2021 Colorado Code
Title 15 - Probate, Trusts, and Fiduciaries
Article 12 - Probate of Wills and Administration
Part 9 - Special Provisions Relating to Distribution
§ 15-12-905. Penalty Clause for Contest
A provision in a will purporting to penalize any interested person for contesting the will or instituting other proceedings relating to the estate is unenforceable if probable cause exists for instituting proceedings.
History. Source: L. 73: R&RE, p. 1598, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 153-3-905. History. Source: L. 73: R&RE, p. 1598, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 153-3-905.
ANNOTATION
Law reviews. For article, “Will Contests -- Some Procedural Aspects”, see 15 Colo. Law. 787 (1986). For article, “No-Contest Clauses: Issues for Drafting and Litigating”, see 29 Colo. Law. 57 (Dec. 2000). For article, “To Contest or Not: Drafting and Litigating No-Contest Clauses”, see 46 Colo. Law. 39 (Jan. 2017).
For purposes of this section, offering a later will can constitute a contest of an earlier will and the fact that the later will was a product of undue influence does not, as a matter of law, preclude the application of the good faith-probable cause exception set forth in this section. In re Estate of Peppler, 971 P.2d 694 (Colo. App. 1998).
