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Colorado court costs

Colorado probate filing cost: $229

The Colorado Judicial Branch statewide Probate Case Fees schedule lists $229 for the 1st Filing for a Decedent's Estate (not small estates), citing C.R.S. 13-32-102(1)(b),(7), and separately lists $113 for a Small Estate filing (13-32-102(1)(a),(7)). The collection-by-affidavit procedure (JDF 999/998) is handled out of court and ordinarily is not filed.

$229 is the amount the statute states. Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch September 15, 2026.

What the statute charges

Every line below is computed from the statutory schedule quoted at the end of this page. These are court charges only. They are not an estimate of the total cost of settling an estate.

1st Filing for a Decedent's Estate (not small estates)

Charge$25,000 estate$100,000 estate$400,000 estate$1,000,000 estate
First filing$229$229$229$229
Total from this schedule$229$229$229$229

Not included in this total

  • Publication, certified copies, service, and bond costs

The same statewide schedule prices a Small Estate court filing at $113; the JDF 999 collection-by-affidavit route is generally not filed with the court.

Source: Colorado Judicial Branch fee schedule; C.R.S. 13-32-102(1)(b),(7), Colorado Judicial Branch. Edition/currentness: Publisher edition or effective date not stated. Verified September 15, 2026.

What the $229 is made of

Colorado’s $229 figure is a single statutory charge, not a total assembled from parts. It is shown here with its own provision named, and with the neighbouring charges the Colorado schedule prices separately — the ones a filer is most likely to add to it by mistake, or to be quoted alongside it.

  • $229First filing for a decedent's estate

Added together, these come to $229 — the figure this page headlines. If any component changed in the source, the sum would no longer match, and the build withholds the total rather than publishing a number whose parts no longer add up.

Charges the $229 figure leaves out

These amounts appear in or beside the same Colorado schedule, so a reader can easily mistake one for part of the fee. Each is held out of the figure above for the specific reason given, which is the difference between an honest total and an inflated one.

A fee for a different filing

Small Estate filing
a different proceeding on the same schedule.
Supervised administration, allowance/contested claim, trust registration
three separate $198 probate proceedings, none of them the decedent-estate first filing.
Registration of a foreign guardianship/conservatorship
a different proceeding (out-of-state guardianship registration).
Deposit of Will
a different filing (lodging a will), not opening a decedent's estate.
Demand for Notice
a different filing, not the estate first-filing fee.
Jury Demand Fee
the fee for demanding a jury, a different proceeding.
Petition for Trust Action, C.R.S. 13-32-102(1)(f)
the second $229 is the fee for a Petition for Trust Action, a different proceeding that carries the same fee as the decedent-estate first filing.

Costs no statute prices

These are the costs executors most often meet after the filing fee. None of them has a statewide statutory amount, so this site does not estimate them.

Publication

Newspaper pricing is commercial rather than a statewide fee.

Bond

Premiums depend on the bond amount, the estate, and the applicant.

Copies and local charges

Certified copies, recording, inventory, accounting, and county surcharges are billed separately.

Professional fees

Attorney, accountant, and appraiser fees are negotiated or court-reviewed.

State-specific limits

  • Colorado's small-estate cap is set by the decedent's YEAR OF DEATH, not a single timeless figure. The Colorado Judicial Branch table JDF 998 publishes the operative amount per year: $88,000 for 2026 deaths, $86,000 for 2025 deaths, and $82,000 for 2024 deaths (earlier years are lower - 2023 $80,000; 2022 $74,000; 2020-2021 $70,000). A death in an earlier year must use that year's figure: a 2025 estate of $87,000, for example, does NOT qualify even though it is under the 2026 cap. Always check JDF 998 for the year of death.
  • Filing-fee figures come from the judiciary fee list (agency-published), which shows no revision date; the underlying statute is C.R.S. 13-32-102 in Title 13 (outside the harvested Title 15 PDF).
Use this as a starting point.

This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Probate law varies by state and county and changes over time. Verify the current rule with the court or a licensed attorney in the relevant state.

How to verify the amount for this case

Name the proceeding before asking for a total. A small-estate affidavit, an application for letters, formal administration, a later inventory or account, and a certified copy can each carry a different charge. Asking only “what does probate cost?” invites an answer for the wrong filing.

  1. Identify the county where the proceeding will be filed.
  2. Identify the exact route or petition you expect to use.
  3. State the value basis the schedule uses; it is not always the gross estate value.
  4. Ask the clerk to separate the opening fee, mandatory surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings.
  5. Record the schedule date or rule cited.
  6. Record whether payment is due at filing.

Keep that clerk quote with the estate record and compare it with the itemised statutory lines above. For the broader budget, use the probate cost-line guide; court filing is only one category.

Colorado filing-cost map

Separate the Colorado filing charge from the estate budget

The Colorado filing record prices a proceeding, not every cost of settling an estate. This map connects the published amount or schedule to its value basis and identifies the local items that still need a clerk or court schedule.

QuestionRecorded Colorado answerCarry into the case
What route is being screened?Collection of personal property by affidavit (C.R.S. 15-12-1201)Confirm that the will, prior appointment, family facts, and asset titles fit this route.
What property and basis count?personal probate property only; net of enforceable liens and encumbrances.Keep real property, liens, beneficiary transfers, and survivorship transfers classified separately.
What is the amount screen?$88,000 for deaths from January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026Use the counted property, not a bank-balance shortcut.
What is the time or deadline record?10 days after death; Colorado runs multiple independent, separately-triggered deadlines that cannot be reduced to one honest day count. C.R.S. 15-12-801 requires published notice (at least once during each of three successive weeks) fixing a bar date not earlier than four months from first publication or one year from death, whichever occurs first. C.R.S. 15-12-803(1)(a) bars pre-death claims: (I) creditors barred by publication within the time set in the published notice; (II) creditors barred by written notice within the time set in the written notice; (III) as to all creditors within one year after the decedent's death (outer nonclaim limit). Post-death claims are barred four months after they arise / after PR performance is due (15-12-803(2)).Keep the event that starts each clock with the date; do not combine separate periods into one number.
What does the cost record establish?$229 is the recorded statewide amount.Ask the District Court (Denver Probate Court in the City and County of Denver) about local surcharges, copies, publication, bond, and later filings.
What does compensation use?Colorado has no statutory percentage schedule. C.R.S. 15-10-602(1) entitles a fiduciary and his or her lawyer to reasonable compensation for services rendered on behalf of an estate, and 15-10-602(4) preserves the court's inherent authority and responsibility to determine the reasonableness of compensation and costs. The former schedule sections 15-12-719 and 15-12-721 are both repealed. A court must order refund of excessive compensation. The relevant base is the estate accounting.Keep the will, task log, receipts, and accounting base together; extraordinary work is separate.

Filing record

What the Colorado cost record can answer

1st Filing for a Decedent's Estate (not small estates)

Basis: estate-value. Status: operative. The same statewide schedule prices a Small Estate court filing at $113; the JDF 999 collection-by-affidavit route is generally not filed with the court.

  • First filing $229

Case-file context

Keep the Colorado answer with its neighboring conditions

A route answer is easier to use when the facts that can change it stay in the same record. These are the reviewed Colorado descriptions adjacent to this page\'s main question; they are not a substitute for the source quotations or the receiving court\'s instructions.

Route context

Colorado allows an out-of-court affidavit to collect a decedent's personal property when the estate is within an inflation-indexed cap. Formal probate opens in the District Court, except that Denver County has a dedicated Denver Probate Court.

A successor may collect a decedent's personal property by presenting an affidavit (no court filing) once at least ten days have elapsed since death, no personal representative is appointed or pending, and the fair market value of property subject to disposition by will or intestacy, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed twice the C.R.S. 15-11-403 amount as CPI-adjusted under C.R.S. 15-10-112. The Colorado Judicial Branch (JDF 998) publishes the operative cap by year of death: $88,000 for 2026 deaths. This is an inflation-indexed, year-specific amount, not a permanent threshold, and the affidavit does not transfer real estate.

Compensation context

Colorado has no statutory percentage schedule. C.R.S. 15-10-602(1) entitles a fiduciary and his or her lawyer to reasonable compensation for services rendered on behalf of an estate, and 15-10-602(4) preserves the court's inherent authority and responsibility to determine the reasonableness of compensation and costs. The former schedule sections 15-12-719 and 15-12-721 are both repealed. A court must order refund of excessive compensation.

Colorado has no statutory percentage schedule. C.R.S. 15-10-602(1) entitles a fiduciary and his or her lawyer to reasonable compensation for services rendered on behalf of an estate, and 15-10-602(4) preserves the court's inherent authority and responsibility to determine the reasonableness of compensation and costs. The former schedule sections 15-12-719 and 15-12-721 are both repealed. A court must order refund of excessive compensation. The relevant base is the estate accounting.

Deadline context

Colorado runs multiple independent, separately-triggered deadlines that cannot be reduced to one honest day count. C.R.S. 15-12-801 requires published notice (at least once during each of three successive weeks) fixing a bar date not earlier than four months from first publication or one year from death, whichever occurs first. C.R.S. 15-12-803(1)(a) bars pre-death claims: (I) creditors barred by publication within the time set in the published notice; (II) creditors barred by written notice within the time set in the written notice; (III) as to all creditors within one year after the decedent's death (outer nonclaim limit). Post-death claims are barred four months after they arise / after PR performance is due (15-12-803(2)).

  • Colorado's small-estate cap is set by the decedent's YEAR OF DEATH, not a single timeless figure. The Colorado Judicial Branch table JDF 998 publishes the operative amount per year: $88,000 for 2026 deaths, $86,000 for 2025 deaths, and $82,000 for 2024 deaths (earlier years are lower - 2023 $80,000; 2022 $74,000; 2020-2021 $70,000). A death in an earlier year must use that year's figure: a 2025 estate of $87,000, for example, does NOT qualify even though it is under the 2026 cap. Always check JDF 998 for the year of death.
  • Filing-fee figures come from the judiciary fee list (agency-published), which shows no revision date; the underlying statute is C.R.S. 13-32-102 in Title 13 (outside the harvested Title 15 PDF).

Court-material note: JDF 999 is the statewide collection-by-affidavit form; JDF 998 is the instruction guide that publishes the year-of-death cap. Probate opens in District Court in every county except the City and County of Denver, which uses the separate Denver Probate Court.

Arithmetic illustration

See the Colorado amount screen without mistaking it for a result

The recorded Colorado ceiling is $88,000 for deaths from January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026, and it is tested against personal probate property only, on a basis this site records as net of enforceable liens and encumbrances. Counted that way, $66,000 sits below the Colorado figure and $110,000 sits above it. Both are comparisons to a published number rather than legal outcomes: two estates holding the same total can land on opposite sides of this line, because what Colorado counts and how it values it are decided before the comparison is made.

Illustrative counted amountComparison to the Colorado ceilingWhat it does not decide
$66,000Below $88,000 for deaths from January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026Title, liens, waiting period, appointment, or creditor duties
$110,000Above $88,000 for deaths from January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026Whether another statutory route or court process applies

Next evidence to collect

Name the proceeding and ask for mandatory surcharges, copies, publication, and later filings separately.

  1. Record the date of death, the county, and the exact proceeding or affidavit being considered.
  2. Classify each asset by title, beneficiary, trust, real-property status, and the value basis shown above.
  3. Open the official court material below and keep its form or schedule with the estate record.
  4. Do not distribute property until the route, creditor position, and required approvals are resolved.

Official material

JDF 999 is the statewide collection-by-affidavit form; JDF 998 is the instruction guide that publishes the year-of-death cap.

Probate opens in District Court in every county except the City and County of Denver, which uses the separate Denver Probate Court.

Source trail

Records used by this Colorado map

Filing-cost source

Each legal input links to the government source reviewed for this page. Source text can change; confirm the current rule before acting.

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