection (1) of this section is valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if the signature and material portions of the document are in the testator's handwriting.

(3) Intent that the document constitute the testator's will can be established by extrinsic evidence, including, for holographic wills, portions of the document that are not in the testator's handwriting.

(4) For purposes of this section, "conscious presence" requires physical proximity to the testator but not necessarily within testator's line of sight.

Colorado Requirements for a Will - Revised Statutes, 15-11-502

Writings intended as wills

(1) Although a document, or writing added upon a document, was not executed in compliance with section 15-11-502, the document or writing is treated as if it had been executed in compliance with that section if the proponent of the document or writing establishes by clear and convincing evidence that the decedent intended the document or writing to constitute:

(a) The decedent's will;

(b) A partial or complete revocation of the will;

(c) An addition to or an alteration of the will; or

(d) A partial or complete revival of the decedent's formerly revoked will or a formerly revoked portion of the will.

(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall apply only if the document is signed or acknowledged by the decedent as his or her will or if it is established by clear and convincing evidence that the decedent erroneously signed a document intended to be the will of the decedent's spouse.

(3) Whether a document or writing is treated under this section as if it had been executed in compliance with section 15-11-502 is a question of law to be decided by the court, in formal proceedings, and is not a question of fact for a jury to decide.

Colorado Requirements for a Will - Revised Statutes, 15-11-503

Self-proved will

(1) A will may be simultaneously executed, attested, and made self-proved by acknowledgment thereof by the testator and affidavits of the witnesses, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the state in which execution occurs and evidenced by the officer's certificate, under official seal, in substantially the following form:

I, ________, the testator, sign my name to this instrument this ____ day of ____, and being first duly sworn, do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that I sign and execute this instrument as my will and that I sign it willingly (or willingly direct another to sign for me), that I execute it as my free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed, and that I am eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence.

     ____________________________________
     Testator

     We, _______, _______ the witnesses, sign our names to this instrument, being first duly sworn, and do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that the testator signs and executes this instrument as [his] [her] will and that [he] [she] signs it willingly (or willingly directs another to sign for [him] [her]), and that [he] [she] executes it as [his] [her] free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed, and that each of us, in the conscious presence of the testator, hereby signs this will as witness to the testator's signing, and that to the best of our knowledge the testator is eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence.

     ____________________________________
     Witness

     ____________________________________
     Witness

THE STATE OF __________________

COUNTY OF _____________________

     Subscribed, sworn to and acknowledged before me by _____________, the testator, and subscribed and sworn to before me by ____________ and __________, witnesses, this _____ day of _____, ____.

(SEAL)   

(SIGNED) ____________________________________
(Official capacity of officer)

(2) An attested will may be made self-proved at any time after its execution by the acknowledgment thereof by the testator and the affidavits of the witnesses, each made before an officer authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the state in which the acknowledgment occurs and evidenced by the officer's certificate, under the official seal, attached or annexed to the will in substantially the following form:

THE STATE OF __________________

COUNTY OF _____________________

     We, _____________, ____________, and _____________, the testator and the witnesses, respectively, whose names are signed to the attached or foregoing instrument, being first duly sworn, do hereby declare to the undersigned authority that the testator signed and executed the instrument as the testator's will and that [he] [she] had signed willingly (or willingly directed another to sign for [him] [her]), and that [he] [she] executed it as [his] [her] free and voluntary act for the purposes therein expressed, and that each of the witnesses, in the conscious presence of the testator, signed the will as witness and that to the best of [his] [her] knowledge the testator was at that time eighteen years of age or older, of sound mind, and under no constraint or undue influence.

     ____________________________________
     Testator

     ____________________________________
     Witness

     ____________________________________
     Witness


     Subscribed, sworn to, and acknowledged before me by , the testator, and subscribed and sworn to before me by and , witnesses, this day of , .

(SEAL)    (SIGNED)___________________________________
(Official capacity of officer)

(3) A signature affixed to a self-proving affidavit attached to a will is considered a signature affixed to the will if necessary to prove the will's due execution.

Colorado Requirements for a Will - Revised Statutes, 15-11-504

Who may witness

(1) An individual generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will.

(2) The signing of a will by an interested witness does not invalidate the will or any provision of it.

Colorado Requirements for a Will - Revised Statutes, 15-11-505

Choice of law as to execution

A written will is valid if executed in compliance with section 15-11-502 or 15-11-503 or if its execution complies with the law at the time of execution of the place where the will is executed, or of the law of the place where, at the time of execution or at the time of death, the testator is domiciled, has a place of abode, or is a national.

Colorado Requirements for a Will - Revised Statutes, 15-11-506

[Reference - Colorado Requirements for a Will]