Colorado Will Requirements
What each state’s probate code requires to execute a valid will: the minimum age, how many witnesses must sign, whether a notary is needed, whether handwritten wills count, and where electronic wills are authorised. Sortable, every cell cited to the statute and dated when it was read.
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Estimate only — not legal advice. This is the published math for Colorado will execution requirements, shown as a range. Your actual outcome depends on facts, evidence, and decisions this page cannot see.
- Minimum age to make a will
- 18
- Witnesses required at signing
- 2
- Notary required to make the will valid
- No — but it replaces the witnesses
- Self-proving affidavit
- Statutory form
- Handwritten (holographic) wills
- Recognised
- Electronic wills
- Authorised (UEWA)
- Small-estate threshold
- $88,000
Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-11-502
Two witnesses signing within a reasonable time after witnessing the signing or the testator's acknowledgment — OR, as a complete alternative, acknowledgment before a notary with no witnesses at all. Any individual generally competent to be a witness may serve, and an interested witness invalidates neither the will nor any provision of it.
Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-11-502
Colorado adopted the 2008 Uniform Probate Code amendment, so a will acknowledged before a notary is validly executed with NO witnesses. Describing notarisation here as merely a self-proving device — which is accurate almost everywhere else — would mis-state Colorado law.
Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-11-502
§15-11-504 supplies prescribed affidavit forms for both simultaneous execution and post-execution self-proof, each with an officer's certificate under official seal. The electronic equivalent is §15-11-1308.
Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-11-504
Valid whether or not witnessed if the signature and material portions are in the testator's handwriting. Colorado requires no date, unlike Michigan and Louisiana.
Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-11-502(2)
The Colorado Uniform Electronic Wills Act, HB 21-1004, carried a safety clause and therefore took effect on the Governor's signature — January 21, 2021. It was subsequently RELOCATED by SB 21-266 from part 15 of article 12 to part 13 of article 11, so any citation to §15-12-1501 et seq. points at a repealed location.
Colo. Rev. Stat. §§15-11-1301 to 15-11-1311 (HB 21-1004, relocated by SB 21-266)
The statute states no figure: it is twice the §15-11-403 base of $30,000, CPI-adjusted under §15-10-112, and keyed to the year of death. $88,000 is the published figure for deaths in 2026 (Colorado Judicial Branch form JDF 998); 2025 was $86,000 and 2024 was $82,000. Store it as an indexed value, not a constant.
Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-12-1201(1), computed from §15-11-403 as adjusted by §15-10-112
These are execution requirements — what the probate code says a will must satisfy to be valid. They are not instructions for writing one, and this page does not tell you whether a will or a trust fits your situation. If you want to think that question through, the will-vs-trust quiz shows its reasoning, and an estate attorney licensed in Colorado answers it properly.
Compare against every verified state, or see which states allow electronic wills.
Verified 2026-08-02 against Colorado Revised Statutes title 15, §§15-11-501, 15-11-502, 15-11-504, 15-11-505, part 13 (Colorado Uniform Electronic Wills Act) and 15-12-1201 (effective 2021-01-21)
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🎓 Understand this tool
What it is
A state-by-state table of what a probate code requires for a will to be validly executed: minimum age, witnesses, notarisation, self-proving affidavits, handwritten wills and electronic wills. It reports requirements. It does not explain how to write a will and does not supply language.
How it works
Each cell is transcribed from the state’s own probate code and carries that citation, plus the date someone read it. The categories are the ones states actually legislate on. Witness counts are near-universal at two, with Pennsylvania the outlier at none for validity. Notarisation is widely misunderstood: in almost every state it makes a will self-proving — meaning it can be admitted without tracking witnesses down years later — rather than making it valid. Louisiana is the exception, requiring a notary and two witnesses to execute. Roughly half of states recognise holographic wills, handwritten and unwitnessed, and a few recognise them only for armed-forces members.
Getting the most from it
- Find your state. Every figure links the statute it came from, so you can read the provision yourself.
- Read the witness row carefully — “none required” is a real answer where it appears, not missing data.
- Check the electronic column against the tracker, which separates statutes in force from statutes enacted with a future start date.
- Note the small-estate threshold if your state publishes one. It is the figure that decides whether full probate is likely to be involved at all.
Reading your result
These are execution requirements — the conditions a will must satisfy to be valid. Meeting them does not make a will a good one, does not mean it says what you intend, and does not resolve how an estate should be arranged. Requirements also change: a legislature can amend an execution rule or start an electronic wills act, which is why every cell carries the date it was verified.
What it can't tell you
This cannot draft a will, review one, tell you whether yours is valid, or tell you whether a will or a trust suits your situation. It does not cover revocation, amendment, undue influence, capacity disputes, or what happens when a will is contested. An estate attorney licensed in your state answers all of that.
Frequently asked questions
Two in almost every state, signing in the testator’s presence. Pennsylvania is the notable exception: a will can be valid there without witnesses at execution, and witnesses matter instead when the will is offered for probate. The table shows each state’s figure with the statute beside it.
Related calculators
Electronic Wills
Which states authorise electronic wills, which have passed an act that has not started yet, and which authorise nothing. The distinction matters: a post-dated statute is not law today, and signing under one before its operative date relies on a rule that has not begun.
Will vs Trust
Seven questions covering the factors estate planners commonly treat as reasons to look past a simple will — property in two states, a business, incapacity planning, contest exposure. It shows its scoring as you answer and cites your state’s small-estate threshold rather than hiding the reasoning.
Change alerts — when a state revises the guideline or deadline behind this page
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