Bradford Publishing Blog | Colorado Law Articles & Topics

If you own a condo or town home in a HOA-governed community, you may wonder how much property insurance to buy. After all, won’t the HOA or “common interest community association” buy property insurance? Where does your responsibility for damages begin and the association’s end?

What the law says
Colorado law, as stated in the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act, requires that your association buy property insurance to cover units stacked on top of each other. Associations are not required to cover “the finished interior surfaces of the walls, floors, and ceilings of the units” –– although they may do so.

The association’s policy does not need to cover improvements installed by unit owners. (If improvements are covered, the association must charge owners for additional insurance fees).

Your HOA’s governing documents or declaration may provide more detail.

And finally, these rules generally only apply to common interest communities created after July 1, 1992, when the CCIOA went into effect.

Given these complexities, it may be difficult to tell exactly what your association’s master insurance policy covers. That, in turn, makes it difficult to determine how much coverage to buy.

For instance, the association’s policy will have a deductible —or even different deductibles for different perils —that can be as much as $25,000 or more. You may want to consider coverage that protects you from a loss that would be covered by your association’s policy but that is less than the deductible amount.

What you need to do Continue reading “Colorado HOA Insurance and Condo Insurance for Beginners” »

Completing a Colorado Mechanics’ Lien form, providing the required advance notice of the intent to file the lien, and recording the lien all require strict adherence to Colorado law and great attention to detail. Because Colorado courts strictly construe these rules, you will lose your lien rights if mistakes are made regarding the form or timing of these documents.

What form do I need?

The Statement of Mechanics’ Lien with Notice of Intent to File a Lien Statement, form No. 180A, is available from Bradford Publishing. The front of the form is the Lien Statement that details the names and addresses of the person or company filing the lien and the general contractor. It also describes the property and the amount of the claim. The reverse side of the form contains the Notice of Intent to File a Lien Statement and the Affidavits as to when notice was sent.

How do I give notice that I’m filing a mechanics’ lien?

After you complete the front of the Statement of Mechanics’ Lien, you must complete the Notice of Intent to File a Lien Statement on the back. This part gives notice to the general contractor and owner that you intend to record your lien if you are not paid within 10 days. After both have been completed, copies of the form must be given to the owner and the general contractor (unless you are the general contractor) either by personal delivery, or by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested. This must happen at least 10 days before the lien can be filed. This 10 day period begins to run only upon actual delivery of the form to both the property owner and the general contractor. After the entire form has been served on the owner and the general contractor, you may complete the 3 affidavits of service on the back of the form.

When and where do I record my lien?

In order to complete and secure your mechanics’ lien rights, the original or a copy of the proposed lien and the Affidavits must be filed with the Clerk and Recorder in the county in which the construction project is located.  Generally, material men, general contractors and subcontractors must record their Lien no later than 4 months after they last provided material, work or services to the project. Warranty work, and even “punch list” items, may not count as the last work performed on a project. If you leave the project for any reason before completing your contract, the 4 month period still begins at the time you left the project.

To learn more about mechanics’ liens, see other Bradford blogs on Filing a Colorado Mechanics’ Lien, or get the details from Bradford’s booklet, Know Your Mechanic’s Lien Rights :A Guide to Colorado Law.

Probate is a legal process by which your loved one’s estate is officially administered when he or she dies. Think of it as a set of rules or script that governs, or guarantees, that your family member’s money and property are peaceably transferred. 

Regardless of whether or not you have a will, most estates in Colorado must go through probate. The exception is a small estate—one with a value (after taxes and bills are paid) of less than $60,000 and no real estate owned by the deceased. If the estate has a will, probate will be much simpler – but it still involves a number of legal steps.

Here’s a quick overview of what’s involved if there’s a will:

Step 1:  Initiate the Probate Process
Within ten days of the death, the person named in the will as the executor or personal representative must file (lodge) the will. When you’re ready certain paperwork to set probate in motion and to prove the validity of the will will need to be filed as well. (The initial paperwork to probate an estate can be filed six days after the decedent’s death. You have up to three years to initiate the probate process.) The Will and probate forms must be filed in the District Court (or in Denver, the Probate Court) in the county where the deceased person lived.

Step 2: Appoint the personal representative
The court officially appoints the personal representative by providing a letter of appointment.

Step 3: Identify and inventory the property
The personal representative makes a list of the estate’s assets. Some may be hard to track down, and might include items such as money owed like a final paycheck or retirement account.  That inventory must be filed with the court within 90 days of the personal representative’s appointment.

Step 4: Pay the bills
Before heirs can receive their share, all the bills must be paid. Typical bills may include funeral expenses, medical bills, debts and taxes.

Step 5: Distribute the remaining property to heirs
Once assets are valued and debts are paid, the personal representative can distribute property to heirs. Having a will makes this easy; the personal representative hands out money according to the will’s instructions.

Probate can be complex. For more information, get Bradford’s helpful booklet, “Guide to Probate in Colorado.” Bradford also has all the forms needed to probate and estate, in printed form or downloaded from our website.

The rent is late.  Your tenant is smoking in a non-smoking house.  Whatever the cause, the first step in the eviction process is to serve your tenant a 3-day notice (also called an eviction notice, pre-litigation notice or notice to pay or quit). Under Colorado law it is technically called the “Demand for Compliance or Possession.”

It gives your tenant three days to fix the problem or move out.

For instance, if you find unauthorized pets living in the house, your tenant has three days to relocate these animals to a new home. If the problem is overdue rent, your tenant has three days to pay or move out.

And, while you might not plan on evicting your tenant right now, if you don’t  serve the demand, you won’t later be able to proceed in an eviction until you do thus delaying the process even more.

Also: while 3 days is the default deadline set forth in Colorado law, please review your lease agreement and see if it requires a longer notice deadline. Note that the notice period can be no less than 3 days, no matter what your lease says.

What’s in the 3-Day Notice, aka Demand for Compliance or Possession? Continue reading “The 3-Day Notice: How To Start A Colorado Eviction” »

What if you’re in an unmarried, committed relationship and your partner is in an accident? Not a fun scenario to think about, but what is more unpleasant is when the doctors prevent you from seeing your partner in the hospital. In Colorado there is a way to make sure you and your partner have some of the rights that you would have if you were legally married. Colorado’s Designated Beneficiary Agreement allows same-sex couples and heterosexual couples who are not married to give their partners 16 specific rights.

What rights are granted by a Designated Beneficiary Agreement?

These are the specific rights listed in the Agreement. You may, but you don’t need to grant all 16 rights. Instead, you can pick and choose which rights you want your partner to have.

1.    The right to acquire, hold title to, own jointly, or transfer inter vivos or at death real or personal property as a joint tenant with me with right of survivorship or as a tenant in common with me;
2.    The right to be designated by me as a beneficiary, payee, or owner as a trustee named in an inter vivos or testamentary trust for the purposes of a non-probate transfer on death;
3.    The right to be designated by me as a beneficiary and recognized as a dependent in an insurance policy for life insurance;
4.    The right to be designated by me as a beneficiary and recognized as a dependent in a health insurance policy if my employer elects to provide health insurance coverage for designated beneficiaries;
5.    The right to be designated by me as a beneficiary in a retirement or pension plan; Continue reading “No Time Like the Present” »

If you were to look up “Friend” in the Dictionary, you would see a picture of a southern, smiling gentleman with the name Richard Birchfield underneath. He was the very definition of a friend. Richard greeted everyone who walked through the door at Bradford Publishing Company with his welcoming words, “Hello Friend”, for more than 32 years. He instantly made you feel at home and at ease the minute you saw him.

Richard had an uncanny knack for remembering everyone’s name, even if he’d only met you once. Why? Because he truly felt as though everyone was important, and everyone was his friend. He was one of the most sincere, genuine people I’ve ever met. He saw the best in every person, and could never say a disparaging word about anyone.

Working with Richard all these years has been such a pleasure. He preferred to get up every day, have his coffee and travel into downtown, just to enjoy the company of all the Friends he’d met throughout the years. He loved his job – and it was reflected in his voice every day. He could make you smile even if your day wasn’t going quite so well.

Our dear friend passed away Sunday, April 1st, 2012. He was a real friend and would do anything for anyone. I will miss Richard and he will be missed by all who knew him.

Reda Martin

Real estate professionals recognize that some times of the year are just better for buying houses than others. The market starts to warm up with the weather and people who want to move over the summer will start looking now. If you are one of those people, be sure to understand the home buying process.

The Colorado Home Buyer’s Guide brings you the legal, financial, and other practical information you need to know before buying a home in today’s market.

Vicki Porter, author of the “Colorado Home Buyer’s Guide” is an experienced Denver real estate lawyer and broker.  She knows that buying a home can be stressful and confusing. In this updated edition of her popular book, she walks you through the entire purchase process—addressing the many concerns of you may have along the way. You will learn about finding available properties for sale, choosing a lender, financing options, working with an agent, and the closing process.

Ms. Porter divides the process of buying a home into seven steps and explains the requirements and the potential pitfalls for each of those steps. The first chapter analyzes the decision to buy a home. Chapter 2 discusses how to choose a lender and the various kinds of financing available. Chapter 3 will help you find the right real estate agent. Chapter 4 will show you how to find the right property to buy, and contains a handy checklist to help you along. Chapter 5 contains a paragraph-by-paragraph explanation of Colorado’s standard contract to buy and sell real estate. Chapter 6 tells you how to prepare for the closing and what to expect there. Chapter 7 discusses a few post-closing matters.

The process of buying a home may seem daunting to most first time buyers, but the information in this book will make it much less complex. The “Colorado Home Buyer’s Guide” will define the unfamiliar terms and successfully demystify the process.

Get the updated edition at www.bradfordpublishing.com/Colorado-Home-Buyers-Guide!