You inherited an interest in Colorado, or you are about to. Here is what the state actually requires to put it in your name, what can take it away if you do nothing, where the money goes when the operator cannot find you, and the order to do things in. Written by a mineral buyer who pays for the probate on a committed deal, so read it with that in mind.
Updated November 2026. Written by Stephen Clayman, career landman and owner of Berlin Royalties. Statutes were checked against primary sources; this is general information from a buyer, not legal advice, and the state-specific details are the reason to call a Colorado attorney, not a substitute for one.
Yes, in one form or another. Colorado's small estate affidavit is personal property only and capped at $88,000 for 2026 deaths, so inherited minerals need a personal representative's deed from a probate, an order of distribution, or a decree of heirship under C.R.S. 15-12-1301, which any interested person, including an operator, can petition for a year after death. An affidavit of heirship is only prima facie evidence after 20 years of record.
Minerals are real property. The C.R.S. 15-12-1201 affidavit for collection of personal property (form JDF 999) is personal property only, ten days after death, with a limit of $88,000 for 2026 deaths ($86,000 for 2025). An heir's title without a personal representative's deed, an order of distribution, or a decree of heirship is not record or marketable title, and a recorded affidavit of heirship becomes prima facie evidence only after 20 years of record.
Where no administration was opened, C.R.S. 15-12-1301 and 15-12-1302 let any interested person, including an operator or lessee, petition the court for a determination of heirs and interests in property (form JDF 948) one year after death. Otherwise, an informal probate with a recorded personal representative's deed is the route.
Yes. Colorado's beneficiary deed, C.R.S. 15-15-401 and following (2004), is a revocable deed conveying an interest in real property effective at death. It must be recorded before death. The form carries a Medicaid eligibility warning that is worth reading.
Colorado does not appear on the dormant mineral statute tables and we found no Colorado lapse statute; confirm with counsel. The related risk is C.R.S. 39-1-104.5, under which a surface owner can require the assessor to place a severed mineral interest on the tax roll, which creates a tax sale exposure for an interest nobody is watching.
C.R.S. 34-60-118.5: first payment within six months after the end of the month of first sale, then 60 days for oil and 90 days for gas after the end of the month, with $100 or less payable annually, and simple interest from the date of each sale at twice the Kansas City Federal Reserve discount rate. The Energy and Carbon Management Commission can adjudicate payment disputes. Our letter generator writes the statutory demand, and the full state table is on royalty payment laws by state.
Search Great Colorado Payback under the decedent's name and every spelling of it. Mineral proceeds have a three-year dormancy under C.R.S. 38-13. The site moved to unclaimedproperty.colorado.gov in February 2026; the old address redirects. Our unclaimed royalties hub covers the search in every state we buy in, and we run it free whether or not you sell.
No Colorado estate or inheritance tax. Inherited minerals take a federal stepped-up basis. The arithmetic is on our capital gains and depletion page, and a date-of-death appraisal is what documents the basis.
The printable version of that list, with the title path for every state, is our executor's checklist for mineral rights.
Send a photo of whatever you have. We will tell you what the family owns, what it pays, whether any money is sitting in suspense or with the state, what the title needs, and what it is worth, in writing and with the reasoning shown. Free, and the answer is the same whether or not you sell.
Get a Free Valuation Text a Check StubOr call or text 918-984-1645 and ask for Stephen.
No. C.R.S. 15-12-1201 covers personal property only, capped at $88,000 for 2026. Minerals need a personal representative's deed, an order of distribution, or a decree of heirship under C.R.S. 15-12-1301.
Twenty years of record before it is prima facie evidence, which is why almost nobody relies on one for minerals.
Yes, the beneficiary deed under C.R.S. 15-15-401, recorded before death.