10 Estate Planning Essentials for Denver Families and Professionals

Estate planning in Denver goes beyond legal documents. For high-net-worth individuals in Denver and throughout Colorado, it means coordinating legal, financial and personal decisions to control how your assets are managed during life and distributed after death.

A well-executed plan offers:

  • Clarity on who receives what
  • Control if you become incapacitated
  • Protection for the people who depend on you
  • Reduced tax exposure and court involvement

It’s not optional—and it’s not static. Your estate plan should evolve as your wealth, family or tax laws change.

When to Start 

The right time is when:

  • You own real estate or a business
  • You start a family
  • You’ve built investment or retirement assets
  • You want control over how and when heirs inherit

Review your plan after major life events like marriage, divorce, the birth of a child or a liquidity event.

Estate Planning Documents to Include

Component

Purpose

Will

Names heirs and appoints an executor

Revocable Living Trust

Let’s assets bypass probate and be managed privately

Durable Power of Attorney

Authorizes someone to manage your finances if you're unable

Healthcare Power of Attorney

Names someone to make medical decisions on your behalf

Living Will

States your wishes for life-sustaining treatment

Beneficiary Designations

Ensures accounts pass to the right people, regardless of your will

Asset Titling Review

Verifies ownership aligns with your intentions

Business Succession Plan

Provides continuity if you own a company

Tax Planning Strategy

Minimizes estate and income tax exposure

Digital Asset Inventory

Documents access and wishes for online accounts and digital property

In Denver, where many families hold property, businesses or investments across state lines, working with local experts who understand Colorado law ensures your plan works as intended.

The following sections explore each essential component and how to bring them together with clarity and precision with expert guidance.

  1. A Legally Valid Will

A will is the foundation of any estate plan. It names your executor, identifies who inherits your assets and appoints guardians for minor children. Without a valid will, Colorado’s intestacy laws decide who gets what—regardless of your wishes.

It’s a common misconception that a will covers everything. Many assets—like retirement accounts, life insurance and jointly owned property—bypass your will and follow the beneficiary designation or title. That’s why coordination is key.

Your executor handles everything from settling debts and filing taxes to distributing assets. In complex estates, this includes overseeing investment accounts, real estate, business interests and charitable gifts. A clear, updated will helps reduce delays, disputes and unnecessary court involvement.

Minimizing Probate

While Colorado’s probate system is relatively efficient, it’s still a public and potentially time-consuming process. Tools like beneficiary deeds for real estate can transfer property directly to heirs without court involvement. For high-net-worth families, revocable trusts, proper titling and coordinated designations offer further ways to avoid or minimize probate.

Keeping Your Plan Current

Life changes—such as remarriage, business sales or new grandchildren—can make even a well-drafted will outdated. Brown & Company works closely with your attorney and CPA to ensure your will remains aligned with:

  • Legal documents (trusts, POAs, healthcare directives)
  • Investment and business structures
  • Tax strategy and charitable goals
  • Beneficiary designations and titling

They also help implement your plan—funding trusts, retitling accounts and keeping documents in sync. Their goal: reduce complexity, minimize risk and ensure your intentions are carried out exactly as you intended.

  1. Revocable Living Trust

A will alone isn’t always enough—especially when your estate includes significant wealth, real estate or business interests. A revocable living trust adds a layer of privacy, control and efficiency that a will can’t offer on its own.

This type of trust allows your assets to pass directly to beneficiaries without probate, provides continuity if you become incapacitated and enables you to stagger distributions or impose conditions, which is especially useful in multi-generational planning.

Key Benefits:

  • Avoids Probate: Keeps distributions private, faster and out of court
  • Ensures Continuity: Lets a chosen trustee step in immediately upon incapacity
  • Maintains Control: You can update or revoke the trust at any time
  • Simplifies Administration: Streamlines coordination across assets and advisors

In Colorado, revocable trusts are widely used—especially since the 2019 adoption of the Colorado Uniform Trust Code, which clarified trust administration rules and trustee duties. While the state doesn’t offer domestic asset protection trusts (DAPTs) like Nevada or Alaska, its legal framework supports highly effective revocable trust planning.

Why Start with a Revocable Trust?

For high-net-worth individuals, revocable trusts offer flexibility now and leave room to introduce more advanced strategies—such as irrevocable trusts—later. Brown & Company helps evaluate whether a revocable trust fits your goals, ensures it's properly funded and aligns titling and beneficiary designations across your estate.

3. Healthcare Power of Attorney and Living Will

Medical emergencies can happen at any age. A well-rounded estate plan includes not only financial directives but also instructions for your medical care if you're unable to communicate. In Colorado, two legal documents form the foundation of that planning:

 

Healthcare Power of Attorney

This document allows you to appoint someone you trust to make medical decisions on your behalf if you become incapacitated. It ensures decisions are made by someone who understands your values and wishes.

 

Living Will

Also known as an advance directive, this outlines your preferences for life-sustaining treatments—such as whether you want to be kept on life support in specific situations. It provides clarity to both your family and medical team.

Together, these documents:

  • Ensure your treatment preferences are known and respected
  • Reduce confusion and emotional burden on your family
  • Help avoid court involvement in deeply personal medical decisions

Colorado has long recognized the importance of these tools—especially following high-profile cases like Terri Schiavo, which highlighted what can happen without clear directives in place. State law requires that these forms are properly signed and shared with relevant parties to be valid.

4. Durable Power of Attorney

A durable power of attorney (POA) allows someone you trust to manage your finances if you become incapacitated—handling bills, investments, taxes and legal decisions on your behalf.

The key word is “durable”—it means the authority remains in effect even if you're no longer mentally competent. Without this document, your family may need court approval just to access accounts or pay essential expenses.

Why You Need a Durable POA

Because incapacity can strike without warning—and without this document, no one can act on your behalf without a court order. It ensures uninterrupted financial management and avoids delays during emergencies.

Choosing the right person is critical. They should be financially responsible, level-headed and trustworthy. It's also wise to name a backup. It’s one of the simplest documents to put in place—and one of the most important when the unexpected happens.

5. Beneficiary Designations Audit

Many key assets—like retirement accounts, life insurance policies and payable-on-death (POD) bank accounts—pass directly to the named beneficiaries, not through your will or trust. These designations override your estate plan.

If they’re outdated or inconsistent, your assets could go to the wrong person—especially after a marriage, divorce or birth of a child.

Your will doesn’t control everything. If your beneficiary forms are wrong, your estate plan could fail—on paper and in practice.

A Certified Financial Planner can help audit:

  • IRAs, 401(k)s, annuities and life insurance
  • Primary and contingent beneficiaries
  • Coordination with your trust, will and titling

Reviews should happen annually and after any major life change. Brown & Company ensures this process is integrated into your estate planning checklist, so nothing falls through the cracks.

One missed update can lead to a six-figure mistake. Regular beneficiary reviews are one of the simplest, most impactful steps to protect your legacy.

  1. Asset Titling Review

How your assets are titled determines what happens to them when you die—whether they go through probate, pass automatically to a co-owner or follow your trust instructions. It’s one of the most overlooked, but critical, elements of estate planning.

Improper titling can:

  • Delay probate
  • Trigger unintended transfers
  • Undermine your estate plan entirely

A CFP or wealth advisor can help:

  • Move accounts into your revocable trust
  • Update real estate deeds
  • Align titles with your tax and succession strategy
  • Coordinate with your attorney and CPA

Why It Matters in Colorado

In Denver, where real estate and private business ownership are common, titling mistakes can be costly. A jointly owned home may bypass your will. A business interest titled in your name could trigger probate or disrupt your succession plan.

Even the best legal documents can fail without proper titling. Brown & Company ensures every detail is aligned—so your assets transfer efficiently, privately and as intended.

7. Business Succession Plan

If you own a business in Denver or elsewhere in Colorado, succession planning must be part of your estate strategy. Without it, ownership could unintentionally pass to unprepared heirs—or be sold under pressure.

A well-crafted buy-sell agreement outlines what happens to your shares if you die, become incapacitated or leave the business. It typically defines:

  • Who can buy your interest
  • How the value is determined
  • How the purchase will be funded (often via life insurance)

To support this, Brown & Company helps coordinate:

  • Formal business valuations
  • Key-person insurance strategies
  • Tax and liquidity planning to ensure your family isn’t forced to sell at a discount

We connect the dots: aligning your estate plan with your business exit strategy, investment approach and long-term family goals. You CFP works closely with your attorney, CPA and business partners to make sure everything fits together—clearly, legally and financially.

  1. Tax Strategy Planning

Colorado has no estate tax, but federal estate taxes still apply. For high-net-worth families, that’s where the real exposure lies.

If your estate exceeds the federal exemption (currently $13.6 million per person), anything above that amount can be taxed at up to 40%. And if your heirs don’t receive a step-up in basis, they may also owe capital gains taxes when selling appreciated assets like real estate or a family business.

Why Tax Planning Matters

A poorly structured estate can lose millions to unnecessary taxes, including inheritance tax—cutting directly into what your family receives. In coordination with your attorney and CPA, Brown & Company helps implement:

  • Lifetime gifting strategies
  • Charitable giving to lower estate value
  • Use of exemptions to reduce taxable transfers
  • Roth conversions and their proprietary Retirement Tax Filter™ for tax-efficient distributions
  1. Digital Asset Inventory

Your online accounts, crypto wallets, cloud storage, social media and subscriptions, hold financial and personal value. But without documentation, these assets can be lost.

Colorado’s Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA) allows executors or trustees to access digital assets, but only if that access is authorized in your estate plan. Without it, even your closest family may be locked out.

What to Include:

  • Account names and types (e.g., Gmail, iCloud, Coinbase)
  • Where logins are stored (password manager, encrypted file)
  • Instructions: delete, memorialize or transfer

Your digital life is part of your legacy. Make sure it’s protected.

  1. Family Love Letter or Legacy Message

Legal documents handle logistics. A legacy message adds meaning. Brown & Company’s Family Love Letter helps clients share values, personal wishes and guidance not found in a will or trust. This may include:

  • The reasoning behind financial decisions
  • Funeral preferences or instructions
  • Life lessons or hopes for future generations

For example, a legacy message might include names of pallbearers, burial preferences or account credentials—details that reduce stress and guesswork for loved ones during an already difficult time.

A personal letter brings peace of mind and emotional clarity when your family needs it most.

Keep Your Plan Current

Your estate plan should evolve with your life. Review it regularly, especially after asset growth, business changes or new laws. Treat it as a living strategy, not a one-time event. We recommend reviewing your plan:

  • Every 3–5 years
  • After major life events like marriage, divorce, births, deaths or a business sale
  • When tax laws or financial goals change

Why Work with Brown & Company

At Brown & Company, we do more than manage wealth—we help you protect it across generations. Our estate planning essentials program seamlessly coordinates investment strategy, tax planning and wealth management to protect every aspect of your legacy.

We collaborate with your estate planning attorney and CPA to align legal documents, trusts, titling, business interests, and legacy goals—so your comprehensive estate plan is built to hold up when it matters most.

With decades of experience serving high-net-worth families in Denver, we understand the region’s real estate, business and estate law landscape. Our integrated approach gives you clarity now and confidence for the future.

Ready to Protect Your Legacy?

Schedule a conversation with our team. One call could be the difference between a plan that’s on paper—and a plan that actually works.

Brown & Company and LPL Financial do not provide legal advice or services.  Please consult your legal advisor regarding your specific situation.​