Someone who is not a resident of Colorado can be appointed personal representative in a Colorado probate but he or she will have to appoint the court to accept service of process so that someone who needs to serve papers on the estate need not go out of state to do so.  

All of this does not say who WILL be appointed personal representative.  The court will look first to see who is nominated in the will.  If no personal representative is nominated in the will or if there is no will , the order of priority is set out in the same statute linked above.  First in line is the surviving spouse if he or she is named to receive property under the will (that means she's a devisee as the term is used in the statute), then on to the person designated in a designated beneficiary agreement (the subject of a future blog post), and then anyone else named to receive property in the will.  If there is no will or designated beneficiary agreement, the list starts with the spouse and then goes to the others named to receive property in the will. 

So, you can be personal representative if you live out of the state or country, don't have a high school diploma or even have a criminal record.  Of course, the court might find you unsuitable if you cannot read or your criminal record is serious enough, but none of that is a clearcut case of disqualification.

Tomorrow, what to do when someone dies.