State Resources
Colorado
Colorado has no free statewide court search — it’s a paid third-party service, and that surprises people. What Colorado does give away is a criminal history check anyone can run online, and one of the better free business searches.
At a glance
| Record | Held by | Cost | Online |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business and entity search | Secretary of State | Free to search | Yes |
| UCC filings | Secretary of State — UCC | Free to search | Yes |
| Professional licenses | Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) | Free | Yes |
| Property and land records | County clerk and recorder, and county assessor | Free online in most counties | By county |
| Court records | Judicial Department (paid remote access) | Paid; free at courthouse terminals | Paid only |
| Criminal records | Colorado Bureau of Investigation | Fee per name | Yes |
| Vital records | Department of Public Health and Environment | Certified copies carry a fee | Yes |
| Unclaimed property | State Treasurer — Great Colorado Payback | Free | Yes |
| Voter and resident records | Secretary of State — Go Vote Colorado | Free | Yes |
Worth knowing about Colorado
There’s no free statewide case search. Stop looking for one.
Colorado is unusual among western states in not publishing a free public case search, and people lose real time hunting for one that doesn’t exist.
Court records are public and they’re available — but remote statewide access runs through a paid commercial service licensed by the Judicial Department. You pay per search or by subscription. That’s the official route, not a data broker workaround.
The free alternatives:
- Courthouse terminals. Every district court has public access terminals, and they’re free.
- Denver County Court runs its own separate system, since Denver is a combined city and county with its own court.
- The clerk by phone. Colorado clerks will generally run a name search for you. It’s slower than a portal and it’s free.
Budget for the paid search on any serious Colorado file. It’s the honest answer.
The CBI criminal history check is open to anyone, online
This is the good news, and it partly makes up for the court situation.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation runs an Internet Criminal History Check that any member of the public can use. You search by name and date of birth, pay by card, and get the result back online.
No consent form and no fingerprints for the name-based version. That puts Colorado in the group of states where you can simply buy the answer — Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Washington, South Carolina, Hawaii.
The report covers Colorado arrests and dispositions reported to the CBI. It won’t cover other states, and sealed records won’t appear.
Record by record
Business and entity search
Open business search →- Held by
- Secretary of State
- Cost
- Free to search
Free, fast and better than most. Search by entity name, ID, registered agent or individual name, and every filed document is viewable free as a PDF.
Colorado requires a periodic report, so an entity in good standing has been refreshed within the year. The document images are the valuable part — the original articles usually name the organizer, and Colorado charges nothing to look.
UCC filings
Open Secretary of State →- Held by
- Secretary of State — UCC
- Cost
- Free to search
UCC financing statements filed centrally and searchable free by debtor name through the Secretary of State.
A UCC-1 names the debtor, the secured party and the collateral, and the secured party is usually a lender — one of the few free routes to where a business banks.
Professional licenses
Open DORA licensing →- Held by
- Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA)
- Cost
- Free
A single division covering most Colorado professional and occupational licenses, with free verification returning name, status, dates and disciplinary action.
Property and land records
- Held by
- County clerk and recorder, and county assessor
- Cost
- Free online in most counties
No statewide property search. The county clerk and recorder holds documents; the assessor holds ownership and value across 64 counties.
Denver, El Paso, Jefferson and Arapahoe are the deepest online and all free. Colorado also has severed mineral rights in much of the state — a mineral interest is a real asset that a surface property search won’t show you.
Court records
Open Judicial Department →- Held by
- Judicial Department (paid remote access)
- Cost
- Paid; free at courthouse terminals
No free statewide public case search — see above. Remote access is through a licensed paid service; courthouse terminals are free.
Denver County Court is separate from the district court system and runs its own records access.
Criminal records
Open criminal history check →- Held by
- Colorado Bureau of Investigation
- Cost
- Fee per name
Open to the public, online, name and date of birth, results returned immediately. Colorado records only.
As with any repository check, a common name pulls other people. Confirm before you rely on it.
Vital records
Open vital records →- Held by
- Department of Public Health and Environment
- Cost
- Certified copies carry a fee
Births, deaths and marriages from the state office, with county offices also issuing. Colorado restricts certified copies to people with a direct interest.
Unclaimed property
Open Great Colorado Payback →- Held by
- State Treasurer — Great Colorado Payback
- Cost
- Free
Free name search. The holder named on a reported item is a confirmed bank, insurer or employer relationship with a last known address.
Voter and resident records
Open Go Vote Colorado →- Held by
- Secretary of State — Go Vote Colorado
- Cost
- Free
Individual registration lookup confirming status and county. Colorado sells the bulk voter list with use restrictions.
Public records requests in Colorado
- Statute
- Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 24-72-200.1 et seq. (Colorado Open Records Act)
- Response deadline
- Three working days, extendable to seven
- Appeal to
- District court
- Appeal window
- No fixed deadline
CORA gives you three working days, extendable to seven if the agency states extenuating circumstances in writing.
Before suing you must give the agency three business days’ written notice of your intent to file. That step is mandatory and skipping it gets your case dismissed — but it also settles a lot of disputes on its own, because the notice is the first point at which the agency’s lawyer reads the file.
A requester who prevails recovers court costs and attorney fees. Criminal justice records run under a separate statute (CCJRA) with more agency discretion, which is why police reports are harder here than ordinary agency records.
No residency requirement and no purpose requirement.
What Colorado will not give you
- A free statewide court search. Does not exist. Remote access is a paid licensed service.
- Sealed records. Colorado has expanded sealing, including automatic sealing for some offenses.
- Driver and vehicle records. Closed under the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act.
- Criminal justice agency records. Governed by CCJRA rather than CORA, with broad discretion to withhold.
- Juvenile records. Not public.
Course
Investigating with PACER and Court Records
State courts are only half of it. Federal court records carry bankruptcies, judgments and civil suits that no state search will ever show you — and most people overpay for them or never look at all.
See the court records courseRelated
- Kansas — next door, free and statewide
- New Mexico — free case search and a much stronger records act
- Tracing an LLC to a human being
- UCC filings name the lender
- Appealing a public records denial
Fees and procedures verified August 2026. Clerks change their counter rules more often than the statutes change — call before you drive.