How do you sell a house held in a trust in Colorado?
SELLING A HOUSE IN A TRUST: THE TRUSTEE SIGNS, AND THE DOCUMENT DECIDES HOW.
The trustee sells it, and the trust document decides how. Under Colorado's Uniform Trust Code a trustee may, without court authorization, exercise all powers over trust property that an unmarried competent owner has, except as limited by the trust's terms (C.R.S. 15-5-815, VERIFIED), including selling property at public or private sale (C.R.S. 15-5-816, VERIFIED). The title company gets a certification of trust, not the whole document (C.R.S. 15-5-1013, VERIFIED). Read the trust first: it can limit the sale, name cotrustees, or require consents.PROBATE · SHOWN
Four documents, one signature. The trust sets the terms, the certification proves the trustee, the agreement and the deed carry the trustee's capacity.
The power to sell is in the statute, not in a court order.
A trust sale does not go through the probate court; it goes through the trust document. Colorado's Uniform Trust Code says a trustee, without authorization by the court, may exercise the powers conferred by the terms of the trust and, except as limited by those terms, all powers over the trust property that an unmarried competent owner has over individually owned property (C.R.S. 15-5-815, VERIFIED). The specific list that follows includes the power to acquire or sell property, for cash or on credit, at public or private sale (C.R.S. 15-5-816, VERIFIED). Selling a house in a trust looks different by trust type: in a revocable living trust the settlor is usually the trustee and sells like an owner, while an irrevocable trust binds the trustee to the instrument's terms (PROBABLE as to any one trust; read the document).
So there are no Letters to wait for and no appointment to record. There is a document, and the document can do three things a family often does not expect: restrict the sale of a particular property, require the consent of a beneficiary or a cotrustee, or name a successor trustee whose succession has to be proven before anyone signs. Read those pages before the price.
What the title company asks for, and why the certification exists.
The title company is not curious about the family; it is protecting the buyer's title. Instead of furnishing a copy of the trust instrument to a person other than a beneficiary, the trustee may furnish a certification of trust (C.R.S. 15-5-1013, VERIFIED). The statute lists what it contains: that the trust exists and the date it was executed, the identity of the settlor, the identity and address of the currently acting trustee, the powers of the trustee in the pending transaction, whether the trust is revocable and who can revoke it, whether all cotrustees must sign, and the name in which title may be taken. Any trustee may sign it.
The deed that put the house into the trust already described the trustee's capacity, because Colorado requires an instrument conveying to a grantee in a representative capacity to describe that capacity (C.R.S. 38-30-108, VERIFIED). At the sale the trustee conveys as trustee, and the title company chooses the deed form (PROBABLE). None of this is exotic; all of it is slow when it is discovered at closing instead of at the listing.
Where trust sales stall, and the sequence that avoids it.
Three stalls, all in the document. A successor trustee who cannot yet prove the succession. Two cotrustees where the trust requires both signatures and one lives elsewhere. A beneficiary who expected a say the document does not give. Each is solved on paper, and each costs weeks if it is found at the title desk.
The sequence that avoids them: read the trust, order the certification, confirm who signs, then the house. Since 2026-08-12 a Colorado broker needs a signed written agreement stating compensation before any licensed duty (HB26-1426, bill and date VERIFIED, amended text PROBABLE), and the trustee signs it in that capacity. Then price against what closed and against the clock: the Denver metro median days on market was 57 in August 2026 (VERIFIED, Realtor.com via FRED, on the days on market page). Send Robert the trust's name, who the acting trustee is, and whether the house is vacant; the sequence starts from the document, not from a number.
THE RECEIPT
Every number and every section, with its source.
VERIFIED means the text was fetched and read on the date shown. PROBABLE means a snippet or a secondary page carried it, and the primary text or an attorney confirms it.- SOURCE · VERIFIED
- C.R.S. 15-5-815, general powers of trustee (owner's powers without court authorization, except as limited by the trust)
Read 2026-09-15.
OPEN THE SOURCE ↗ - SOURCE · VERIFIED
- C.R.S. 15-5-816, specific powers of trustee (acquire or sell property, public or private sale)
Read 2026-09-15.
OPEN THE SOURCE ↗ - SOURCE · VERIFIED
- C.R.S. 15-5-1013, certification of trust (contents; any trustee may sign)
Read 2026-09-15.
OPEN THE SOURCE ↗ - SOURCE · VERIFIED
- C.R.S. 38-30-108, conveyances to a grantee in a representative capacity (the deed into the trust describes the capacity)
Read 2026-09-15.
OPEN THE SOURCE ↗ - SOURCE · VERIFIED
- HB26-1426, Department of Law Legislative Report, signed 2026-06-02, effective 2026-08-12 (bill page; the enacted broker text was not on it)
Read 2026-09-10.
OPEN THE SOURCE ↗ - SOURCE · VERIFIED
- 57 days on the metro clock, August 2026 (Denver metro median days on market)
Read 2026-09-15.
OPEN THE SOURCE ↗ - SOURCE · VERIFIED
- FRED MEDAONMAMSA19740, Market Hotness: Median Days on Market, Denver-Aurora-Lakewood (August 2026 observation 57.00)
Read 2026-09-15.
OPEN THE SOURCE ↗ - AS OF
- September 2026
- GEOGRAPHY
- Colorado; Denver metro where the days-on-market figure is used
- DOES NOT PROVE
- That your trust permits the sale on these terms, who the acting trustee is today, or that the beneficiaries agree. The page reads the statute, not your document.
WHERE ROBERT STOPS
Robert can read the house, the carrying cost and the sale sequence, and list on the trustee's signature once the certification is in hand. Trust interpretation, trustee succession, beneficiary disputes and tax basis belong with the trust attorney and the CPA.
THE RECORD, PUBLICLY CHECKABLE
5.0 across 32 Zillow reviews · 52 recorded sales, 16 in the last twelve months.
Robert S. An, broker associate at Compass, Colorado licence 100084328. Checked on the public Zillow profile September 12, 2026; a public profile changes, so read it yourself rather than taking this line for it. Those sales are residential, across the Denver metro.READ THE CLIENT ACCOUNTS WHOLE →THE GUIDE'S AUTHORITY STEP
Tell Robert the event.
Send the trust's name, who the acting trustee is, and whether the house is vacant. The sequence starts from the document, not from a number.TELL ROBERT THE EVENTPRICE IT
See what each way out leaves on this house.
OPEN THE NET SHEET →PROBATE · ASKED HERE
The question this page answers.
- How do you sell a house held in a trust in Colorado?
- The trustee sells it, and the trust document decides how. Under Colorado's Uniform Trust Code a trustee may, without court authorization, exercise all powers over trust property that an unmarried competent owner has, except as limited by the trust's terms (C.R.S. 15-5-815, VERIFIED), including selling property at public or private sale (C.R.S. 15-5-816, VERIFIED). The title company gets a certification of trust, not the whole document (C.R.S. 15-5-1013, VERIFIED). Read the trust first: it can limit the sale, name cotrustees, or require consents.