Updated September 5, 2026. Quick answer: Colorado is a genuine marriage-length sliding-scale state: the share rises with years married rather than sitting at one flat number. 50% of the ‘marital-property portion’ of the augmented estate; that portion equals the augmented estate multiplied by a marriage-length percentage: under 1 year = supplemental amount only, 1-2 yrs 10%, 2-3 yrs 20%, 3-4 yrs 30%, 4-5 yrs 40%, 5-6 yrs 50%, 6-7 yrs 60%, 7-8 yrs 70%, 8-9 yrs 80%, 9-10 yrs 90%, 10+ yrs 100%; so the ultimate share of the full augmented estate, computed as 50% multiplied by that percentage, ranges from 5% up to 50%; a $50,000 supplemental amount applies if other amounts fall short
What Colorado actually sets out
| What the statute sets out | What it says |
|---|---|
| C.R.S. Sec. 15-11-202 (elective share) | “The surviving spouse of a decedent who dies domiciled in this state has a right of election… to take an elective-share amount equal to fifty percent of the value of the marital-property portion of the augmented estate.” |
| The share and what it is measured against | 50% of the ‘marital-property portion’ of the augmented estate; that portion equals the augmented estate multiplied by a marriage-length percentage: under 1 year = supplemental amount only, 1-2 yrs 10%, 2-3 yrs 20%, 3-4 yrs 30%, 4-5 yrs 40%, 5-6 yrs 50%, 6-7 yrs 60%, 7-8 yrs 70%, 8-9 yrs 80%, 9-10 yrs 90%, 10+ yrs 100%; so the ultimate share of the full augmented estate, computed as 50% multiplied by that percentage, ranges from 5% up to 50%; a $50,000 supplemental amount applies if other amounts fall short; measured against augmented estate. |
| Regime type | marriage-length sliding-scale percentage |
| Can it be waived | since July 1, 2014 any waiver is unenforceable unless it meets Colorado’s Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act |
| Time limit to file | within 9 months after the decedent’s death, or within 6 months after probate of the will, whichever is later |
How it works in practice
- The share is measured against augmented estate.
- No. This state’s formula is deliberately built to reach revocable trusts, payable-on-death accounts and other lifetime transfers, precisely so the elective share cannot be defeated by moving assets out of probate before death.
- Waiver: Since July 1, 2014 any waiver is unenforceable unless it meets Colorado’s Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act.
- The election has to be affirmatively filed on a deadline: within 9 months after the decedent’s death, or within 6 months after probate of the will, whichever is later.
The national picture, including the Uniform Probate Code sliding-scale schedule that a minority of states actually use, is on the elective share calculator page; this page is the record for Colorado specifically, and its own numbers above should be used instead of the calculator’s national default for a Colorado estate. The one thing that reliably defeats an elective share in every state that has one is explained on whether a prenup can waive the elective share. A newly widowed reader working through the fuller list of irreversible decisions, of which this is one, can start from the surviving spouse checklist.
What this page does not settle
- This citation and figure were fetched directly from the state’s own official code site and read against the current text this session.
- A state can amend or repeal this section without the page around it changing, and a detail specific to a reader’s own situation, such as a pending divorce, a premarital agreement, or property held jointly with right of survivorship, can change which part of the statute actually applies.
- Whether a revocable trust changes the outcome in Colorado is explained above; that answer is specific to this state and does not generalize to any other one.
- Every quotation here was read against the source on September 5, 2026. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and the exact dollar or percentage amount a court awards depends on facts this page cannot know.
Whether this statute reaches a given family’s actual facts is decided by a court, not by this page. Nothing here is legal advice, and no one should sign a waiver or forgo an election on the strength of a web page.
Sources
The sources above were retrieved and read against the state text on September 5, 2026. Every quotation on this page was checked against those bytes.