C.R.S. § 15-11-103 - Share of heirs other than surviving spouse and designated beneficiary - definitions

• Cite as: C.R.S. § 15-11-103

(1) Definitions. In this section:

(a) "Deceased parent", "deceased grandparent", or "deceased spouse" means a parent, grandparent, or spouse who either predeceased the decedent or is deemed under this article 11 to have predeceased the decedent.

(b) "Surviving spouse", "surviving descendant", "surviving parent", or "surviving grandparent" means a spouse, descendant, parent, or grandparent who neither predeceased the decedent nor is deemed under this article 11 to have predeceased the decedent.

(2) Heirs other than surviving spouse and designated beneficiary. Any part of the intestate estate not passing to the decedent's surviving spouse under section 15-11-102, or to the decedent's surviving designated beneficiary under section 15-11-102.5, or the entire estate if there is no surviving spouse and no surviving designated beneficiary with the right to inherit real or personal property from the decedent through intestate succession, passes to the decedent's descendants, parents, or other heirs as provided in subsections (3) to (9) of this section.

(3) Surviving descendants. If a decedent is survived by one or more descendants, any part of the intestate estate not passing to the surviving spouse or surviving designated beneficiary passes per capita at each generation to the decedent's surviving descendants.

(4) Surviving parent. If a decedent is not survived by a descendant but is survived by one or more parents, any part of the intestate estate not passing to the surviving spouse or surviving designated beneficiary is distributed as follows:

(a) The intestate estate or part is divided into as many equal shares as there are:

(I) Surviving parents; and

(II) Deceased parents with one or more surviving descendants, if any, as determined under subsection (5) of this section.

(b) One share passes to each surviving parent.

(c) The balance of the intestate estate or part, if any, passes per capita at each generation to the surviving descendants of the decedent's deceased parents, as determined under subsection (5) of this section.

(5) When parent survives - computation of shares of surviving descendants of deceased parent. The following rules apply under subsection (4) of this section to determine whether a deceased parent of the decedent is treated as having a surviving descendant:

(a) If all the surviving descendants of one or more deceased parents also are descendants of one or more surviving parents and none of those surviving parents has any other surviving descendant, those descendants are deemed to have predeceased the decedent.