Questions people ask

No. Everguide & Co is not a law firm and we are not attorneys. We don't give legal advice, interpret a will, tell you what your rights are, or represent anyone in court.

What we do is the practical and administrative side: gathering documents, preparing and submitting paperwork at your direction, contacting institutions, keeping everything organized, and serving as personal representative when asked. Many estates never need a lawyer at all. Some absolutely do, and we'll tell you which yours is.

Some reliable signals: heirs are in disagreement, someone is challenging the will or there are competing versions, the estate owes more than it owns, there's a trust with anything complicated in it, an heir can't be located, there's a business to wind down, or a question has come up that turns on what the law actually requires rather than what form to file.

If any of that describes your situation, we'll say so on the first call and help you find someone. We'd rather refer you out than take work that isn't ours.

A fair question, and we hold to it carefully. We can tell you what the process generally involves and what a form asks for. We can't tell you what you should do, what a document means for your rights, or which legal option to choose.

Concretely: we can help you gather what a small estate affidavit requires and prepare it at your direction. We can't advise you on whether to use one instead of opening probate — that's your decision, made with a lawyer's help if the answer isn't obvious.

Colorado. Much of the work happens by phone, email, and mail, so we can help families anywhere in the state, and we regularly work with heirs who live elsewhere but are settling a Colorado estate.

Often not. If the personal property is worth $88,000 or less (for deaths in 2026, after liens and debts) and there's no real estate to transfer, a small estate affidavit is usually enough — no court, no case, no judge.

Separately, anything with a named beneficiary, a payable-on-death designation, or joint ownership with right of survivorship passes outside probate no matter how large it is. Our Colorado guide walks through all three paths.

A small estate affidavit is often two to six weeks. Informal probate commonly runs six months to a year, with the four-month creditor claim window setting the practical floor. Formal probate can take a year or considerably more.

The biggest variable isn't the court — it's how fast the banks and insurers respond, and how persistently someone follows up.

More than you think. Most institutions want an original certified copy and won't give it back. Count every bank account, investment account, insurance policy, vehicle, and piece of property, then add five. Ten to fifteen is normal.

Generally no. Relatives aren't personally liable for a decedent's debts simply for being related. Debts get paid by the estate, in a priority order set by statute, and if there isn't enough, some go unpaid.

Two real cautions: a personal representative who pays debts in the wrong order, or distributes to heirs before valid claims are resolved, can become personally liable for the shortfall. And collectors do sometimes contact family in ways that suggest a personal obligation that doesn't exist.

Yes. Being named in a will doesn't obligate you to serve. Colorado has a straightforward process for declining and, if you want, nominating someone else instead. A lot of people don't know this and spend a year on work they never agreed to.

Usually, yes. We regularly pick up estates that stalled — someone started, got overwhelmed, and the file sat in a drawer for two years. Some deadlines do matter, particularly the outside limit on creditor claims, so it's worth a call sooner rather than later. But "I should have done this ages ago" is an extremely common starting point, and not one we'll make you feel bad about.

The first call is free. After that we quote each engagement individually — flat and itemized, not hourly — because a single affidavit and an eleven-month administration are wildly different jobs. You'll know the number before any work starts, and you can take part of the plan and do the rest yourself.

We don't take a percentage of the estate for administrative work.

Yes, and plenty of people do. Sometimes it's the whole estate; often it's one specific thing someone has hit a wall on — a vehicle title, a stubborn institution, a benefit claim that keeps getting rejected.

In the right circumstances, yes — we've done it before. It's most useful when nobody in the family can serve, when everyone lives out of state, or when a neutral party would defuse a conflict. More detail here, including how the money and accountability are structured.

Documents are stored encrypted and shared by secure link, not email attachments. We ask only for what a given task requires. We never sell or share your information. At the end you get the complete file, and we delete our working copies on request. See the privacy policy.

No. Some of the best calls we have end with "you can handle this yourself, here's the order to do it in." That's a real outcome and a good one. Ask anyway.