Domestic Violence Laws in Colorado: Charges, Penalties, and Firearms

Domestic violence laws in Colorado work differently than in most states: there is no standalone “domestic violence” charge. Instead, the label attaches to an underlying offense like assault, harassment, or criminal mischief when the target is an intimate partner, and that label forces a set of mandatory consequences the judge cannot waive. Police must arrest on probable cause. The defendant cannot post bond until a judge issues a no-contact order in person. A conviction requires evaluation and treatment, carries a lifetime federal firearm ban, and stays on the record in almost every case.

What Counts as Domestic Violence

The statutory definition is broader than physical violence between spouses. Colorado defines domestic violence as any act or threat of violence against a current or former intimate partner, and also any crime against a person, property, or animal committed to coerce, control, punish, intimidate, or take revenge on that partner.¹ Smashing a phone, slashing tires, or killing a pet can carry the designation if the intent was to control the other person.

An intimate relationship covers current and former spouses, current and former unmarried couples, and people who share a child, whether or not they ever lived together or married.¹ There is no time limit. A relationship that ended years ago still qualifies.

Electronic conduct is included. Colorado’s harassment statute reaches threats and intimidating messages sent by phone, text, email, or social media, and when the target is an intimate partner the harassment picks up the domestic violence label.² Repeated calls, threatening texts, and anonymous account harassment all fit.

Mandatory Arrest at the Scene

Colorado is a mandatory arrest state. Once an officer finds probable cause that a crime involving domestic violence has occurred, the officer must arrest the suspect without unnecessary delay.³ No warning, no cooling-off period, and no option for the reporting party to call it off. Whether the alleged victim wants to press charges is irrelevant to the arrest decision.

When both people claim to be victims, officers do not arrest both. The statute directs them to identify a predominant aggressor by weighing prior domestic violence history, the severity of each person’s injuries, the future likelihood of injury to each party, and whether either was acting in self-defense.³ A history of prior calls to the same address weighs heavily even when both parties show injuries.

Bond and the Mandatory Protection Order

A domestic violence arrest cannot be resolved at the jail. State law requires the defendant to appear before a judge and be advised of a mandatory protection order before any release on bond.⁴ Many counties run next-business-day advisement dockets, so the wait is usually short, but it is unavoidable.

Scheduled bond for misdemeanor domestic violence offenses runs from $2,000 to $3,000 depending on the class, with an added $1,000 for each prior arrest. Class 4 and class 5 felonies are set at $6,000.⁴ Judges can raise the amount based on the circumstances, and bond conditions in these cases almost always include no contact with the alleged victim and a firearm prohibition.

The criminal protection order the judge issues at that first appearance takes effect the moment the defendant is informed and stays in place until the case fully resolves: dismissal, acquittal, or completion of the entire sentence including probation or parole.⁵ It typically bars all contact, direct or through third parties, and often forbids returning to a shared home even when the defendant is the owner or sole leaseholder.

Violating the order is a class 1 misdemeanor carrying up to 364 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.⁶ A single “I’m sorry” text can trigger a new arrest and new charges.

Penalties and Mandatory Treatment

Because domestic violence is a sentencing enhancer rather than a charge, penalties start with whatever the underlying offense would normally carry. What the label adds is a fixed set of court-ordered conditions the judge cannot skip.

Any conviction carrying the designation requires a domestic violence evaluation and whatever treatment that evaluation recommends, delivered by a provider approved by the state’s Domestic Violence Offender Management Board.⁷ The evaluation runs $150 to $350, and weekly group treatment sessions cost $25 to $50 each.⁸ Treatment length depends on assessed risk level, so lower-risk offenders may finish in months while higher-risk offenders continue for well over a year.

Probation conditions often add random drug testing at roughly $24 per test, mental health evaluations, anger management, and parenting classes. The defendant pays for all of it, and total probation costs routinely reach thousands of dollars before attorney fees.⁸

Habitual Domestic Violence Offender

Repeat history changes the math sharply. When a person has three or more prior convictions that included a domestic violence finding, any new misdemeanor offense with the domestic violence label automatically becomes a class 5 felony.⁷ Priors from other states, federal court, and municipal court all count.

A class 5 felony carries a presumptive prison sentence of one to three years plus two years of mandatory parole.⁹ The underlying conduct can be minor. Low-level harassment that would otherwise draw a fine can send someone to prison because of who they are, not what they did that day.

Firearm Surrender

A domestic violence conviction ends firearm rights. Federal law permanently prohibits anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence from possessing firearms or ammunition, a lifetime ban known as the Lautenberg Amendment.¹⁰¹¹ Colorado adds a state-level ban that runs at least until the sentence is fully served, but the federal ban continues after the state restriction ends.

The surrender clock is fast. A defendant present in court when the order issues has 24 hours to relinquish all firearms and ammunition. A defendant not present has 48 hours, excluding weekends and holidays.¹² Firearms may be handed to a law enforcement agency that will accept them, sold to a federally licensed dealer, or transferred to a private party who can legally possess them.

Within seven business days the defendant must file a sworn affidavit with the court listing every firearm and round of ammunition they possessed, or confirming they had none.¹³ Missing the deadline can produce an arrest warrant. For anyone whose work depends on carrying a firearm, the practical result is the end of that career.

Child Custody and Parenting Time

Domestic violence findings reshape a custody case. Colorado requires courts to give paramount weight to the child’s physical, mental, and emotional condition when allocating parenting time and decision-making.¹⁴

When domestic violence is raised, the court can restrict parenting time on a finding that unsupervised contact would endanger the child’s health or significantly impair emotional development, with specific factual findings documented on the record.¹⁴ The practical outcome is often supervised visitation. Shared decision-making can also be limited or denied unless there is credible evidence the parents can cooperate safely. Restrictions can be modified later, but the initial limits often last years and require solid proof of changed circumstances.

Record Sealing

Colorado excludes domestic violence convictions from standard record sealing.¹⁵ A misdemeanor with the domestic violence label does not become sealable after a waiting period the way many other misdemeanors do.

A narrow path exists. A misdemeanor domestic violence conviction may be sealed if the district attorney consents, or if the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the petitioner’s need for sealing is significant and substantial, enough time has passed that the person is no longer a threat to public safety, and public disclosure is no longer required.¹⁵ Most petitioners will not clear that bar. For jobs, apartments, and professional licensing, a domestic violence conviction should be treated as permanent.

Protections If You Are the Victim

A victim can seek a civil protection order on their own regardless of what happens on the criminal side, and no police report or charges are required.¹⁶ Filing fees are waived for victims of domestic violence, domestic abuse, stalking, and sexual assault.¹⁷ If the judge finds imminent danger, a temporary order issues the same day, and the restrained person must be personally served before a hearing on a permanent order.

Employees of businesses with 50 or more workers can take up to three days of leave in any 12-month period to seek a protection order, get medical or mental health care, secure their home, find new housing, or attend related legal proceedings, after 12 months of employment.¹⁸ Available paid leave must be used first unless the employer waives that.

On housing, a victim can break a residential lease and avoid the remaining rent by giving written notice and one of three proofs: a police report from within the previous 60 days, a valid protection order, or a written statement from a medical professional. The tenant owes one month’s rent, due within 90 days of vacating. Landlords cannot evict a tenant for being a victim of domestic violence, and any lease clause attempting to allow that is void.¹⁹

1
Justia. Colorado Code 18-6-800.3 – Definitions
2
FindLaw. Colorado Code 18-9-111 – Harassment, Kiana Arellanos Law
3
FindLaw. Colorado Code 18-6-803.6 – Duties of Peace Officers and Prosecuting Agencies, Preservation of Evidence
4
Colorado Judicial Branch. 2025-03 Amended Bond Schedule
5
FindLaw. Colorado Code 18-1-1001 – Protection Order Against Defendant, Definitions
6
FindLaw. Colorado Code 18-6-803.5 – Violation of Protection Order
7
Justia. Colorado Code 18-6-801 – Domestic Violence, Sentencing
8
Colorado Judicial Branch. Domestic Violence Probation
9
FindLaw. Colorado Code 18-1.3-401 – Felonies Classified, Presumptive Penalties
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
11
U.S. Marshals Service. Lautenberg Amendment
12
Colorado Judicial Branch. JDF 691 – Proper Way to Relinquish a Firearm
13
Colorado Judicial Branch. JDF 440 – Mandatory Protection Order
14
FindLaw. Colorado Code 14-10-124 – Best Interests of the Child
15
Colorado Judicial Branch. Sealing Criminal Records – April 2025
16
Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Procedure for Temporary Civil Protection Order, CRS 13-14-104.5
17
Colorado Judicial Branch. Getting a Protection Order
18
FindLaw. Colorado Code 24-34-402.7 – Employment Provisions Relating to Victims of Domestic Violence
19
Justia. Colorado Code 38-12-402 – Protection for Victims of Domestic Violence, Stalking, Sexual Assault, and Unlawful Sexual Behavior