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Colorado

UCC filings: Moderate Land records: Moderate

Statute lets clerks and the SoS reject 'spurious' documents, but UCC office practice still treats filing as ministerial What the badges mean

Last verified: July 27, 2026 — confirm current text on the official site; this date is not a promise the law is unchanged.

General information, not legal advice. Confirm current fees, forms, and deadlines on official government sites, and talk to an attorney about your situation. LienGuardAI does not file anything for you. See Legal Disclaimer & Terms of Use.
Relevant case law: After the IRS assessed a taxpayer more than a million dollars and assigned a revenue officer to collect, the taxpayer filed a notarized “Notice of Equity Interest and Claim” with the Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder claiming an interest in the officer’s home of more than $1 million. A jury convicted him of filing a false lien against a federal employee. The Tenth Circuit affirmed, rejecting the argument that labeling the paper a mere “claim” or “notice” kept it outside the false-lien statute when the wording and title evidence showed it clouded the officer’s property. Verified. (United States v. Hoodenpyle, No. 10-1457 (10th Cir. Feb. 7, 2012) (unpublished order and judgment; not binding precedent).) Earlier, a taxpayer claiming to be a “sovereign” immune from federal tax recorded three “commercial lien” packages in Larimer County against IRS agents collecting his overdue liabilities. The District of Colorado declared the filings null and void and permanently enjoined further nonconsensual liens against tax-enforcement employees. Verified. (United States v. Thomas, 819 F. Supp. 927 (D. Colo. 1993).)

This is a plain-language summary of a published judicial opinion, not a complete report of the case. Confirm names, holdings, and procedural posture against the opinion itself.

UCC financing statements

Check if one exists

Search Colorado's UCC records

Free basic search. Colorado Secretary of State UCC Standard Search; free, login optional. Official FAQ: website searches/copies are free.

Refusal / removal authority

Colo. Rev. Stat. §38-35-202 expressly lets the Secretary of State (and county clerks) accept or reject a document they reasonably believe in good faith may be a spurious lien or spurious document. In current UCC practice, however, the SoS's own FAQs and UCC filing-office rules say the office files when required information is present and points disputers to an information statement and court show-cause — so treat the statutory power as real but soft in day-to-day UCC operations.

Citations CO §38-35-201 CO Practice caveat — SoS UCC FA…
Full citations
  • Colo. Rev. Stat. §38-35-201–204
  • Practice caveat — SoS UCC FAQs / 8 CCR 1505-7

Statutory path: good-faith belief a filing is spurious → accept or reject under §38-35-202, with immunity for that choice. In practice the office points disputers to a records search, a UCC information statement, and a district-court petition under §38-35-204.

If it's already filed: §4-9-518 information statement; §4-9-625; judicial show-cause and fee-shifting under §38-35-204.

Real-property liens

County clerks and recorders may accept or reject a document they reasonably believe in good faith may be a spurious lien or spurious document under the same §38-35-201–204 scheme — this is statutory clerk-may-reject authority, not merely practice.

Citations CO §38-35-201
Full citations
  • Colo. Rev. Stat. §38-35-201–204

Clerk may reject at recording; after recording, an affected owner can petition for a show-cause order declaring the document invalid under §38-35-204.

If it's already recorded: Court order releasing the spurious document plus costs and attorney's fees.

Real-property records are held by the county clerk and recorder where the property sits.

Get notified before it happens

A free "property fraud alert" service is available in at least part of Colorado — it emails or mails you whenever a document gets recorded against your name, so you find out right away instead of months later. Sign up for Denver Fraud Sleuth →

No statewide mandate. Boulder, Douglas, and several southern-Colorado counties run comparable but separate systems.

If the path runs through court

Colorado doesn't have a self-filed administrative form for this — the verified remedy runs through a court, which generally means an attorney rather than a fill-in-the-blank document.

Show-Cause Petition to Declare a Spurious Document Invalid

Colorado's spurious-document statute (§38-35-201–204) lets the Secretary of State or a county clerk reject a document on a good-faith belief it's spurious, but in day-to-day practice — especially for UCC filings — the office tends to point disputers toward a court show-cause petition rather than refusing at the counter. Either way, once something is on file, §38-35-204 lets an affected person petition the district court for an order declaring it invalid, with costs and attorney's fees available if you win.

This generally requires an attorney. This is a district court petition, and Colorado's own UCC filing-office practice explicitly steers people toward it rather than a same-day administrative fix — the office's FAQs and rules describe searching the record and filing an information statement as the practical first steps, with the show-cause petition as the real teeth.
Citation CO §38-35-204

People consulting an attorney about a filing like this often bring:

  • A copy of the filing, if available, and where and when it was filed or recorded (office, date, and document or instrument number)
  • Any notices, letters, or other correspondence about it
  • Records for the property or account it names, such as a deed, title, or loan papers
  • Notes on any contact with the filer or the filing office, with dates
  • This page's citations and their check dates

How this usually works in Colorado

A summary of the tools Colorado law and filing offices provide — general information, not instructions for your facts. Confirm current practice with the filing office and talk to an attorney about your situation.

  1. 1Colorado's free UCC search is linked on this page; county clerks and recorders hold real-property records.
  2. 2§38-35-202 addresses spurious liens and documents; in practice, the UCC office has tended to point people to an information statement rather than refuse a filing the same day.
  3. 3§38-35-204 provides a court show-cause petition for an order declaring a spurious lien or document invalid.
  4. 4A UCC information statement puts a dispute on the public record, including while a court petition is pending.

What to expect

Colorado's spurious-document statute is real; UCC desk practice is more ministerial than the statute's text alone suggests, so contested cases often end up in a court show-cause proceeding. Confirm the current fee on the state's official site — filing and search fees change and are not published here.

Sources: the LienGuardAI fifty-state survey and UCC search portal review (How we verify). No dollar fee amounts are published here — always confirm the current fee on the state's own site.