Opinion ID: 2823814
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Heading: The Colorado Probate Codeâs Elective-Share Framework

Text: Â¶13Â Â Â Â Â Â The Colorado Probate Code, Â§Â§ 15-10-101 to 15-17-103, C.R.S. (2014), is modeled on the Uniform Law Commissionersâ Uniform Probate Code (âUPCâ), which Colorado originally adopted in 1974. The Probate Code grants a surviving spouse the right to elect against the decedentâs will and claim an elective share. Â§ 15-11-202. The elective share is a percentage of an amount called the âaugmented estate,â and the percentage increases with the length of the marriage, up to a maximum of fifty percent. Â§ 15-11-203, C.R.S. (2014). The augmented estate is the sum of the value of all property from: (1) the decedentâs net probate estate; (2) the decedentâs nonprobate transfers to others; (3) the decedentâs nonprobate transfers to the surviving spouse; and (4) the surviving spouseâs property and nonprobate transfers to others. Id. All of those property values are calculated based on their âfair market value as of the decedentâs date of death.â Â§ 15-11-201(11) (emphasis added). Â¶14Â Â Â Â Â Â Coloradoâs 1994 elective-share amendments brought its Probate Code into line with major revisions to the UPC. In revising the elective share, the framers of the UPC, and thus Coloradoâs General Assembly, set out to better reflect the contemporary view of marriage as an economic partnership. See tit. 15, art. 11, pt. 2, gen. cmt. p. 202, C.R.S. (2014) (adopting verbatim the general comment to the UPC). Under this approach, the economic rights of each spouse derive from an unspoken marital bargain, under which the partners agree that each will enjoy a half interest in the fruits of the marriage. Id. at 199â200. A decedent who disinherits the surviving spouse fails to uphold that bargain.Â Id. at 200; see also Restatement (Third) of Prop.: Wills & Other Donative Transfers Â§ 9.2 cmt. a (2003). Â¶15Â Â Â Â Â Â Whereas the earlier version of Coloradoâs elective-share statutes gave a surviving spouse the right to elect a fraction of the assets comprising the augmented estate, with the amount determined on the date of distribution, the amended provisions specify that the elective share is a pecuniary amount calculated as of the decedentâs date of death. 7 Compare ch. 186, sec. 1, Â§ 15-11-201(1), 1981 Colo. Sess. Laws 911, 911 (â[T]he surviving spouse has a right of election to take a fraction of the augmented estate . . . .â (emphasis added)), with ch. 178, sec. 3, Â§ 15-11-201(1), 1994 Colo. Sess. Laws 969, 980 (âThe surviving spouse . . . has a right of election . . . to take an elective-share amount not greater than one-half of the value of the augmented estate.â (emphasis added)), and id. Â§ 15-11-202(1)(a)(XII), 983 (defining âvalueâ as âfair market value as of the decedentâs date of deathâ). 8 The significance of these changes is that, where the elective share isÂ computed as a fraction of the augmented estate, it participates in appreciation or depreciation during estate administration. But where, as here, the elective share is based on a pecuniary value determined at time of death, it does not participate in increases and decreases to the estate during administration. See, e.g., In re Estate of Parker, 180 N.W.2d 82, 85 (Mich. Ct. App. 1970) (explaining that the difference between a fractional and pecuniary amount is important because it determines whether appreciation or depreciation of assets during probate will affect that amount). Â¶16Â Â Â Â Â Â The revisions to Coloradoâs elective share effectuate the partnership theory of marriage by ensuring that the surviving spouse of a ten-year or longer marriage will receive fifty percent of the augmented estate valued on the decedentâs date of death. This principle assumes that each spouse contributed equally to the partnership (i.e., marriage) and recognizes that the partnership terminates when one spouse dies. That is why the revised statutes value the partnershipâs property on the date the partnership ends; what happens to a deceased spouseâs assets is irrelevant to the surviving spouse. Â¶17Â Â Â Â Â Â We agree with the court of appeals that, by virtue of the determination to be made of a pecuniary amount at the date of decedentâs death, the Colorado Probate Code does not allow the elective share to fluctuate with the estateâs value during probate administration. 9 We now turn our attention to whether the statutory provisions settingÂ the value of the elective share at the decedentâs date of death displace a probate courtâs authority to base an equitable remedy on appreciation and income to the estate during its administration.