Colorado Court Records Search
Colorado has 22 District Courts spread over the state. Each district has at least one or more counties in it, up to seven per district, with at least one location. District courts are trial courts with general jurisdiction. The Colorado Judicial Branch website has a list of each district with the counties they serve, detailed information on each courthouse, the judges, directions and images.
District Courts have original jurisdiction for civil cases. The types of cases handled through District Court are civil cases with no amount limit, criminal cases, juvenile delinquency cases, adoption, guardianship, dependency, domestic relations, probate, and mental health matters. In the case of an appeal, District Court decisions travel up to the Colorado Court of Appeals or in some cases directly to the Supreme Court. District Courts prefer to resolve cases in the counties where they were initially filed.
The Supreme Court Chief Justice appoints one judge per district to act as Chief Judicial Office for the district. Colorado has 188 District Court judges. District Court judges preside over felony cases, cases involving children (such as adoption, dependency, neglect, paternity, and juvenile delinquency). They also resolve civil claims with no dollar limit, mental health cases, probate matters, divorces and water cases. Many cases held in District Court are jury trials. This court also handles appeals from both the municipal and County Courts for the state. When decisions from District Court are appealed, they go to either the Court of Appeals or directly to the Supreme Court.
For the last year calculated, Colorado’s District Courts averaged 232,803 filings and disposed of 228,041 cases. The current trend is an increase in District Court Filings by 8% per year. The area with the most substantial increase was civil filings that realized an increase of more than 19% over the past year. Most filings are for civil issues, then criminal, then domestic relations and finally juvenile matters. The two smallest number of filings are for mental health cases and probate matters.