Chapter 1 - § 1.1 • WHAT IS PROBATE?

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 1.1 • WHAT IS PROBATE?

The word "probate" originally referred to "proof" and particularly to proof of wills. In modern American usage, it has come to include those activities customarily carried on by a "probate" court, including proof of wills; administration of estates, both testate and intestate; guardianships; and conservatorships. The revised constitutional provision abolishing county courts as courts of probate, which became effective on January 12, 1965, specifically included adjudication of the mentally ill as a probate matter. By statute, as permitted by the revised constitutional provision, the Denver Probate Court is given jurisdiction of the estates of absentees, guardians of mentally competent persons, and such testamentary trusts as are not removed by their testators from its jurisdiction,¹ together with jurisdiction over additional matters of such breadth as to constitute that court, for most practical purposes, a court of general jurisdiction, insofar as such jurisdiction could be useful in disposing of matters affecting estates and trusts (see § 1.9 for a...