2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 15 - PROBATE, TRUSTS, AND FIDUCIARIES (§§ 15-1-101 — 15-24-403) › ABANDONED ESTATE PLANNING DOCUMENTS (§§ 15-23-101 — 15-24-403) › Article 24 - UNIFORM NON-TESTAMENTARY ELECTRONIC ESTATE PLANNING DOCUMENTS ACT (§§ 15-24-101 — 15-24-403) › Part 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS (§§ 15-24-101 — 15-24-103) › Section 15-24-102 - [Effective 1/1/2025] Definitions

In this article 24:
(1)
"Electronic" means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.
(2)
"Electronic record" means a record created, generated, sent, communicated, received, or stored by electronic means.
(3)
"Electronic signature" means an electronic symbol or process attached to or logically associated with a record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the record.
(4)
"Information" includes data, text, images, codes, computer programs, software, and databases.
(5)
"Non-testamentary estate planning document" means a record relating to estate planning that is readable as text at the time of signing and is not a will or contained in a will. The term:
(a)
In this article 24, is limited to a record that creates, exercises, modifies, releases, or revokes:
(I)
A trust instrument;
(II)
A trust power that under the terms of the trust requires a signed record;
(III)
A certification of a trust pursuant to section 15-5-1013;
(IV)
A power of attorney that is durable pursuant to the "Uniform Power of Attorney Act", part 7 of article 14 of this title 15;
(V)
An agent's certification pursuant to section 15-14-719 of the validity of a power of attorney and the agent's authority;
(VI)
A power of appointment;
(VII)
An advance directive, including a health-care power of attorney, directive to physicians, natural death statement, living will, and medical or physician order for life-sustaining treatment;
(VIII)
A record directing disposition of an individual's body after death;
(IX)
A nomination of a guardian for the signing individual;
(X)
A nomination of a guardian for a minor child or disabled adult child;
(XI)
A mental health treatment declaration;
(XII)
A disclaimer pursuant to the "Uniform Disclaimer of Property Interests Act", part 12 of article 11 of this title 15; and
(XIII)
A separate writing or memorandum pursuant to section 15-11-513;
(b)
Excludes all other non-testamentary estate planning documents, including:
(I)
A deed of real property, including a beneficiary deed pursuant to part 4 of article 15 of this title 15;
(II)
A certificate of title for a motor vehicle, watercraft, or aircraft; and
(III)
Subject to section 15-24-201 (2)(b)(III), any record of a multiple-party agreement or other contractual arrangement not identified in subsection (5)(a) of this section.
(6)
"Person" means an individual, estate, business or nonprofit entity, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or other legal entity.
(7)
"Power of attorney" means a record that grants authority to an agent to act in place of the principal, even if the term is not used in the record.
(8)
"Record" means information:
(a)
Inscribed on a tangible medium; or
(b)
Stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in perceivable form.
(9)
"Security procedure" means a procedure to verify that an electronic signature, record, or performance is that of a specific person or to detect a change or error in an electronic record. The term includes a procedure that uses an algorithm, code, identifying word or number, encryption, or callback or other acknowledgment procedure.
(10)
"Settlor" means a person, including a testator, that creates or contributes property to a trust.
(11)
"Sign" means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record:
(a)
Execute or adopt a tangible symbol; or
(b)
Attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic signature.
(12)
"State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or other territory or possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. The term includes a federally recognized Indian tribe.
(13)
"Terms of a trust" means the manifestation of the settlor's intent regarding a trust's provisions as:
(a)
Expressed in the trust instrument; or
(b)
May be established by other evidence in a judicial proceeding or in a nonjudicial settlement agreement pursuant to section 15-5-111 or by alternate dispute resolution pursuant to section 15-5-113.
(14)
"Trust instrument" means an instrument executed by the settlor that contains terms of the trust, including any amendments.
(15)
"Will" includes a codicil and a testamentary instrument that merely appoints an executor, revokes or revises another will, nominates a guardian, or expressly excludes or limits the right of an individual or class to succeed to property of the decedent passing by intestate succession.
Added by 2024 Ch. 154,§ 1, eff. 1/1/2025.
2024 Ch. 154, was passed without a safety clause. See Colo. Const. art. V, § 1(3).