C.R.S. § 15-11-804 Revocation of Probate and Nonprobate Transfers By Divorce - No Revocation By Other Changes of Circumstances

• Library: Colorado Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through the 2023 Legislative Session and through Chapter 7 of the 2023 1st Extraordinary Session
• Year: 2023
• Citation: C.R.S. § 15-11-804

(1) Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) "Disposition or appointment of property" includes a transfer of an item of property or any other benefit to a beneficiary designated in a governing instrument.

(b) "Divorce or annulment" means any divorce or annulment, or any dissolution or declaration of invalidity of a marriage, that would exclude the spouse as a surviving spouse within the meaning of section 15-11-802. A decree of separation that does not terminate the marriage is not a divorce for purposes of this section.

(c) "Divorced individual" includes an individual whose marriage has been annulled.

(d) "Governing instrument" refers to a governing instrument executed by the divorced individual before the divorce or annulment of the marriage to the divorced individual's former spouse.

(e) "Relative of the divorced individual's former spouse" means an individual who is related to the divorced individual's former spouse by blood, adoption, or affinity and who, after the divorce or annulment, is not related to the divorced individual by blood, adoption, or affinity.

(f) "Revocable", with respect to a disposition, appointment, provision, or nomination, means one under which the divorced individual, at the time of the divorce or annulment, was alone empowered, by law or under the governing instrument, to cancel the designation in favor of the divorced individual's former spouse or former spouse's relative, whether or not the divorced individual was then empowered to designate the divorced individual in place of the divorced individual's former spouse or in place of the divorced individual's former spouse's relative and whether or not the divorced individual then had the capacity to exercise the power.

(2) Revocation upon divorce. Except as provided by the express terms of a governing instrument, a court order, or a contract relating to the division of the marital estate made between the divorced individuals before or after the marriage, divorce, or annulment, the divorce or annulment of a marriage:

(a) Revokes any revocable (i) disposition or appointment of property made by a divorced individual to the divorced individual's former spouse in a governing instrument and any disposition or appointment created by law or in a governing instrument to a relative of the divorced individual's former spouse, (ii) provision in a governing instrument conferring a general or nongeneral power of appointment on the divorced individual's former spouse or on a relative of the divorced individual's former spouse, and (iii) nomination in a governing instrument nominating a divorced individual's former spouse or a relative of the divorced individual's former spouse to serve in any fiduciary or representative capacity, including a personal representative, executor, trustee, conservator, agent, or guardian; and