How Much Does Probate Cost in Colorado?

National probate calculators describe a system where the court takes a percentage of the estate. Colorado does not work that way. The court side of Colorado probate is a short list of flat docket fees set by one statewide statute, C.R.S. 13-32-102, and the standard fee to open an estate is currently $229 no matter whether the estate holds $100,000 or $10 million. (Source: C.R.S. 13-32-102; Colorado Judicial Branch, List of Fees.) Colorado charges no probate tax, no inheritance tax, and no state estate tax filing for deaths after December 31, 2004. (Source: Colorado Legislative Council Staff, Estate Tax.)

The real money questions sit elsewhere: what the personal representative gets paid, what an attorney charges if you hire one, and which optional costs your estate actually needs. Use this as a planning map. Fee amounts change by statute and by Judicial Branch fee schedule, so confirm current figures with the clerk before you file.

The Short Answer

Walk a typical Colorado estate through the predictable charges:

Cost	What it is	Current figure
Docket fee, standard estate	One-time fee to open informal or formal probate	$229 ($199 base plus $30 equal justice fee)
Docket fee, small estate	Estates eligible for summary administrative procedures, no real property	$113 ($83 base plus $30 equal justice fee)
Supervised administration	Additional fee only if you petition for court supervision	$198
Certified copies of letters	Certification of records plus per-page copies	$20 plus $0.25 per page
Death certificates	CDPHE certified copies, 2026 fee	$25 first copy, $20 each additional
Publication of notice to creditors	Paid to the newspaper, not the court	Varies by paper, often modest

The court fees do not scale with estate value. The two large variables are personal representative compensation and professional fees, and both run on a reasonableness standard rather than a fixed percentage. The Colorado probate guide explains the process these fees attach to.

Court Filing Fees Under C.R.S. 13-32-102

Colorado sets probate docket fees statewide by statute, so the base charge is the same in every county. The statute fixes these amounts for proceedings under the Colorado Probate Code:

Filing	Base statutory fee
First papers in a standard decedent's estate	$199
First papers in an estate eligible for summary administrative procedures under C.R.S. 15-12-1203, with no real property	$83
Petition for supervised administration	$198
Contested claim, paid by the claimant before hearing	$198
Demand for notice under C.R.S. 15-12-204	$36
Depositing a will with the court during the testator's lifetime	$18

(Source: C.R.S. 13-32-102(1).)

Since January 1, 2025, the court also collects a $30 equal justice fee on the estate-opening filings, which is why the Judicial Branch fee list shows $229 for a standard estate and $113 for a small estate today. (Source: C.R.S. 13-32-102(7); Colorado Judicial Branch, List of Fees.)

One venue note. You pay this fee to the District Court for the county where the person lived. Colorado organizes its 64 counties into 23 judicial districts, after the 23rd district opened in January 2025. The exception is the City and County of Denver, where the standalone Denver Probate Court has exclusive jurisdiction over estates. (Source: C.R.S. 13-9-103.) Start from the Colorado probate hub to find the right court.

No Probate Tax, No Estate Tax, No Inheritance Tax

Some states charge a probate tax measured by the estate's value. Colorado does not. The docket fee is flat, and no Colorado tax attaches to the act of probating a will or administering an estate.

The death-tax picture is just as quiet:

No Colorado estate tax filing is required for individuals who die after December 31, 2004. Colorado's estate tax was tied to a federal credit that Congress eliminated, so the state tax fell to zero. (Source: Colorado Legislative Council Staff, Estate Tax.)
Colorado has no inheritance tax. Beneficiaries do not pay the state a tax on what they receive.
A federal estate tax return applies only to estates above the federal exclusion amount, which most estates never reach.

Two income-tax tasks can still apply: a final individual income tax return for the person who died, and a Colorado fiduciary income tax return if the estate earns income during administration.

Personal Representative Compensation

Older articles still cite C.R.S. 15-12-719 for executor pay. That section was repealed in 2011 along with C.R.S. 15-12-720 on estate litigation expenses. (Source: C.R.S. 15-12-719 and 15-12-720, repealed by SB 11-083.) The live law is Part 6 of Article 10: a fiduciary is entitled to reasonable compensation for services rendered on behalf of an estate. (Source: C.R.S. 15-10-602(1).)

Three practical points follow from the statute:

There is no statutory percentage. The court weighs the factors in C.R.S. 15-10-603(3), including the time and labor required, the skill involved, compensation customarily charged in the community, the nature and size of the estate, and the results obtained. (Source: C.R.S. 15-10-603.)
The fee basis must be disclosed up front. Every application or petition for appointment must state how the fiduciary and counsel will charge the estate, such as hourly rates or a published fee schedule. (Source: C.R.S. 15-10-602(9).)
Family members often waive the fee. Compensation to a personal representative is usually taxable income, while an inheritance is not, so a child who is also the main beneficiary frequently declines to charge.

The Colorado personal representative duties guide lays out the work this compensation reflects.

Attorney Fees in Colorado Probate

The same reasonableness rule governs lawyers. A fiduciary's lawyer is entitled to reasonable compensation from the estate, the same disclosure requirement applies, and the court keeps inherent authority to review fees and order refunds of excessive payments. (Source: C.R.S. 15-10-602.) Colorado has no percentage-based attorney fee schedule of the kind California uses. Most Colorado probate lawyers charge hourly or flat fees, and a personal representative who defends or prosecutes a proceeding in good faith may be reimbursed from the estate for reasonable costs, including attorney fees. (Source: C.R.S. 15-10-602(6).)

Just as important: hiring a lawyer is optional. Colorado adopted the Uniform Probate Code, and informal probate runs through a registrar with no court hearing. Many straightforward estates handle informal probate without counsel and spend the attorney budget only on specific questions. Hourly help for a few discrete tasks often costs far less than full representation.

Bond and the Smaller Line Items

A few more costs round out the budget:

Personal representative bond. No bond is required in informal proceedings unless a special administrator is appointed, the will expressly requires bond, or an interested person demands it. Courts can also order bond in formal proceedings. (Source: C.R.S. 15-12-603.) When bond applies, the annual premium scales with estate size. Wills commonly waive bond, which removes the cost.
Publication of notice to creditors. If you publish under C.R.S. 15-12-801, the newspaper charges for three weekly insertions. The Colorado creditor claims guide covers when publication makes sense.
Death certificates. CDPHE charges $25 for the first certified copy and $20 for each additional copy ordered at the same time, as of January 1, 2026. (Source: CDPHE, Order a death certificate.) Order several, since banks and title companies each want one.
Appraisals and recording. Real estate, a business interest, or unusual property may need a valuation for the inventory, and deeds recorded with the county clerk and recorder carry small per-page fees.

How to Keep Colorado Probate Cheap

Colorado gives small and well-planned estates real off-ramps:

Collection by affidavit. Personal property under the inflation-adjusted small estate limit can transfer by affidavit with no court case and no docket fee at all. The Colorado small estate affidavit guide covers eligibility and the JDF 999 form.
Summary administrative procedure. Estates that qualify under C.R.S. 15-12-1203 open for the reduced $113 fee and close on a sworn statement.
Informal probate. The registrar route avoids hearings, which keeps attorney involvement and cost down.
Nonprobate transfers. Beneficiary deeds, joint tenancy, and payable-on-death designations move assets outside probate entirely. The Colorado how-to-avoid-probate guide compares these tools.

How to Estimate Your Own Number

Run this short checklist for a specific estate:

List the probate assets, the property that does not pass by joint tenancy, beneficiary designation, or trust.
If the estate qualifies for collection by affidavit, your court cost is zero.
Otherwise budget $229 to open the estate, or $113 for a summary-eligible estate, plus $20 and copy charges for certified letters.
Add death certificates, publication if you choose it, and any appraisal the inventory needs.
Decide whether the personal representative will charge reasonable compensation, since that is the largest swing factor.
Price attorney help by task, not by default. Many informal probates need little or none.

The Colorado probate timeline shows when each of these costs lands during the case.

This guide is general information about Colorado estates. It is not legal advice. Confirm current fees with the clerk of the District Court or the Denver Probate Court, and confirm compensation questions with a licensed Colorado attorney.

Sources

Sources:

Title: C.R.S. 13-32-102, Fees in probate proceedings - equal justice fee collection. Publisher: Colorado General Assembly, Colorado Revised Statutes (leg.colorado.gov). Publication Date: Current official code, accessed 2026-06-10. URL: https://leg.colorado.gov/colorado-revised-statutes
Title: List of Fees (probate case fees, copy and certification fees). Publisher: Colorado Judicial Branch. Publication Date: Current fee schedule, accessed 2026-06-10. URL: https://www.coloradojudicial.gov/self-help/list-fees
Title: C.R.S. 15-10-602, Recovery of reasonable compensation and costs. Publisher: Colorado General Assembly, Colorado Revised Statutes (leg.colorado.gov). Publication Date: Current official code, accessed 2026-06-10. URL: https://leg.colorado.gov/colorado-revised-statutes
Title: C.R.S. 15-10-603, Factors in determining the reasonableness of compensation and costs. Publisher: Colorado General Assembly, Colorado Revised Statutes (leg.colorado.gov). Publication Date: Current official code, accessed 2026-06-10. URL: https://leg.colorado.gov/colorado-revised-statutes
Title: C.R.S. 15-12-719 and 15-12-720, repealed by SB 11-083 (2011). Publisher: Colorado General Assembly, Colorado Revised Statutes (leg.colorado.gov). Publication Date: Current official code, accessed 2026-06-10. URL: https://leg.colorado.gov/colorado-revised-statutes
Title: C.R.S. 15-12-603, Bond not required without court order - exceptions. Publisher: Colorado General Assembly, Colorado Revised Statutes (leg.colorado.gov). Publication Date: Current official code, accessed 2026-06-10. URL: https://leg.colorado.gov/colorado-revised-statutes
Title: C.R.S. 13-9-103, Jurisdiction (Denver Probate Court). Publisher: Colorado General Assembly, Colorado Revised Statutes (leg.colorado.gov). Publication Date: Current official code, accessed 2026-06-10. URL: https://leg.colorado.gov/colorado-revised-statutes
Title: Estate Tax. Publisher: Colorado Legislative Council Staff, Colorado General Assembly. Publication Date: Current agency page, accessed 2026-06-10. URL: https://content.leg.colorado.gov/agencies/legislative-council-staff/estate-tax
Title: Order a death certificate. Publisher: Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Publication Date: Current fee page, accessed 2026-06-10. URL: https://cdphe.colorado.gov/order-death-certificate
Title: 23rd Judicial District Marks Historic Event. Publisher: Colorado Judicial Branch. Publication Date: January 2025, accessed 2026-06-10. URL: https://www.coloradojudicial.gov/media/press-release/23rd-judicial-district-marks-historic-event