Updated September 7, 2026. Quick answer: In Colorado, once the personal representative publishes notice to creditors, a creditor has 4 months to file a claim; and if notice is never published, the absolute deadline is 1 year from the date of death; and a creditor who is personally mailed notice gets 60 days.
What is the creditor-claim deadline in Colorado?
| Once notice to creditors is published | 4 months |
| If notice is never published (absolute deadline) | 1 year from the date of death |
| Creditor personally mailed notice | 60 days |
“as to creditors barred by publication, within the time set in the published notice to creditors; as to creditors barred by written notice, within the time set in the written notice; or as to all creditors, within one year after the decedent’s death… a date not earlier than four months from date of first publication or the date one year from date of death, whichever occurs first… sixty days from the mailing or other delivery of such notice, but not later than the date one year from date of death.”
What makes Colorado different
Colorado caps every track at one year from death, so the 1-year ceiling can cut off even a properly-published claim if the estate opened late.
Does this deadline apply the same way if the estate never opens probate?
These deadlines are creatures of the probate process itself; they run once an estate is opened (by publication, mailing, appointment, or the grant of letters, depending on Colorado’s own rule above). A creditor of a decedent whose estate never enters probate at all is not cut off by this particular statute, though the underlying debt’s own ordinary statute of limitations still applies.
Sources
| Statute | Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 15-12-803, 15-12-801 |
| Colorado courts (general reference) | Colorado judicial branch |
| Confidence | High |
Every statute quoted on this page was read directly from the state’s own legislature/code site this session, or, where that site blocked automated access, from a reputable legal-citation mirror quoting the same official text with its official citation (disclosed below). General information, not legal advice; the exact deadline in a given estate can turn on facts (whether a personal representative was appointed, whether notice was ever published or mailed) that only your own probate court file can confirm.