How to Start an Appeal

Begin your appeal of your small claims or county civil case with the county court where your small claims or county civil case was started. Use the courts locator to find a court in your area.

The person appealing their case, called the Appellant, must give the appeal paperwork to the county court within 14 calendar days of the magistrate or judge making a decision or entering a judgment on the small claims or county civil case.

Forms and Paperwork Required

Download and fill out the Small Claims or County Civil Appeal forms using the forms link above. For more detailed instructions, consult JDF 126 Instructions to File a Small Claims or County Civil Appeal.

Paperwork Tips

Tips for completing Form 4 Notice of Appeal and Form 5 Designation of Record on Appeal:

• Each person in the appeal of the case should be listed on the forms in the same role that they had in the original case.  For example, if you were the Defendant in the original case, you are also the Defendant on the Notice of Appeal form and the Designation of Record on Appeal form.
• Follow the prompts on the forms to fill in the blanks on the Notice form and the Designation form. Use your original case number for now.
• If you are appealing the case, you are the Appellant and will be signing the forms as the Appellant.
• The Notice form tells the court and the other person(s) involved in the case that you are filing an appeal. Make sure you fill in the Certificate of Mailing on the Notice, telling the court when you will mail a copy of the Notice to the other person(s) involved in the original case, or their attorney.
• The Designation of Record form tells the clerk which paperwork and records from your original case should go to the judge looking at your appeal.
• Make 2 copies of each of these forms, one for the county court and one for the district court. Each copy should have your original signature. Make a copy of these forms for the other person(s) involved in the case, or their attorney, and send them to the other person(s) by mail.

Tips for completing JDF 4 Transcript Request Information and Form:

• Check with the court where you will be turning in your paperwork to see if a different Transcript Request form or process should be used.
• Fill in the blanks on the Transcript Request form, including the original case number and the person(s) involved in the case. Write on the form the date(s) of hearing(s) that you would like to be transcribed and provided to the court.
• After you submit the form to the court, a transcriber (the person who creates the typed record of the hearings) will contact you. Make sure your contact information on the form is correct. The transcriber will tell you how much it will cost to create the transcript. You must pay for the transcript or make arrangements to pay for the transcript before the transcriber will start working on it.

How to Submit Paperwork to the Court

1. Decide where (which courthouse) to deliver your paperwork. Your appeal case belongs in the county court in the county where your original case was started. Use the courts locator to find the correct county court.
2. Give the county court the completed forms.
3. Pay the filing fee, including the appeal bond.
   • If you do not think you can afford the filing fee, fill out form JDF 205 Motion to File Without Payment and Supporting Financial Affidavit and JDF 206 Finding and Order Concerning Payment of Fees to request a waiver of the filing fee, or visit our File Without Payment section for complete information.
   • Pay the appeal bond with cash or certified funds. The appeal bond is usually set by the judge that heard your original case. The bond may be the amount of the judgment in a money case, the amount due in an eviction case, or another amount set by the judge.
4. Give a copy of the Notice of Appeal and Designation of Record, with original signatures, to the district court in that county. The district court is often in the same location as the county court. Ask a clerk for directions if you can't find the district court. Give a copy of the Notice of Appeal and Designation of Record to the district court within 35 days after filing the original Notice of Appeal with the county court.
5. Mail a copy of the Notice of Appeal and Designation of Record to the other person(s) involved in the case, or their attorney.

Once you file the Notice of Appeal and pay the Appeal Bond, your case will be stayed (paused), and the Court will recall any active Writs (C.R.C.C.P. 411[a]).

After Paperwork Is Filed

Court Record

The small claims or county court will have 42 days after the filing of the Notice of Appeal to prepare the record from the original case. This process involves pulling together the paperwork from the case and the transcript. These are the records that will be provided to the district court so that the judge may review the small claims or county court case decision and/or judgment.

The court will send a Notice to you once preparation of the record is complete. You will have 14 days to file any objection(s) about the record that was prepared by the court.

If no objections to the record are given to the court, the record will be certified. The record will be given to the clerk of the district court, and the court will send a Notice to everyone in the case.

How to File an Objection to the Court Record

If you don't like how the court record was prepared--for example, you don't want some paperwork included, or you think paperwork was left out--you may want to file an Objection with the court.

Forms and Paperwork Required

Download and fill out JDF 76 General Motion.

Paperwork Tips

Tips for completing JDF 76 General Motion:

• If you were the Plaintiff in the original case, you are also the Plaintiff when filling out this form. If you were the Defendant/Respondent in the original case, you are also the Defendant/Respondent when filling out this form.
• Follow the prompts on the form to fill in the blanks.
• Title the form as an "Objection" instead of a "MOTION TO", since you are telling the court that you object to the prepared record. This form is often used when there is no specific form for what you are asking.

How to Submit Paperwork to the Court

1. Decide where (which courthouse) to deliver your paperwork. Your Objection should be filed in the county court where the original case was started. Use the courts locator to find the correct court.
2. Give the court the completed form.
3. Pay the filing fee, if required. You may be asked to pay a filing fee when you begin to file paperwork into the appeal case. If you do not think you can afford the filing fee, fill out form JDF 205 Motion to File Without Payment and Supporting Financial Affidavit and JDF 206 Finding and Order Concerning Payment of Fees to request a waiver of the filing fee, or visit our File Without Payment section for complete information.
4. Mail a copy of the Objection to the other person in the case, or their attorney.
   • Complete JDF 1313 Certificate of Service, telling the court how you provided a copy of the completed form to the other person in the case, or their attorney.
   • Give the completed JDF 1313 to the court.
5. The court will contact you about a court hearing. The court hearing will be about your objection to the court record and any response to your objection that the other person in the case may give to the court. The other person should mail a copy of their response to you, if any.

About Briefs

Once the district court receives the record from the county court, you will have 21 days to give a written Opening Brief to the court. The Brief tells the higher court exactly what you want reviewed in your appeal and the legal mistakes you believe the judge in the lower court made, including any arguments and law that support what you say.

How to Write an Opening Brief

1. Write an Opening Brief.
   • You may want to visit your local library or a law library to look at examples of Opening Briefs for small claims or county civil appeals.
   • An Opening Brief form is not available. You may want to look at JDF 76 General Motion to make sure that you have a caption, are using the correct font type, and are using the correct font size on the Opening Brief that you create. C.R.C.P. 10 (Colorado Rules of Civil Procedure) includes the format requirements for Briefs.
2. Decide where (which courthouse) to deliver your Opening Brief. Your appeal case is in the district court in the county where the original case was started. Use the courts locator to find the correct court.
3. Give the court the completed Opening Brief.
4. Mail a copy of the Opening Brief to the other person in the case, or their attorney.
   • Complete JDF 1313 Certificate of Service, telling the court how you provided a copy of the Opening Brief to the other person in the case, or their attorney.
   • Give the completed JDF 1313 to the court.

What Happens Next?

The other person in the case, called the Appellee, may file an Answer Brief within 21 days after you mail or give them a copy of your written Opening Brief.

Once all of the deadlines have passed for giving paperwork to the court, such as Briefs, Answer Briefs, etc., the district court judge will look at the case file and transcript. No new hearing will be held. The district court judge will create a written ruling or order.

You and the Appellee will receive a copy of the ruling or order. Unless a party requests further review by the Supreme Court, the judgment on appeal will be sent to the county court for action as directed by the district court judge. The court will release/disburse the appeal bond based on the ruling of the district court.