Garfield County, CO Courts and Public Records

The Garfield County District Court and County Court are the trial courts for Garfield County in Colorado's 9th Judicial District. They hear felonies, civil, domestic relations, juvenile, mental health, probate, misdemeanor, traffic, infraction, and small claims cases.

Have the full name, the case number if you know it, and approximate dates ready before you search.

The Garfield County District and County Courts reported 7,017 combined filings and 6,975 terminations in FY 2024 (fiscal year ends June 30). Filings are new cases, and terminations are cases closed, which are not convictions.

The largest change in FY 2024 was in District civil filings, which moved by +446 filings (+88.5%) compared with FY 2023.

Combined District and County Court filings and terminations for Garfield County, FY 2021 through FY 2024. Figures marked with ~ are estimates based on the other years shown for this county.

Combined filings rose from 7,063 in FY 2021 to 7,017 in FY 2024, a change of -0.7% across the four reported years. The source does not report FY 2020, so a five-year series is not available. The largest annual change was in FY2024 at +13.3%, and the FY 2024 change was driven mainly by District Court civil filings (+446) and County Court civil filings (+283).

Civil cases in the County Court are the largest category in Garfield County, with 1,380 filings or 28.2% of County Court filings in FY 2024.

The fastest-growing category was Civil in the District Court (+88.5%), and the fastest-falling was Probate in the District Court (-11.0%).

Garfield County accounted for 0.4% of the 1,715,971 combined District and County Court filings statewide in FY 2024. Its filings per 1,000 residents were 111.1, compared with 288.0 statewide.

Garfield County's combined filings changed +13.3% in FY 2024, compared with +9.9% statewide. Its filings per resident are below the state rate, and the case mix differs in the share rows above.

These figures are Colorado statewide totals as reported to the FBI, not counts for Garfield County. Agency reporting may be incomplete, and county crime counts are not available here. Statewide violent and property crimes combined fell 14.6% from 2024 to 2025. In 2025, reporting agencies covered about 99.1% of Colorado's population, so year-over-year changes can partly reflect which agencies reported.

Rates use the Colorado 2025 population of 6,012,561. County-level rates are not published, so this section does not compare Garfield County with the state.

Garfield County has 2 official court locations in the Colorado Judicial Branch directory. Check your notice or ticket for the assigned courthouse before you go.

Colorado uses one unified state court system, so Garfield County cases are split between District Court and County Court by case type, and some matters are handled outside the court.

Yes, most Garfield County court records are public under Colorado's public access rule, Chief Justice Directive 05-01, with exceptions for sealed and restricted records.

Public records

Most case records in the District Court and County Court are open, including dockets and filings, unless a rule or court order restricts them.

Restricted or confidential records

Sealed records are available only to judges, court staff, and authorized department staff, or to outside parties with a court order. Juvenile delinquency, mental health, guardianship, and truancy cases are not public unless a court orders otherwise.

Online access

No statewide public case search is on the Judicial Branch website. Commercial vendors, including LexisNexis Colorado Courts Record Search and Background Information Services, cover civil, small claims, domestic, felony, misdemeanor, and traffic cases for a fee, but show a register of actions only, not documents, and are not the official court record.

In-person access

Visit the Garfield County Courthouse at 109 8th St., Suite 104, Glenwood Springs, CO 81601, or the Rifle associate court at 200 E. 18th St., Suite 103, Rifle, CO 81650, to view or request records.

Fees

The court's record request form lists $0.25 per page for copies, $20 for certified copies, and $5 for a name search. Fees vary by court and form, and research and redaction are listed at $30 per hour.

Use the official access guide to find which search services cover each case type in Garfield County, and ask the court for documents that are not online.

1. Identify the case type, such as criminal, traffic, civil, small claims, domestic, probate, or juvenile.
2. Open the access guide on coloradojudicial.gov to find the public search options for that case type.
3. Search by name or case number on a listed vendor site, which charges fees.
4. Review the register of actions for case status and parties.
5. Request documents through the online records request form, or contact the court location handling the case.

Garfield County court fees, fines, and restitution can be paid online through the Colorado Judicial Payment System.

1. Online: Pay fees, fines, and restitution through the Colorado Judicial Payment System on the Garfield County collections page. Choose Garfield County and enter the case or ticket number, or your name.

Parking tickets are handled by the agency that issued the ticket, not by the court's Traffic Division.