Chapter 1 - § 1.8 • COLORADO CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS AND EFFECT

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 1.8 • COLORADO CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS AND EFFECT

Until 1965, Article VI of the Colorado Constitution gave "original jurisdiction in all matters of probate, settlement of estates of deceased persons, appointment of guardians, conservators and administrators and settlement of their accounts" to county courts, which also had such civil and criminal jurisdiction as might be conferred by law but did not have jurisdiction in any case where the debt, damage, claim, or value of property involved exceeded $2,000, except in the case of estates of deceased persons. This constitutional provision raised serious questions as to the power of county courts to deal with such matters as trying title to property worth more than $2,000 and construing and otherwise dealing with testamentary trusts where the amounts involved exceeded the constitutional limit. The problems posed by the former constitutional provision and their resolution by the supreme court of Colorado and other states were discussed in some detail in the original edition of this work, but by reason of the revised constitutional provision and the statutes passed pursuant to it, such matters have been rendered of historical interest only and will not be discussed further.³⁰

Article VI of the Colorado Constitution provides that the judicial power of the state shall be vested in a supreme court, district courts, a probate court in the City and County of Denver, a juvenile court in the City and County of Denver, county courts, and such other courts or judicial officers inferior to the supreme court as the General Assembly may, from time to time, establish. It provides, in the City and County of Denver, exclusive original jurisdiction in all matters of probate; settlement of estates of deceased persons; appointment of guardians, conservators, and administrators, and settlement of their accounts; the adjudication of the mentally ill; and such other jurisdiction as may be provided by law that shall be vested in a probate court. On the second Tuesday of 1965, all of the probate...