Garfield County Civil Docket Searches
Want to confirm a hearing? Begin with the Garfield-filtered Judicial Branch Docket Search. Pick your date range, location, and whatever case details you know. A case number beats a party name here. Names shift with spacing, hyphens, suffixes, and word order, so a typo hides the match. Check the case code and the location together, too, since results can list both Garfield County and Garfield County-Rifle.
That free result is just a setting card. When you need the full civil chronology, file the Record/Document Request Form, choose Garfield, and ask for the Register of Action. Specific civil records are available through the same form. These include an Order for Judgment, Transcript of Judgment, Satisfaction of Judgment, and Protection Order.
- Identify CV, C, S, DR, PR, or CW from the case number and caption.
- Search the live docket by case number and a useful date range.
- Match the hearing type, location, courtroom, time, and appearance field.
- Request the ROA when the filing sequence or outcome matters.
- Ask for the precise complaint, order, judgment, or satisfaction rather than an undefined whole file.
Garfield Civil Codes Split Tracks
In a Garfield County civil docket, the case code routes you to the right track. A YYYYCV##### number usually sits in District Court under general civil jurisdiction. The letter C means a County Court civil case. S means small claims. DR and DR-style codes like PR mark domestic-relations and probate tracks. Those tracks carry their own access limits. CW flags a water case, not an ordinary CV suit, so read it accordingly.
| Code | Track | Practical search point |
|---|---|---|
| CV | District Court general civil | Combined Courts calendar and clerk |
| C | County Court civil | Combined Courts at Glenwood or Rifle |
| S | Small claims | County Court record and calendar |
| DR or PR | Domestic relations or probate | Expect document-level limits and possible ID |
| CW | Division 5 Water Court | Specialized regional water docket |
Private civil lawsuits do not land in municipal court. Those courts keep records of city ordinance violations and municipal citations instead. The elected Garfield County Clerk and Recorder does not hold state civil case files either.
Civil Dockets: What They Show
A Garfield County civil Register of Action runs events in date order. It can list the case header, caption, and counsel. The rest of the entry may cover the complaint or petition, service entries, answers, motions, minute orders, hearing notices, judgment, enforcement, satisfaction, appeal, and closure where public. The calendar sample told far less. It showed a CV number, a party row, "Jury Trial," a date and time, a one-day estimate, Garfield County, Courtroom C, and "IN PERSON."
| Case header | Case number, court, case type, and status. |
|---|---|
| Caption | Plaintiff and defendant or petitioner and respondent roles. |
| Filing sequence | Complaint, petition, answer, motions, notices, minute orders, and rulings. |
| Settings | Date, time, hearing type, location, courtroom, and appearance method when populated. |
| Outcome | Judgment, dismissal, settlement-related closure, satisfaction, appeal, or enforcement entries. |
The calendar leaves out the substance of each case. No claim, amount, service status, attorney names, motion history, judgment, balance, or document images appear on it, so the ROA remains the record that matters.
Garfield Jury Settings Aren’t Judgments
A Jury Trial card on the Garfield County civil docket is only a setting. It shows a date on the calendar, nothing more. The case might settle first. It could reset to a later term, be dismissed, actually reach trial, or close by some other order. The same caution goes for a Return Date on Summons and for a small-claims Court Trial entry. Before you call any of these an outcome, read the newest minute order. Then check the judgment entry on file.
Quick check: A setting answers when court is planned. The Order for Judgment and ROA answer what the court did.
A saved export can go stale, too. When an old printout clashes with a recent notice, pull up the current calendar and call the Combined Courts clerk at 970-928-3065. The signed notice or order, plus the division's instructions, always controls.
What Cases Fill the Civil Docket
Civil court dockets in Garfield County hold several kinds of work. District Court takes general civil cases. It also takes domestic relations, probate, juvenile, appeals, and assigned water matters. County Court handles the smaller side. That means limited civil claims and small claims under current statutes and rules. Those money limits shift over time, so the current Colorado Title 13 source beats any hard-coded threshold.
- General civil complaints in the CV track.
- County civil money-demand matters in the C track.
- Small claims using the S code and simplified procedure.
- Domestic-relations matters in DR files.
- Probate matters in PR files, sometimes with protected content.
- Division 5 water applications and rulings in the CW track.
Captions on a Garfield County court docket tell you who is who. The plaintiff sues the defendant, while petitioner and respondent labels show up in probate, domestic, protection-order, and similar special proceedings.
Garfield Civil Judges Can Change
One local order explains why case numbers beat judge names for a Garfield civil docket search. Ninth Judicial District Administrative Order 2024-03, effective November 6, 2024, split new Garfield CV assignments among several judicial officers by set percentages. The order also flagged possible follow-up reassignments. Those could hit cases already in the system. So a new judge on a later entry means nothing dramatic. The case number stays the same, and the court docket continues under it.
Fee and payment questions tied to civil filings? The official Ninth Judicial District collections and payments page lays out how the district handles money owed to the court.
That payments page covers the district as a whole. Specific balances, judgments, and satisfaction entries live in the individual Garfield County civil file itself.
If your judge changes, keep the same case number. Read the newest reassignment and setting orders, then verify the courtroom on the live docket shortly before your hearing.
Hearings on the Civil Docket
Civil settings on a Garfield County docket vary widely. You might see return dates, status conferences, motion hearings, court trials, jury trials, protection-order hearings, or other case-management events. A return date is not automatically a trial. A status conference is just a checkpoint. The time estimate helps with scheduling. It says nothing about the legal weight of the hearing.
- Notice of setting
- The filed notice stating the planned date, time, place, and sometimes appearance method.
- Continuance or reset
- An order moving an event to a later setting.
- Minute order
- The concise court record of what happened or was ordered.
- Judgment
- The court’s enforceable civil determination.
- Satisfaction
- A record showing the judgment obligation was satisfied.
Check the Appearance Type field on the Garfield County civil docket entry. It may read IN PERSON, read TELEPHONE, or sit blank. A blank field or an outdated WebEx instruction grants nothing, so weigh every detail against the newest notice the court issued for that hearing.
Garfield Civil Judgment Documents
The statewide form splits civil judgment products, and each one serves a different purpose. An Order for Judgment is the order the court actually enters. A Transcript of Judgment, by contrast, is a certified judgment record. It is meant for statutory recording or enforcement. Without a waiver, it runs $25. A Satisfaction of Judgment shows the obligation has been met. A Certificate of Satisfaction currently costs $20. Need a certified or exemplified copy? Budget $20 per document, plus any copying charges.
| Requested item | What it establishes | Listed fee |
|---|---|---|
| Plain copy | Text of a public filed document | $0.25 per page |
| Transcript of Judgment | Certified judgment record for statutory use | $25 |
| Certificate of Satisfaction | Certified proof of satisfaction | $20 |
| Certified or exemplified copy | Clerk-authenticated document | $20 per document plus copying |
| Name or case search | Local clerk search | $5 |
Request just the paper you need. Pulling a whole Garfield County civil file can pile on page, retrieval, review, and redaction costs that a single document avoids, and fee-waiver statutes may help in qualifying situations.
Garfield Water Dockets Stand Apart
Garfield County sits in Water Division 5, which covers the Colorado River basin. A CW case number means a specialized District Court water-right proceeding. It is not an ordinary Garfield County CV lawsuit. Applications, rulings, and docket context all move through the water-court channel. Judicial administration can overlap with the wider district. The county follows the river corridor. Water rights are a real part of local court work. Keep that CW code intact when you ask the clerk for an ROA or a document. Recasting the matter as a CV case can send your request down the wrong path. Older water and civil files may sit off-site. The record form allows the actual retrieval cost for archived files. Call the clerk before you travel. Ask where the file is held. Ask which identifying details will narrow the pull.
Who Can See Civil Dockets
Chief Justice Directive 05-01 governs Judicial Branch access to Garfield County civil court dockets. It also governs their documents. The Colorado Open Records Act covers many state and local agency records. Court case files answer to Judicial Branch policy instead. Expect to show government photo identification on the request form for suppressed, juvenile, probate, confidential, or protected material. Even a public case can hold a restricted exhibit.
Access is document-specific: Public material is broadly available; protected material may require redaction; restricted, suppressed, and sealed records have narrower audiences under law and order.
Domestic relations and probate deserve extra care. Some pleadings or identifiers are not available remotely. A blank result may simply mean no hearing falls in the week you chose. That does not mean the case is sealed. File an ROA request, name the case and the document, and let the clerk apply the current rules. You can email the Garfield local search form to GCGWSCourt@judicial.state.co.us. For state access in person, use the clerk at 109 8th Street, Suite 104, Glenwood Springs. The Rifle associate location at 200 East 18th Street, Suite 103, also works. The Garfield docket search process gives a focused comparison of the calendar and request channels.