This spring the Colorado legislature made a few substantive changes to the civil code in Colorado. This could lead to a change in your practice. The surety bond experts at Jurisco know this and will track the changes to keep you up to date. Colorado Senate Bill 13-077 will affect the way conservatorships and estates are regulated and executed in the state. This could affect all probate and estate planning practices.
According to the Probate Blog from the Law firm of Wade Ash Woods Hill &Farley, P.C., the new law has provisions that, “... adds to the factors that are to be considered by a judge when determining the reasonableness of compensation and costs in probate matters, and reaffirms that nominated and appointed personal representatives have legal standing to determine their decedent’s probable intent and estate planning purposes on issues involving the decedent’s estate and it allows those representatives to prosecute or defend their decedent’s intent at the expense of the estate, resolving a previously open question in probate proceedings”. (See the full blog post: here)
This affects many areas of probate including guardianships, estates and how personal representatives are allowed to execute estates.
This new law also has implications on how surety bonds and probate bonds will be handled in cases. For instance now that personal representatives are allowed more discretion to levy out the assets of an estate, more scrutiny will likely be applied to the PR’s qualifications and fitness to control the distribution of the decedent’s estate. A personal representative bond (also known as an administrator bond or an executor bond) will likely be required in more estate matters to guarantee that the PR’s discretion doesn’t stray too far from the orders stated in the will.
With a busy practice it can be difficult to follow all the changes in taking place in Denver. The bond experts at Jurisco will monitor how legislation affects your business.