▶

Free Colorado Eviction Complaint Worksheet

▶ Watch overview

Colorado Eviction Complaint Worksheet — organize every fact a Colorado forcible entry and detainer (FED) complaint needs before you complete the official county-court JDF form. Filing is governed by C.R.S. § 13-40-110.

FED Worksheet C.R.S. § 13-40-110 Colorado Free PDF

This is a preparation worksheet, not the official court form. It helps a Colorado landlord assemble the facts — parties, property, tenancy, the notice served, the grounds, the amount owed, and the relief sought — before completing the official Colorado Judicial Department JDF forms and filing the eviction. In Colorado an eviction is a forcible entry and detainer (FED) action filed under C.R.S. § 13-40-110 in the county court for the county where the property sits. It can only proceed after a valid Demand for Compliance or Possession / Notice to Quit has been served and its statutory period — ten days for a residential nonpayment or lease-violation case under C.R.S. § 13-40-104 — has fully expired. Fill this worksheet in, then copy the organized facts onto the official JDF 99 complaint. It does not replace the court forms or legal advice.

Complete the fields below to generate a Colorado eviction complaint worksheet (PDF). The PDF is titled a worksheet and is meant to organize the facts for the official JDF 99 filing under C.R.S. § 13-40-110; it is not the court form and not legal advice. Before you rely on it, read the process and notice sections below and confirm your Colorado eviction notice was valid and has expired.

A Colorado eviction is a forcible entry and detainer (FED) action — the summary court process a landlord uses to recover possession of a rental. The document that starts the case is the complaint, and Colorado files it on the official Colorado Judicial Department JDF 99 form in the county court for the county where the property is located. This page does not generate that court form. It generates a worksheet that gathers, in one place, every fact the JDF 99 complaint asks for: the parties, the property described with reasonable certainty, the tenancy, the notice that was served and when it expired, the grounds for eviction, the money claimed, and the relief sought. With those facts organized, filling in the official form — and answering the clerk’s questions — becomes far less error-prone.

The worksheet matters because a Colorado eviction is predicate-driven: it cannot be filed until the correct pre-suit notice has been served and has fully expired. Getting the notice type, the day count, and the service method right is what keeps the case alive, and this worksheet forces you to record each of those before you file. The guide below walks through the process the worksheet supports, section by section, with the governing statute for each step.

A Colorado eviction moves in a fixed sequence, and skipping or rushing a step is what defeats most filings. First, the landlord must have a lawful ground to end the tenancy — typically nonpayment of rent, a curable lease violation, a substantial violation, or expiration of a properly terminated periodic tenancy. Second, the landlord serves the pre-suit notice that matches the ground: a Demand for Compliance or Possession giving the residential tenant at least ten days to pay or cure, or a shorter Notice to Quit for a substantial violation. The tenant either cures within the period (which ends the matter) or does not.

Only after the notice period has fully expired may the landlord file the FED complaint in the county court under C.R.S. § 13-40-110. The court issues a summons setting an appearance date not less than seven nor more than fourteen days out, and the summons and complaint are served on the tenant. On the return date the tenant may appear and answer; if the tenant does not appear, the landlord may seek a judgment for possession after the close of business that day, and if the tenant contests, the court sets the matter for trial. A landlord who wins gets a judgment for possession and, if the tenant still does not leave, a writ of restitution the sheriff executes. At no point may a landlord use a self-help lockout — Colorado requires the court process from notice to writ. This worksheet organizes the facts you need at the complaint stage, but each step has its own statutory deadline, so calendar them carefully.

No Colorado eviction complaint can be filed until the tenant has been served a valid pre-suit notice and it has expired. For a residential tenancy, C.R.S. § 13-40-104(1)(d) requires that ten days’ written notice be served before the tenant is guilty of unlawful detention for holding over after a default in rent — and the same ten-day period applies to a curable lease violation under § 13-40-104(1)(e). Colorado increased this residential notice to ten days in recent legislation; earlier versions of the statute used shorter periods, so relying on an outdated three-day figure for a residential case is a classic way to get dismissed. Nonresidential and employer-provided-housing agreements still use three days, and certain exempt residential agreements use five, but the ordinary residential case is ten days.

The notice for a curable default is styled a Demand for Compliance or Possession: it demands that the tenant either fix the problem (pay the rent, cure the violation) or surrender possession within the ten days. If the ground is a substantial violation — conduct that endangers people or property, or a serious criminal or controlled-substance offense — C.R.S. § 13-40-107.5 allows a three-day Notice to Quit with no right to cure, because those grounds are non-curable by design. The termination of an ordinary periodic tenancy without cause runs on the notice periods in C.R.S. § 13-40-107 (for a month-to-month tenancy of one month or more but less than six months, that is twenty-one days). Whichever notice applies, it must name the tenant, describe the premises, state the ground, give the correct number of days, and be served correctly — and the landlord must wait for it to expire before filing. Record the notice type, the service date, and the expiration date on the worksheet so the complaint recites them accurately. Detailed rules for each notice live in the Colorado eviction notice laws guide.

The complaint must set out the grounds for recovering possession and describe the property with reasonable certainty. Under C.R.S. § 13-40-110, the complaint identifies the person in possession, describes the premises, states the facts that make the detention unlawful, and includes a prayer for recovery of possession. It may also state the amount of rent due and the rate at which it is accruing, and add prayers for damages and costs. The complaint must be verified, and Colorado now requires a signed affidavit addressing whether mandatory pre-filing mediation applied — mediation is required in certain cases where the tenant receives specified government benefits and the landlord is not a small or nonprofit landlord.

Colorado’s common grounds break down cleanly. Nonpayment of rent is the most frequent: the complaint states the rent due, that the ten-day demand was served and expired without payment, and that the tenant remains in possession. A curable lease violation follows the same ten-day path but recites the specific breach. A substantial violation under § 13-40-107.5 uses the three-day notice and states the endangering or criminal conduct; the landlord must prove that ground by a preponderance of the evidence. And a holdover after a terminated periodic tenancy recites the § 13-40-107 notice and its expiration. The worksheet’s grounds and relief fields are where you draft this narrative in plain facts, then transfer it to the JDF 99. Keep the grounds tied to the notice you actually served: a complaint that pleads a ground the notice did not cover is vulnerable to dismissal.

The FED complaint is filed in the county court for the county where the property is located, under C.R.S. § 13-40-110. County courts handle the great majority of Colorado residential evictions; the amount of unpaid rent and damages claimed generally keeps these cases within county-court jurisdiction, though larger monetary claims can implicate district court. The landlord (or the landlord’s attorney or authorized agent) files the verified complaint on the JDF 99 form, pays the filing fee, and the clerk assigns a case number and issues the summons.

Colorado uses a family of official JDF forms for the process — the JDF 99 Complaint in Forcible Entry and Detainer, the JDF 98 Summons in Forcible Entry and Detainer, plus companion forms for the answer and the writ of restitution. Those forms are the ones the court actually accepts; this worksheet exists to help you populate them without missing a required field. Because form numbers, fees, and local e-filing rules change, confirm the current JDF forms on the Colorado Judicial Branch website (or with the clerk) before filing. Record the county court name and any assigned case number on the worksheet so every downstream form is consistent.

After the complaint is filed and the summons issues, the tenant must be served under C.R.S. § 13-40-112. The preferred method is personal service — delivering a copy of the summons and complaint to the defendant as in any civil action. If personal service cannot be accomplished despite diligent effort, the process server may post a copy conspicuously on the premises, and the plaintiff must then mail a copy by first-class mail, postage prepaid, no later than the next business day. Service must be completed at least seven days before the appearance date, and the method and timing must be endorsed on the summons.

The summons itself is governed by C.R.S. § 13-40-111. It commands the tenant to appear at the county court on a date not less than seven nor more than fourteen days from the day the summons is issued, and it must include a blank answer form and notices about the tenant’s rights. A court may not enter a default judgment for possession before the close of business on the appearance date, which gives the tenant the full statutory window to respond. Service and timing are where many otherwise-sound cases fail, so calendar the seven-day service cushion and the appearance date the moment the summons issues, and file the return of service promptly.

Most Colorado evictions that fail do so on predicate and procedure, not on the merits. The recurring errors are avoidable:

• Filing before the notice expires. The ten-day demand (or the applicable period) must fully run before you file; filing on day nine invites dismissal (C.R.S. § 13-40-104).
• Miscounting the notice days. Count carefully and give the tenant the full statutory period — a short or miscounted notice is a defective predicate and defeats the case.
• Using the wrong notice for the ground. A three-day Notice to Quit is for substantial violations only (§ 13-40-107.5); a routine nonpayment case needs the ten-day demand, not a three-day notice.
• Improper service of the notice or the summons. Posting without the required mailing, or serving fewer than seven days before the appearance date, breaks service (C.R.S. § 13-40-112).
• Filing in the wrong court. The complaint belongs in the county court where the property sits (§ 13-40-110); the wrong venue delays or dooms the filing.
• Describing the premises vaguely. The complaint must describe the property with reasonable certainty and plead the grounds it actually relies on.
• Using a self-help lockout. Changing the locks or removing belongings instead of using the court process exposes the landlord to liability — Colorado prohibits self-help eviction.

• Confirm the ground and match the notice to it — ten-day demand for nonpayment or a curable violation, three-day Notice to Quit only for a substantial violation.
• Let the notice fully expire before filing and keep the served notice with dated proof of service.
• Describe the premises with reasonable certainty and plead only grounds your notice actually covered.
• File in the county court where the property sits and use the current official JDF 99 form, not this worksheet.
• Calendar the seven-day service cushion and the 7–14 day appearance date the moment the summons issues.
• Screen tenants before you sign a lease — verify credit, rental history, and prior eviction filings to avoid the dispute entirely.
• Have counsel review a contested or high-value case, and never resort to a self-help lockout.

Once the worksheet is complete, treat it as your source of truth for the official filing. Open the current JDF 99 Complaint in Forcible Entry and Detainer and copy each organized fact across — parties, premises, tenancy, notice type and dates, grounds, amounts, and relief — then verify the complaint and attach what your court requires (commonly the lease and the served notice with proof of service). File it in the county court where the property sits, pay the filing fee, and let the clerk issue the summons on the JDF 98 form.

From there, arrange service under C.R.S. § 13-40-112, file the return of service, and appear on the return date the summons sets 7 to 14 days out. If the tenant does not appear, ask for judgment for possession after the close of business that day; if the tenant contests, be ready to prove your grounds and the validity of your notice. A judgment for possession that the tenant ignores is enforced by a writ of restitution executed by the sheriff — never by a lockout. If you are a tenant who has been served, you can prepare a response with the companion Colorado rental forms and the eviction-notice guide, and you should consider the court’s self-help resources or an attorney promptly, because the appearance window is short. Because the process is technical and the deadlines are unforgiving, keep every dated document together and confirm the current forms and rules before you file.

Published by Tenant Screening Background Check

Established 2004 · 20+ Years · All U.S. States & Territories · Statute-Based · Attorney-Reviewed

A Private Eye Reports™ service trusted by landlords, property managers, and attorneys.