We do the legwork, not just the advising.

Documents and records

Almost nothing else can start until this is done, and it’s where most people lose their first two weeks.

• Ordering certified death certificates from Colorado Vital Records — and calculating how many you actually need so you don’t spend months reordering.
• Locating the will, if one exists, and determining whether it needs to be lodged with the county court.
• Gathering deeds, vehicle titles, account statements, insurance policies, retirement documents, and beneficiary designations.
• Building one organized digital file, indexed so you can find any document in seconds a year from now.
• Setting up mail forwarding and sorting the incoming stack into “act on,” “cancel,” and “ignore.”

Small estate paperwork

Many Colorado estates never need to go through probate at all. If the estate qualifies, a Collection of Personal Property by Affidavit is dramatically faster and cheaper than opening a court case.

We help you inventory and value what’s there, verify if the estate fits under the statutory cap, prepare the affidavit packet (form JDF 999), get it notarized, and present it directly to each bank or transfer agent.

If the estate is too large for the affidavit or includes real property, we’ll tell you right away and explain what probate would involve before you commit to anything.

Vehicle titles

Cars are the single most common item people get stuck on, partly because the process differs depending on what was set up prior to death:

• Transfer-on-death beneficiary already named on title — the cleanest route, handled directly at the county motor vehicle office.
• Vehicle passing under a small estate affidavit (form DR 2712 / DR 2009).
• Vehicle passing through a probate estate using Letters of Appointment.
• Missing, lost, or incorrectly signed titles requiring the bonding process.
• Trailers, RVs, boats, and motorcycles with specific titling rules.

Colorado title transfers happen at your specific county motor vehicle office, not a central DMV branch. We verify exactly what your county clerk requires before you drive there.

Accounts and asset transfers

This is the long grind — the administrative friction that takes months if nobody is actively following up.

• Notifying banks and credit unions; closing or retitling accounts.
• Brokerages and transfer agents, including physical stock certificates.
• Retirement accounts — 401(k), IRA, 403(b) — and coordinating with designated beneficiaries.
• Life insurance and annuity claims, including finding lost policies.
• Pensions, union death benefits, and employer benefits.
• Chasing every submission until each account is officially distributed and closed.

Benefits and cancellations

• Social Security — reporting the death, lump-sum death payments, and survivor benefits.
• Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits and burial allowances for former servicemembers.
• Medicare and Medicaid notifications.
• Credit bureaus — flagging credit files to prevent posthumous identity theft.
• Canceling subscriptions, cell phone plans, utilities, club memberships, and recurring digital charges.

Personal representative service

When no family member is willing, able, or in-state to serve as executor/personal representative, we can serve in a formal fiduciary capacity for Colorado estates.

We take on the legal responsibility, open the estate, manage the inventory, file court reports, and distribute assets strictly according to Colorado law and the will. Read full details on fiduciary service →