Chapter 55 - § 55.2 • JURISDICTION

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 55.2 • JURISDICTION

C.R.S. § 13-9-103(3) (in conjunction with C.R.S. § 15-10-302) provides limited subject matter jurisdiction to Colorado probate courts. Probate courts are granted jurisdiction "to determine every legal and equitable question arising in connection with decedents', wards', and absentees' estates, so far as the question concerns any person who is before the court by reason of any asserted right in any of the property of the estate or by reason of any asserted obligation to the estate . . . ." In application, the scope and extent of the probate court's jurisdiction remains an evolving issue. Whether the matter brought before the probate court demonstrates a sufficient and logical connection to an estate or trust is the critical issue, which is subject to ongoing interpretation. It appears that the nature of the claim and the party bringing the claim may dictate the court's determination.

Cases involving legal malpractice, wrongful death, or contractual disputes may now need to be initiated by a proceeding in a court of general jurisdiction, separate from an existing probate proceeding. Meyers v. Williams, 324 P.2d 788 (Colo. 1958), held that the probate court had jurisdiction to determine a wrongful death claim, finding that once probate jurisdiction is attached to a claim against the estate for death, it is vested with "sole and exclusive jurisdiction of claims presented before it." Id. at 790. More recent cases such as Estate of Van Trump v. Nat'l Ins. Underwriters, 517 P.2d 856 (Colo. App. 1973), and In re Gill, 14 Quinnipiac Prob. L.J. 377 (2000), however, have restricted the probate court's jurisdiction, finding that probate courts lack subject matter jurisdiction to hear wrongful death actions, even if such actions relate to an estate or trust. More recently, in Levine v. Katz, 192 P.3d 1008 (Colo. App. 2006), the probate court was found to have lacked subject matter jurisdiction over a legal malpractice action against attorneys who provided estate planning and trust administration services to the decedents of an estate and trust, in part because the plaintiffs did not seek to recover estate assets.

On the other hand, recent case law suggests that probate courts have broad authority in relation to actions involving a decedent's non-probate assets that may be related to the estate or trust, often resulting in the probate court imposing implied trusts on such assets. In Estate of Owens, 413 P.3d 255 (Colo. App. 2017), the Colorado...