How many witnesses does a will need in Colorado?

A will in Colorado must be signed in front of two witnesses. The witnesses do not need to be present together when they sign, but each must witness the testator's signature or acknowledgment. See Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-11-501 et seq..

Does a will have to be notarized in Colorado?

No. Notarization is not required for a Colorado will to be valid, but adding a self-proving affidavit (which is notarized) lets the will be admitted to probate without calling the witnesses to testify.

Is a handwritten will valid in Colorado?

Yes. Colorado recognizes holographic wills (wills written entirely in the testator's handwriting and signed by the testator) without witnesses. We do not generate handwritten wills, but you may write one by hand if you prefer.

What is the minimum age to make a will in Colorado?

You must be at least 18 years old to make a will in Colorado.

Can I sign my will online in Colorado?

Yes. Colorado has adopted electronic will legislation (2021), so a will may be signed and witnessed entirely online when the statutory requirements are met. Remote online notarization is not available for wills.

What documents make up a complete estate plan in Colorado?

A complete estate plan in Colorado usually includes four documents: a Last Will and Testament, a Revocable Living Trust, a Durable Power of Attorney, and a Healthcare Directive. Will.com generates all four together based on your answers.

Estate plan requirements

Colorado

Everything your estate plan needs to be valid in Colorado: execution requirements, the documents we generate, statutory citations, and the exact wording our generators insert.

Requirements at a glance

Document	Witnesses	Notary
Will	2 required	Recommended
Living trust	None required	Recommended
Power of attorney	None required	Not required
Healthcare directive	2 required	Not required

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Colorado content last reviewed May 18, 2026.

Will

Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-11-501 et seq.

Witnesses: 2 required

Two witnesses must each sign within a reasonable time after witnessing either your signing of the will or your acknowledgment of the signature or of the will, and they may sign either before or after your death (Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-11-502(1)(c)(I)). Colorado also accepts your acknowledgment before a notary public or other individual authorized by law to take acknowledgments as a complete alternative to witnesses (§15-11-502(1)(c)(II)).

Notarization: Recommended

Not legally required, but recommended for self-proving affidavit

Holographic will: Valid

Handwritten wills without witnesses are recognized in Colorado

Self-proving affidavit: Available

Allows the will to be admitted to probate without witness testimony

State-specific notes

•Your witnesses may sign later than you do, but the self-proving affidavit assumes they did not. Colorado lets each witness sign within a reasonable time after witnessing your signing or your acknowledgment, and even after your death, while the statutory self-proving affidavit forms recite that each witness signed in your conscious presence (Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-11-502(1)(c)(I), §15-11-504(1) and (2)). If you want the will self-proved without live witness testimony, have both witnesses sign in your presence at the ceremony.

ViewWitness disqualification / interested-witness rule

Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-11-505: an individual generally competent to be a witness may act as a witness to a will, and the signing of a will by an interested witness does not invalidate the will or any provision of it. Colorado follows the UPC rule and has no purge statute, so a gift to an attesting witness remains effective. Using witnesses who take nothing under the will is still the safer practice.

Living Trust

Witnesses: None required

No formal execution requirements beyond settlor signature; notarization strongly recommended when funding real property

Notarization: Recommended

Not legally required for the trust document, but needed to transfer real property

Colorado Statutory Form Power of Attorney

Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-14-741 (optional safe-harbor form, Part 7 of Article 14 of Title 15, the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, §§15-14-701 through 15-14-745)

Witnesses: None required

No witnesses required for power of attorney

Notarization: Not required

Notarization is not required but may be recommended

State-specific notes

•Notarization not strictly required for validity, but it creates a presumption of genuineness and is required for the POA to be recordable in a county clerk and recorder's office (Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-14-705).

•Durability is presumed unless the instrument states otherwise

•Third parties presented with an acknowledged POA are generally required to accept it; Colorado provides a good-faith reliance presumption and a damages remedy for unjustified refusal, with statutory safe harbors for refusal (Colo. Rev. Stat. §§15-14-719 and 15-14-720)

ViewWarning notice for the principal

IMPORTANT INFORMATION This power of attorney authorizes another person (your agent) to make decisions concerning your property for you (the principal). Your agent will be able to make decisions and act with respect to your property (including your money) whether or not you are able to act for yourself. The meaning of authority over subjects listed on this form is explained in the "Uniform Power of Attorney Act", part 7 of article 14 of title 15, Colorado Revised Statutes. This power of attorney does not authorize the agent to make health care decisions for you. You should select someone you trust to serve as your agent. Unless you specify otherwise, generally the agent's authority will continue until you die or revoke the power of attorney or the agent resigns or is unable to act for you. Your agent is entitled to reasonable compensation unless you state otherwise in the special instructions. This form provides for designation of one agent. If you wish to name more than one agent you may name a coagent in the special instructions. Coagents are not required to act together unless you include that requirement in the special instructions. If your agent is unable or unwilling to act for you, your power of attorney will end unless you have named a successor agent. You may also name a second successor agent. This power of attorney becomes effective immediately unless you state otherwise in the special instructions. If you have questions about the power of attorney or the authority you are granting to your agent, you should seek legal advice before signing this form.

Medical Durable Power of Attorney

Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-14-506 (MDPOA); §§15-18-101 et seq. (Declaration as to Medical Treatment / living will); §15-18.7-101 et seq. (MOST, separate document)

Witnesses: 2 required

Colorado requires 2 witnesses

Notarization: Not required

Notarization is not required but may be accepted

State-specific notes

•Living Will Declaration may be executed by EITHER (a) signature in the presence of two witnesses OR (b) signature acknowledged before a notary public. The two paths are statutory alternatives, not cumulative (Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-18-106(1), as amended by SB21-195 § 1, eff. May 7, 2021). The Declaration as to Medical Treatment cross-refers to that same execution rule (Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-18-104(5), cross-referring to §15-18-106)

•Will.com renders BOTH two witnesses AND a notary acknowledgment on the Plus-tier form to harden against later challenge and improve out-of-state portability; statute would accept either path alone

•Witness and notary disqualifications: the listed persons (attending physician, physician's employees, anyone with a claim against the declarant's estate, anyone with a beneficiary or heir interest) may not serve as a witness, notary public, or other acknowledgment officer (Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-18-106(2), listing at §15-18-105)

•Health care proxy (Medical Durable Power of Attorney) has no strict statutory execution requirement under §15-14-506; notarization not required but recommended

ViewWitness disqualification recital

For Living Will Declarations, §15-18-106(2) provides that the persons specified in §15-18-105 may not serve as a witness, notary public, or other officer taking acknowledgment. The §15-18-105 list comprises: (a) the attending physician or any other physician; (b) an employee of the attending physician or the health-care facility in which the declarant is a patient; (c) any person with a claim against the declarant's estate at the time of signing; and (d) any person who knows or believes he or she is entitled to a portion of the declarant's estate as a beneficiary under an existing will or as an heir at law.

Subscription

6 more documents with a subscription

$29/year unlocks the documents below alongside the four free ones above. Your answers and documents are saved privately to your account, encrypted in your browser, so you can revise them any time life changes.

Disposition of Remains Authorization

Names the agent who controls funeral, burial, or cremation decisions, with optional preferences.

HIPAA Authorization

Stand-alone PHI release that survives death for the period you specify, separate from the in-life authorization in your healthcare directive.

Nomination of Conservator

Pre-nominates the person you want a court to appoint if a conservator (or guardian of the estate) is ever needed.

Business Succession Declaration

Identifies your interests in any closely-held businesses and how they should be transferred or wound down.

Real-Estate Retitling Checklist

Step-by-step instructions for transferring real-property deeds into your trust so the trust actually controls those assets.

Letter of Instruction

Non-binding personal note to your executor and family: where to find documents, account access, funeral wishes, and other practical guidance.

Free vs. paid

	Free	Paid
All 4 state-specific documents	Included in free	Included in paid tier
State-specific signing guide	Included in free	Included in paid tier
Download as PDF, print forever	Included in free	Included in paid tier
Secure online storage	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Covers real estate, business, digital, and funeral wishes	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Disposition of remains authorization	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Standalone HIPAA authorization	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Nomination of conservator	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Business succession declaration	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Real-estate retitling checklist	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Special needs trust provisions	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Letter of instruction, pre-filled and editable	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Edit anytime	Not in free	Included in paid tier
Annual review reminder	Not in free	Included in paid tier

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Electronic will status

Colorado has adopted electronic will legislation (2021). You may be able to create, sign, and witness a will electronically using approved methods.

Digital assets access

Colorado has adopted RUFADAA (2016). This is the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, which lets your executor, trustee, or agent access your email, social media, cryptocurrency wallets, cloud storage, and other digital accounts after death or incapacity.

To take advantage of RUFADAA, your will, trust, or power of attorney must explicitly grant authority to access digital assets. Without explicit authorization, service providers can deny access even to a court-appointed executor.

Remote online notarization (RON)

Colorado authorized RON in 2020. Colorado's Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts (Colo. Rev. Stat. §§24-21-501 et seq.; remote provisions at §24-21-514.5) authorizes remote online notarization generally, but §24-21-514.5(2)(b)(II) (as amended by HB21-1004 § 2 and SB21-266 § 17) provides that a notary public shall not use a remote notarization system to notarize, except as provided in the Colorado Uniform Electronic Wills Act, a will, a codicil, a document purporting to be a will or codicil, or any acknowledgment required under §15-11-502 or §15-11-504. For a printed will this means the notarial act cannot be performed remotely: neither the §15-11-502(1)(c)(II) notarized-will acknowledgment nor the §15-11-504 self-proving affidavit may be completed by RON. §24-21-514.5(2)(a) reaches the same result independently, because it permits a remote notarization only with respect to an electronic record. No Colorado statute authorizes the witnesses to a paper will executed in Colorado to appear by audio-video technology, and §15-11-502, Colorado's paper-will execution section, contains no electronic-presence provision. For non-will documents (trusts, financial powers of attorney, health-care directives), remote notarization under §24-21-514.5 is available for an electronic record, the notary must be located within Colorado at the time the notarial act is performed (§24-21-514.5(4)(a)), the recording is made only after the notary discloses the recording and its intended storage and the signer explicitly consents (§24-21-514.5(9)(a)), and §24-21-514.5(9)(c) applies §24-21-519's rules on the security, inspection, copying, retention and disposition of a notary's journal to that recording, including the ten-year retention period in §24-21-519(1).

Will

Not allowed

Trust

Allowed

POA

Allowed

Remote online witnessing (ROW)

Colorado does not allow remote online witnessing for estate planning documents. Witnesses must be physically present when you sign. Not available for a Colorado will signed on paper. Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-11-502(4) provides that for purposes of the execution section, 'conscious presence requires physical proximity to the testator but not necessarily within testator's line of sight.' Both witnesses must be physically present. Colorado's remote-witnessing authority reaches only an electronic will under the Colorado Uniform Electronic Wills Act (Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-11-1301 et seq.), which requires an electronic record and electronic signatures.

Will

Not allowed

Trust

Not allowed

POA

Not allowed

HC Directive

Not allowed

This information is general in nature and not legal advice. Laws change. Consult a licensed estate planning attorney in Colorado for guidance specific to your situation.

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