1976, January, Pg. 47. CPC Newsletter.

5 Colo.Law. 47

Colorado Lawyer

1976.

1976, January, Pg. 47.

CPC Newsletter

47CPC Newsletter

Colorado Rules of Probate Procedure

Effective August 1, 1975, the Supreme Court adopted revised Colorado Rules of Probate Procedure (CRPP). The new rules, available at $2.00 per set from the Colorado Bar Association offices, were drafted by a Supreme Court-appointed committee consisting of Walter B. Ash, G. Walter Bowman, Judge David Brofman, William S. Hershberger, John S. Holt, Norman L. Markman, James H. Turner, James R. Wade, and Bernard D. Steinberg. The committee's goal was to draft rules consistent with the spirit of the Uniform and Colorado Probate Codes and the intent of the General Assembly. With respect to procedural matters, the committee took the spirit to be one of trust in the honesty and good intentions of the vast majority of the public and the intent to be that such trust should be exemplified by court processes which are no more cumbersome and bureaucratic than absolutely necessary. The rules thus allow interested parties to choose procedures most suitable to the circumstances with which they are confronted rather than to the circumstances which only occasionally arise from dishonesty and distrust, and make the court a forum readily available for the resolution of disputes rather than an administrative office exercising supervisory authority that serves no useful purpose.

Even though the CPC substantially changed the law, many of the matters requiring court rules under the former law remained as integral parts of the estate process. Accordingly, the committee used the former rules as the starting point of discussion with the result that each of the old rules was reviewed, some were adopted verbatim or almost so, some were eliminated entirely, many were revised significantly, and some new rules were added which were not present under the old law. This report will not review or explain all of the rules, but only those which to this author seem the most significant.

Relationship to CRCP: Rules 1, 5 and 3548The Rules of Probate Procedure are intended to cover matters peculiar to the CPC and the procedures of a court sitting in probate, and to rely upon the Rules of Civil Procedure for any matters not covered in the CRPP. Since they are supplementary only to the CRCP, they are inconsistent therewith only when required by the peculiarities of the probate court process. However, just as the statutory law is uniform for all Colorado courts sitting in probate, so the committee hoped and presumably the Supreme Court expects that the procedural fleshing out of the framework of the Code by the CRPP will be respected by all courts as part of the system within which they must work. Consequently, on the one hand Rule 1 states that the rules are applicable to all courts when sitting in probate and on the other hand Rule 35 states that local court rules may not be inconsistent with the CRPP and must receive prior Supreme Court approval.

Forms: Rules 5 and 6

Uniformity of law and procedures is enhanced by consistency of the forms used in different courts. Court-sanctioned forms are merely one...