Colorado Code
Part 1 - Intestate Succession
§ 15-11-103. Share of 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 intestate 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 in the following order to the individuals who survive the decedent:

Source: L. 94: Entire part R&RE, p. 977, § 3, effective July 1, 1995. L. 95: Entire section amended, p. 353, § 2, effective July 1. L. 2009: Entire section amended, (HB 09-1260), ch. 107, p. 443, § 7, effective July 1; entire section amended, (HB 09-1287), ch. 310, p. 1672, § 4, effective July 1, 2010. L. 2010: IP, (1), and (7) amended, (SB 10-199), ch. 374, p. 1748, § 5, effective July 1.
Editor's note: (1) This section is similar to former § 15-11-103 as it existed prior to 1995.
(2) Amendments to this section by House Bill 09-1260 and House Bill 09-1287 were harmonized, effective July 1, 2010; except that the second sentence of subsection (7) and the provisions of subsection (8), as amended by House Bill 09-1260, were superseded by House Bill 09-1287, effective July 1, 2010.
Cross references: For provisions relating to the time of taking effect or the provisions for transition of this code, see § 15-17-101.
COMMENT
This section provides for inheritance by descendants of the decedent, parents and their descendants, and grandparents and collateral relatives descended from grandparents; in line with modern policy, it eliminates more remote relatives tracing through great-grandparents.
1990 Revisions. The 1990 revisions were stylistic and clarifying, not substantive. The pre-1990 version of this section contained the phrase "if they are all of the same degree of kinship to the decedent they take equally (etc.)." That language was removed. It was unnecessary and confusing because the system of representation in Section 2-106 gives equal shares if the decedent's descendants are all of the same degree of kinship to the decedent.
The word "descendants" replaced the word "issue" in this section and throughout the 1990 revisions of Article II. The term issue is a term of art having a biological connotation. Now that inheritance rights, in certain cases, are extended to adopted children, the term descendants is a more appropriate term.
2008 Revisions. In addition to making a few stylistic changes, which were not intended to change meaning, the 2008 revisions divided this section into two subsections. New subsection (b) grants inheritance rights to descendants of the intestate's deceased spouse(s) who are not also descendants of the intestate. The term deceased spouse refers to an individual to whom the intestate was married at the individual's death.
Historical Note. This Comment was revised in 2008.