Chapter 1 - § 1.2 • HOW JURISDICTION ATTACHES

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 1.2 • HOW JURISDICTION ATTACHES

Jurisdiction of a decedent's estate by a probate court attaches upon the filing of a petition with a court having the power to deal with the res, by a person having an apparent right to do so, for the appointment of a fiduciary to take possession of and marshall and distribute the assets of a decedent. By statute, the probate court "shall have jurisdiction over any person, resident or nonresident, who files any document with the court under this code and over any person, resident or nonresident, who executes any such document [petition] and who knows or has reason to know that the document will be filed with the court under this code in any proceeding for relief from fraud relating to such a document that may be initiated against such person. Service of process shall be as provided in the Colorado rules of civil procedure."³ If, as in the case of the Colorado constitutional provision in effect until 1965, the power of the court was confined to the estates of deceased persons and wards, and the allegation in the petition as to death was false, the court had no jurisdiction.⁴ If the petition is filed by a person who has no right under the statute to do so, as in the case of the other party to a bigamous marriage of the decedent, the letters of administration may be voidable, but persons acting in reliance on⁵ the proceedings usually will be protected. However, in the absence of a statute relieving him or her, the personal representative appointed in reliance on the false allegation that a living person is dead must restore to the living person the value of the property involved.⁶

Similar principles with regard to jurisdiction apply to a petition for guardianship or conservatorship, and jurisdiction attaches when a competent court assumes control of the administration of the property of a ward under statutory conditions, and persons relying upon proceedings, regular on their face, are protected. However, in case of letters of conservatorship, if there is a substantial...