Colorado Municipal Court Information

A Colorado municipal court is an extension of the state judiciary. Municipal courts in the various cities and towns of Colorado uphold the laws of the land and the guidelines set forth by the Constitution in an effort to protect the lives and property of the citizens and safeguard their rights.

Typical Jurisdiction Rights of the Colorado Municipal Courts

Typically a Colorado municipal court possesses rights to try varied kinds of breaches of laws and ordinances such as animal regulation violations, fire code violations, traffic violations, parking violations, littering violations, zoning violations, and sales tax violations. A Colorado municipal court may issue peace and protective orders against persons to safeguard the lives and properties of citizens. All Colorado municipal courts are authorized to try cases that involve breach of local municipal codes.

Colorado municipal courts are empowered to try charges of misdemeanors, bench warrants, and summons/penalty assessments.

Some municipal courts may deal with civil restraining orders, divorce or dissolution of marriage, landlord-tenant disputes, probate issues, and small claims. Some others may be empowered to handle traffic violations like driving license and vehicle registration issues. Click http://www.courts.state.co.us/Courts/District/Choose.cfm to get an idea about which municipal court handles what cases.

Judges in Colorado Municipal Courts

A judge in a Colorado municipal court is empowered by law to conduct hearings, arraignments, trials, and sentencing. He or she can conduct research before hearings commence. He usually prepares court documents and is responsible for the correspondence. In the absence of a municipal judge, a deputy judge handles these tasks.

The municipal court clerk is responsible for processing citations, preparing, maintaining, and updating departmental records including case related data. He or she has copies of city ordinances, state legal codes, and a schedule of fines. He is the person to whom defendants, attorneys, and the public turn to when in need of information.

General jurisdiction rights are more or less similar for the municipal courts across the state: be it in the towns like Frederick, Silt, and Telluride or cities like Colorado Springs and Golden.

Colorado Municipal Courts Going Electronic

To smooth legal procedures, many Colorado municipal courts have embraced digital technology. An effort in this direction has been to introduce the e-filing system. Today, almost 96 percent of all civil documents that can be filed electronically are e-filed in the district courts all through Colorado.

Efforts are underway to extend this facility to more types of cases. Currently you can electronically file forms for these cases: adoption, criminal, domestic, family, juvenile, paternity, probate, small claims, and water. The forms and the instructions to fill them are available from http://www.courts.state.co.us/Forms/Index.cfm.     

Municipal courts in Colorado seek to provide a fair resolution of all proceedings that are under the aegis of the court jurisdiction. This is an effort to elicit public support and promote public faith in the fairness, integrity, and neutrality of the judicial machinery.