A Colorado Will is any written document in which you identify who will receive your probate assets; it allows you to nominate your personal representative; and it allows you to name a Guardian for your minor children.

Is a Colorado Will the best way to plan your estate?

Some of the advantages of a Will based plan in contrast to relying on state law are the following:

• Colorado Wills allow you and not state laws to determine who gets your assets.
  • If you die without a valid Will (or a funded Living Trust), all of your probate assets will be transferred pursuant to Colorado’s law of intestacy.
  • Colorado law directs who will be the recipient of your probate assets in varying degrees and percentages based on marital status and children from current or previous relationships.
• Colorado Wills permit you to designate a Guardian and Conservator for your children and a Personal Representative to wrap up your affairs upon your passing.
  • If you do not designate a Personal Representative, the Court will appoint an individual who may or may not be the individual you would have chosen. In a similar vein, a Will permits you to designate an individual as the Guardian and Conservator of your children. For most people, choosing a Guardian and Conservator for their minor children is a carefully reasoned decision, and one that is best made by the parents and not a Court.

In theory, a Colorado Will provides several advantages over relying on state law. But in practice, a Will’s usefulness and effectiveness often fall short of the optimum, a Living Trust based estate plan.

Here are some of the shortcomings relying on a Colorado Will

1. A Will often fails to control a great deal of the disposition of your property. A Will controls only the property that is part of your probate estate. Your probate estate includes the following:
   1. All property titled in your individual name that does not have a beneficiary clause;
   2. All property that is payable to your estate or is subject to a power of appointment; and
   3. Your share of any tenancy in common property that you own.
   A Colorado Will does not control any joint tenancy assets; they pass automatically to the joint tenant. Nor can your Will control Certificates of Deposit, Individual Retirement Accounts, 401K plans, and Life Insurance for which you have named your spouse, children or other loved ones as beneficiaries.
2. Wills are fully public and potentially the probate process.
3. Wills require the need for a potentially costly and time consuming probate process.
4. Wills do not offer the tax planning that a Living Trust provides.
5. Wills do not provide the asset protection of our Living Trust.

The Estate Planning Company recognizes the benefit of a Colorado Will based estate plan for those who do not have minor children, who do not mind possibly enduring a probate proceeding, who have non-taxable estates and who do not want to provide protection over the assets transferred and available to their beneficiaries. As such, a primary goal of ours in offering the Will based plan to our clients is to compliment it with guidelines on proper beneficiary designations. This plan will include one Colorado Beneficiary Deed , which will serve to transfer the subject real property without the need of a probate proceeding.

Our Simple Will Estate Planning Package

The Estate Planning Company’s Simple Will package includes:

1. Simple Will;
2. General Power of Attorney;
3. Medical Power of Attorney;
4. Living Will;
5. Personal Property Memorandum;
6. Burial Instructions;
7. Organ Donation Authorization; and
8. One Colorado Beneficiary Deed.