Colorado Transfer-on-Death Deed

At a glance

How the deed works

Colorado authorizes a 'beneficiary deed' under C.R.S. §§ 15-15-401 to -415 (Title 15, Article 15, Part 4 — Transfer of Real Property Effective on Death). An owner may transfer real property effective on death by executing a beneficiary deed that contains the words 'conveys on death' or 'transfers on death,' names a grantee-beneficiary, and states that the conveyance takes effect on the owner's death. The deed must be in writing, signed, and acknowledged before a notary.

The beneficiary deed must be recorded, before the owner's death, in the office of the clerk and recorder in the county where the real property is located (C.R.S. § 15-15-404). The statutory form carries an explicit caution that 'this deed must be recorded prior to the death of the grantor in order to be effective.' A deed not recorded before death is ineffective, and the property passes through the owner's estate instead.

The owner keeps full ownership during life: a recorded beneficiary deed creates no present interest in the grantee-beneficiary, does not affect the owner's ability to sell, mortgage, or convey the property, and needs no acceptance by the beneficiary. Owners can name successor beneficiaries; because a beneficiary generally must survive the owner, designating alternates avoids a lapse into probate.

Recording & execution requirements

A transfer-on-death deed only works if it is executed and recorded correctly. In Colorado:

• Recording before death: Must be recorded before the owner's death in the county where the property is located.
• Governing statute: Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 15-15-401 to -415 C.R.S. §§ 15-15-401 et seq. — Transfer of Real Property Effective on Death (beneficiary deeds) (Justia codified mirror) · current C.R.S. Title 15, Art. 15, Part 4.

Changing or revoking the deed

A beneficiary deed is revocable during the owner's lifetime notwithstanding any contrary statement in the deed. Revocation (C.R.S. § 15-15-405) is accomplished by executing and recording, before the owner's death and in the same county, an instrument that revokes the beneficiary deed or a later beneficiary deed that supersedes it. The most recently recorded instrument before death controls.

A beneficiary deed cannot be revoked or changed by the owner's will. Selling or otherwise conveying the property during life also defeats the deed, since it operates only on the interest the owner still holds at death. Co-owned property has its own rules about whose signature is needed to revoke.

Mortgages, Medicaid & community property

Existing mortgages and liens

A beneficiary deed transfers the owner's interest at death subject to all conveyances, encumbrances, assignments, contracts, mortgages, deeds of trust, liens, and other interests to which the property was subject during the owner's life. The grantee-beneficiary takes the property encumbered; existing mortgages and liens are not extinguished by the death transfer.

Medicaid estate recovery

Colorado's beneficiary-deed statute itself warns that executing the deed may make the grantor ineligible for Medicaid, and property passing by beneficiary deed can be exposed to Colorado Medicaid estate recovery; recovery scope can change. The deed does not by itself protect the home from a state Medicaid claim. Anyone coordinating Medicaid with a beneficiary deed should confirm the current rules with Colorado's Department of Health Care Policy & Financing and an attorney licensed in Colorado.

Community property

Colorado is a common-law (separate-property) state. Colorado is a common-law (separate-property) state, so there is no community-property survivorship option. Married couples typically hold a home as joint tenants with right of survivorship or as tenants in common; a joint-tenancy interest already passes to the surviving co-owner, so a beneficiary deed is most useful for the interest an owner holds individually or for what remains after a co-owner's death.

State-specific quirks

Where to read next

• Colorado estate & inheritance tax — whether Colorado taxes what you leave behind, and the small-estate probate ceiling, each figure cited to the statute.
• The Executor & Heir’s Guide — the probate deadlines for Colorado, cited to the controlling statute.
• Funding a revocable trust — a common way to keep many kinds of property out of probate.
• ← Back to the transfer-on-death deed comparison

Sources & methodology