Colorado Durable Power of Attorney
Colorado durable power of attorney must be signed by the principal, needs no witnesses, and is durable by default unless it says it ends at incapacity.
Introduction
A durable power of attorney is a written authorization that puts a person you trust, your agent (Colorado law also calls this person your attorney-in-fact), in charge of your finances, property, and business affairs when you need help or cannot act for yourself. The label durable is what sets it apart: a durable power of attorney stays in force after you lose the ability to make your own decisions, which is exactly the moment most people need one. Colorado runs its financial powers of attorney under the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, placed in the Colorado Revised Statutes at Title 15, Article 14, Part 7 (sections 15-14-701 to 15-14-745) and applied to every power of attorney made on or after January 1, 2010. Execution is light: C.R.S. 15-14-705 asks only for the principal's signature, and if you cannot sign yourself, someone may sign for you while you watch and direct them. Colorado adds no witness requirement at all. A notary is optional for validity, yet an acknowledged signature earns a statutory presumption that it is genuine and is a practical must if the document will be recorded against real estate. On durability, Colorado takes the opposite path from many states: under C.R.S. 15-14-704 your agent's authority carries through your incapacity on its own, and only an express clause saying it ends at incapacity will stop it. If you prefer a ready-made template, Colorado publishes an optional statutory form at C.R.S. 15-14-741. This guide addresses the financial and general durable power of attorney; a Colorado health-care power of attorney is governed by separate statutes. Attorney review is available as an option before you sign.
Key Things to Know
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A durable power of attorney hands decision-making power to someone you choose. That person, your agent or attorney-in-fact, manages your money, property, and business dealings. The word durable means the authority does not lapse if you later lose capacity, which is the situation most people are planning for.
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Colorado is a durable-by-default state. C.R.S. 15-14-704 keeps any power of attorney signed on or after January 1, 2010 alive through the principal's incapacity, and the only way to switch that off is to write in a clause ending it at incapacity. That inverts the rule in states where you must add durable wording to survive incapacity, so in Colorado no magic words are needed.
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Your signature is the only signature the statute demands. C.R.S. 15-14-705 makes the document valid once you sign it, or once someone signs for you in your presence and at your instruction if you cannot hold the pen. Colorado law lists no witness requirement for a financial power of attorney.
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A notary is optional but worth it. Colorado does not condition validity on notarization, yet C.R.S. 15-14-705 gives a signature acknowledged before a notary public a presumption of genuineness, and any power of attorney headed for the real-property records has to be notarized first.
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Colorado gives you a ready-made form. The optional statutory form at C.R.S. 15-14-741 covers financial and property authority only. Filling it out is not mandatory, but a document that substantially complies carries the meaning and effect the Uniform Power of Attorney Act assigns.
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A handful of powers must be spelled out. Under C.R.S. 15-14-724, an agent can create or amend a trust, make gifts, alter survivorship rights or a beneficiary designation, delegate authority, or disclaim property only when your document names that specific authority. Leaving them unlisted keeps them out of your agent's reach.
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Real estate work means a trip to the county clerk and recorder. Recording is optional for validity, but C.R.S. 38-35-109 lets a power of attorney that touches title to real property be entered in the records of the county clerk and recorder for the county where the land sits, and it must be notarized to qualify for recording.
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Durable Power of Attorney in Colorado, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Durable Power of Attorney guide walks through them.
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Colorado Requirements for Durable Power of Attorney
Under C.R.S. 15-14-705, a Colorado power of attorney must be signed by you, or by another individual in your conscious presence at your direction. No witnesses are required by statute for a financial power of attorney.
Notarization is not required for validity, but under C.R.S. 15-14-705 a signature acknowledged before a notary public is presumed genuine. Notarizing is practically necessary for any power of attorney you plan to record for real estate.
Colorado makes a power of attorney durable by default. Under C.R.S. 15-14-704, a power of attorney created on or after January 1, 2010 survives your incapacity unless it expressly provides that it terminates on incapacity. No special durable language is needed. To make it nondurable, the document must say it ends when you become incapacitated.
If you want the power of attorney to take effect only on a future event such as your incapacity, C.R.S. 15-14-709 provides that it is effective when executed unless you state that it becomes effective at a future date or on a future event or contingency. Name someone to determine when that event has occurred.
You may use Colorado's optional statutory form power of attorney at C.R.S. 15-14-741. Use is permissive, and a document that substantially complies has the meaning and effect prescribed by the Uniform Power of Attorney Act. It covers financial and property matters only and does not authorize health-care decisions.
Recording is permissive, not required to create a valid power of attorney. Under C.R.S. 38-35-109, a power of attorney affecting title to real property may be recorded with the county clerk and recorder where the property is located, and it must be acknowledged before a notary to be recordable.
Certain high-risk powers, sometimes called hot powers, are allowed only if your document specifically grants them. Under C.R.S. 15-14-724, your agent may create, amend, revoke, or terminate a trust, make a gift, change rights of survivorship or a beneficiary designation, delegate authority, or disclaim property only when the document expressly says so.
Under C.R.S. 15-14-710, a Colorado power of attorney terminates when you revoke it or revoke the agent's authority. Put the revocation in writing, notify the agent and any institution relying on the document, and if the power of attorney was recorded, record the revocation too so it gives notice.
Frequently Asked Questions
A durable power of attorney is a document you sign to put an agent, also called an attorney-in-fact, in charge of your financial and property affairs. Colorado calls it durable because C.R.S. 15-14-704 lets the authority run straight through your incapacity instead of dissolving the moment you can no longer make decisions on your own.
It comes down to what incapacity does to the document. Colorado sets the durable outcome as the default: under C.R.S. 15-14-704 a power of attorney rides through your incapacity unless it expressly says it ends there. A regular, nondurable power of attorney is simply one that includes that end-at-incapacity clause. Because durability is automatic in Colorado, you do not have to add any special wording to keep the document working.
C.R.S. 15-14-710 says a Colorado power of attorney ends when you revoke it or pull back the agent's authority, but it does not hand you a fixed revocation form. The safe route is to revoke in writing, tell the agent and every bank or institution that has relied on the document, and, if you recorded the original, record the revocation as well so it is on public notice.
Accepting the appointment makes your agent a fiduciary. C.R.S. 15-14-714 requires the agent to stay inside the authority you granted, act in good faith, and follow your reasonable expectations or otherwise your best interest. The default duties also include acting loyally, steering clear of conflicts of interest, using care and competence, and keeping records of what the agent receives, spends, and does with your property.
C.R.S. 15-14-724 walls off a set of hot powers an agent gets only when the document expressly grants them: creating, amending, revoking, or terminating a trust, making gifts, setting or changing rights of survivorship, changing a beneficiary designation, delegating authority, and disclaiming property. A blanket grant of general authority does not reach these acts, so you have to list each one you actually want your agent to hold.
Recording is optional and is not what makes the document valid. When a power of attorney affects title to real estate, C.R.S. 38-35-109 allows it to be recorded with the county clerk and recorder for the county where the property is located. In practice, a power of attorney used to buy, sell, or mortgage real property has to be acknowledged before a notary before the clerk and recorder will accept it.
The full text lives in the Colorado Revised Statutes, published online by the Colorado General Assembly through its Office of Legislative Legal Services. Look under Title 15, Article 14, Part 7 for the execution, durability, and hot-power rules, and at C.R.S. 15-14-741 for the optional statutory form power of attorney you can fill in for financial and property matters.
No. Only a principal who still understands and can authorize the document may sign a power of attorney, so once your parent is already incapacitated that option has closed. The family's path then is to ask the court for a guardianship or conservatorship, and the Colorado Judicial Branch Self-Help Center walks through how that process works.