Judgment liens in Colorado

What to file, and where

One recording act starts the lien, and not a moment sooner.

In Colorado a judgment becomes a lien on real estate from the time a certified transcript of the judgment record is recorded, and not before. C.R.S. 13-52-102¹ says so in those words. Signing the judgment does not do it. Entering it does not do it. The clerk of the court certifies a transcript, that transcript is recorded in a county, and the clock and the lien both start there.

Record the transcript in any county you like; the statute lets you. It names the act, certified transcript recorded, without naming the office that holds it. For where the record actually sits county by county, see how a judgment becomes a lien in all fifty states.

What it reaches

What it reaches is the debtor's non-exempt real estate in the county of recording, present and future.

Once recorded, the lien attaches to all of the debtor's real estate in that county that is not exempt from execution, including real estate the debtor acquires there afterward, until the lien expires. C.R.S. 13-52-102 ties the reach to the county of recording. Land in one county and a transcript in another do not meet.

Real estate here is wider than a reader might guess. Every interest the debtor holds or claims by deed, bond, covenant or otherwise for a conveyance, or as a mortgagor of lands in fee, for life, or for years, is counted by the same section. Count a life estate. An interest held by another person to the debtor's use counts too.

How long it lasts, and renewing it

Six years for the lien, with two longer clocks running on the judgment behind it.

A Colorado judgment lien expires six years after the entry of judgment. C.R.S. 13-52-102 is plain about that. To carry it past six years the judgment must be revived before the six years run out, and a certified transcript of the revived judgment recorded in the same county as the original. Do both in time and the lien continues for six years from the entry of the revived judgment. Obtain and continue a lien on a revived judgment the same way as on an original.

Behind the lien, the judgment itself runs on longer clocks. On a court of record judgment or a filed foreign judgment, execution may issue within twenty years of entry, and after twenty years the judgment is considered satisfied in full unless revived. On a county court judgment entered on or after July 1, 1981, that window is six years instead of twenty. And the lien expires outright if the judgment is satisfied, or considered satisfied, as the section provides.

How a judgment is revived is a separate step, and the section leaves that to other law rather than spelling it out here. Read the duration rules alongside other states at how long a judgment lien lasts.

Land in another county

One transcript binds one county, and a redrawn county line raises its own question.

Because the lien reaches only the county of recording, a transcript recorded in any county that holds the debtor's land is what creates the lien there. Record in three counties and there are three liens.

County lines sometimes move. If part or all of a county becomes part of another county or city and county after the transcript was recorded, the transcript does not have to be recorded again in that other county to keep the lien and its priority as to real estate that was in the original county. The redrawing does not cost a creditor the ground already covered. Revival is the exception. If the judgment is revived after the line has moved, a transcript of the revived judgment must be timely recorded in that other county to keep the original lien and its priority as to real estate now sitting there.

Homestead here, in one paragraph

A Colorado homestead stands in front of the lien, and a creditor has to clear a filing before touching it.

Every homestead is exempt from execution and attachment for any debt, contract, or civil obligation up to 250,000 dollars of actual cash value above prior liens, where it is occupied as a home by an owner or an owner's family. C.R.S. 38-41-201(1)(a)² sets that figure. Where the home is occupied by an owner, a spouse, or a dependent who is elderly or disabled, the sum rises to 350,000 dollars. Elderly means 60 years of age or older. Disabled means a physical or mental impairment that is disabling and that, read against factors such as age, training, experience, or social setting, substantially precludes a person from a useful occupation as a homemaker, a wage earner, or a self-employed person in any employment that exists in the community and for which the person has competence.

Before a creditor may proceed against homesteaded property, the creditor must file with the county clerk and recorder and with the sheriff or other levying officer an affidavit describing the property and the claimant, showing its fair market value and showing that the value less prior liens and encumbrances exceeds the homestead exemption the claimant qualifies for. C.R.S. 38-41-206(1)³ requires all of that first. And there is a floor at the sale itself: under 38-41-206(2), if the amount offered does not exceed 70 percent of the fair market value in the independent appraiser's affidavit, all proceedings to sell the property terminate. Compare the homestead rules elsewhere at homestead protection, state by state.

Where the records live

One county, one recording, one place to ask.

In Colorado a judgment lien lives where the certified transcript was recorded, because that recording is what created it and fixed its date. C.R.S. 13-52-102 ties both to the same act. Checking for a lien means checking the county records for a recorded transcript, county by county, since each one is its own lien.

The statute says the transcript may be recorded in any county but does not name the office that takes it. What this page can tell you is the act to ask about and the date that act carries, both of them the certified transcript. Which particular desk in a given county stamps it is a question for that county.