Clear Money Guide
What this state guide covers
A quick view of the questions, practical details and source notes below.
Updated August 4, 2026. Quick answer for Colorado: nobody publishes a reliable, state-specific median for what a will costs here, and the figures you will see quoted — including ours — are national. Anyone showing you a precise Colorado number is estimating. What is genuinely Colorado-specific, and what actually decides whether your will works, is how it has to be executed. The detail worth knowing before you sign anything: Colorado is one of only two states where a notary may stand in for the witnesses rather than sit alongside them.
Putting a loan in writing? The interest limit, the signing rules and the time limit to sue, from the state’s own statutes: Colorado promissory note.
How to make a will in Colorado: what the statute says
Each line is a short extract quoted from the Colorado statute itself; the section has the exceptions. Colorado text is the official 2024 Title 15 PDF; later amendments were not checked.
- Signing and witnesses. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 15-11-502(1): “Signed by at least two individuals, either prior to or after the testator’s death…” “…or (II) Acknowledged by the testator before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments.”
- Interested witnesses. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 15-11-505: “The signing of a will by an interested witness does not invalidate…”
- Self-proving affidavit. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 15-11-504: “…may be simultaneously executed, attested, and made self-proved…”
- Handwritten (holographic) will. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 15-11-502(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.”
The cost of settling an estate is a separate question: Colorado Probate Cost 2026.
The honest position on Colorado pricing
We publish a national attorney median for a simple will of $625 (middle 50% $450–$1,000) and a DIY platform range of $129–$599. Attorney figures are the national medians from the LegalTemplates 2026 survey of 909 firms, verified July 23, 2026. They are national, not state-specific. Geographic multipliers are widely republished, but the primary source for them blocks automated verification, so we will not apply one to Colorado and present the result as a Colorado figure. When a defensible state-level dataset exists, this page will carry it and say where it came from.
What Colorado law actually requires
This is the part that is genuinely state-specific, and the part that decides whether the document works at all. Every line below is read from the statute, with the citation attached:
- Witnesses: 2. C.R.S. § 15-11-502(1)(c)(I)
- If a beneficiary witnesses it: the witness is competent and the gift is unaffected — unusual, and worth knowing. C.R.S. § 15-11-505(2)
- Notary required for the will to be valid: no. A notary is not what makes a will valid here — the witnesses are. C.R.S. § 15-11-502(1)(c)
- Self-proving affidavit: available. Signing one at the same time as the will is what saves your executor from tracking witnesses down years later. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 15-11-504
- Handwritten (holographic) wills: recognised. Valid whether or not witnessed if the signature and material provisions are in the testator’s handwriting. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 15-11-502(2)
- Electronic wills: recognised. Colorado has a Uniform Electronic Wills Act. C.R.S. §§ 15-11-1301 to 15-11-1311 (Colorado Uniform Electronic Wills Act)
The full 44-jurisdiction comparison is on what each state requires for a will to be valid. Whether a beneficiary may witness is covered nationally on can a beneficiary witness a will, and the notary question on does a will need to be notarised.
Does Colorado give you a free form?
No. We found no complete statutory will form in the Colorado code. California, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico and Wisconsin each print one in their own codes. In Colorado your realistic routes are a DIY platform, a flat-fee attorney will, or an hourly engagement if the estate is complicated.
If a DIY will is the right route for you in Colorado
Where the estate is straightforward and none of the complications above apply, a properly executed DIY will does the job, and how it is signed matters far more than where the document came from. LawDepot builds a state-specific last will and testament, which you then sign and witness under the Colorado rules above.
LawDepot pays us a commission if you buy through this link — it costs you nothing extra. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Affiliate Disclosure.
What skipping it costs in Colorado
Colorado sets probate compensation using “reasonable” compensation with no percentage schedule. The two numbers that decide what an estate actually pays are the fee basis and the small-estate threshold.
Fee basis: UPC state: reasonable compensation (C.R.S. §15-12-719); no percentage schedule.
Small-estate threshold: $88,000 for a 2026 year of death; $86,000 for 2025; $82,000 for 2024; $80,000 for 2023; $74,000 for 2022; $70,000 for 2021 and 2020 — C.R.S. § 15-12-1201 (figure read from Judicial Department form JDF 999, R: April 28, 2026).
A will does not avoid probate — it directs it. What it prevents is the estate being distributed by Colorado’s intestacy statute instead of by you, and it lets you name the executor rather than leaving the court to appoint one. The arithmetic on the other side is on what probate costs in Colorado.
What a will costs nationally — every route priced, and the four situations where DIY fails.
Statutory text read at the state’s own legislature or official code site. Pricing figures are national and dated above. General information, not legal advice.
Also on Colorado: Colorado Small Estate Affidavit.
Related: whether Colorado requires the executor to post a bond.
The court’s own filing fee to open probate is a separate cost from what’s on this page, see the Colorado probate filing fee.
Related: how long creditors have to file a claim against an estate in Colorado.