How to Collect Child Support Arrears in Colorado: Support Judgments

This article is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. GoFile is not a law firm. Using our platform or reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal advice for your specific situation, consult a licensed Colorado attorney.

You have a court order. The other parent has stopped honoring it, the unpaid months are stacking up, and you want something with actual teeth — not another polite reminder. That frustration is legitimate, and Colorado law gives you a concrete mechanism: converting the arrears into a money judgment, with interest, that can attach to the other parent’s property.

One note before the process: this is informational content about how Colorado’s enforcement system works. GoFile does not prepare enforcement documents — our platform covers modifications, not collections. The forms discussed here are free from the Colorado Judicial Branch, whose JDF 1800 instructions walk through each option.

What a “Support Judgment” Actually Is

Under C.R.S. § 14-10-122(1)(c), each child support installment becomes a final money judgment the moment it comes due and goes unpaid. The debt already exists as a matter of law. What the Verified Entry of Support Judgment — form JDF 1813 — does is reduce that accumulated debt to a single documented judgment the court certifies, which is what makes the later collection tools work.

The form is signed under oath, and it asks for three things: what the court ordered, what wasn’t paid, and what is now owed including interest. Payment records go with it as supporting documentation. If payments ran through the Family Support Registry, the registry’s payment history is the natural attachment; if payments were direct, bank records and a payment ledger serve the same role.

Filing it is a mail-and-wait process rather than a hearing: file JDF 1813 with the court that issued the support order, mail a copy to the other party, and the court enters judgment.

Interest on Child Support Arrears — and Where to Check the Current Rate

Colorado charges meaningful interest on support arrears, and the rate depends on when the arrears accrued. As of this writing (July 2026), under C.R.S. § 14-14-106, arrears that came due before July 1, 2021 accrue interest at 12% per year, which may be compounded monthly. Arrears due on or after July 1, 2021 accrue at 10% per year, which may be compounded annually. Maintenance arrears accrue at 8% per year under the general statutory rate.

Treat those figures as current, not permanent. The legislature has adjusted the rates before — the 12%-to-10% drop took effect July 1, 2021, which is why older arrears spanning that date accrue under both regimes in sequence. For debts going back years, the difference between rates and compounding schedules is real money. Before stating a total on JDF 1813, check the current text of C.R.S. § 14-14-106 — the Colorado General Assembly publishes the statutes free at leg.colorado.gov — and work from the most recent revision of the JDF 1800 instructions on the Judicial Branch’s enforcement page, not an older packet or a third-party form site. A county child support services (CSS) unit, if involved, can also produce an arrears balance with interest already calculated.

To make it concrete: a parent owed $650/month who has missed ten payments in 2025–2026 holds $6,500 in principal, accruing at 10% annually until paid. Interest keeps running until the debt is satisfied — the judgment doesn’t freeze it.

Two counterweights the statute builds in. The judgment creditor can choose to waive interest and isn’t required to keep interest-balance accounts. And under C.R.S. § 14-14-106(2), the parent who owes the money can ask the court to reduce or disallow the calculated interest for good cause — the court weighs why the support went unpaid and whether paying the interest would work a substantial injustice on either side.

The Process, Step by Step

Per the court’s JDF 1800 instructions, the sequence runs:

1. Complete JDF 1813 under oath — ordered amounts, unpaid amounts, total owed with interest.
2. Attach current payment records documenting the arrears.
3. File with the court that entered the support order.
4. Mail a copy to the other party.
5. The court enters judgment. You then request a transcript of judgment — a $25 fee.
6. Record the transcript with the County Clerk and Recorder in any county where the other parent lives or is believed to own real property.

That last step is where the lien power comes from. Recording the transcript places a lien on the other parent’s real property in the judgment amount. Property under a recorded lien can’t be sold cleanly — the debt has to be dealt with in the transaction. District court money judgments in Colorado remain enforceable for 20 years, so the lien isn’t a short-term instrument. When the debt is finally paid, the collecting parent files JDF 111 (Satisfaction of Judgment) to close it out.

The Two Things Nobody Mentions Up Front

First, the recording step is per-county, and it’s easy to miss entirely.

Nothing about filing JDF 1813 in, say, Jefferson County District Court puts a lien on anything. The transcript has to be physically recorded with the Clerk and Recorder in each county where the other parent might own property — a house in Arapahoe County and a cabin in Grand County means two separate recordings, each with its own recorder’s fee. One recording does not cover the state, and the court won’t do this part for you.

Second — and this is the hard truth about every collection tool — a judgment is not money. It’s the legal right to collect money. If the other parent owns no real property, holds no attachable assets, and has income that’s already garnished or unreachable, the judgment sits there accruing interest without producing a dollar. Locating assets, choosing among collection routes, and deciding whether enforcement is worth pursuing are exactly the questions where a licensed Colorado attorney or your county child support services unit earns their keep.

It’s also worth remembering the flip side of arrears law: the underlying order stays fully enforceable until a court changes it. A parent whose income dropped doesn’t stop accruing arrears by paying less — the debt builds at the ordered amount until a modification is filed, which is why arrears cases and job-loss modification cases so often turn out to be the same family’s story from two sides.

How This Fits Among Colorado’s Enforcement Options

The support judgment is Option 3 of five in the court’s JDF 1800 enforcement instructions. The others include income assignment (routing support directly out of wages), garnishment under the JDF 82 procedures, contempt proceedings (a quasi-criminal process with its own service and hearing requirements — we cover it separately), and court-ordered transfer of title. They aren’t mutually exclusive; a recorded judgment lien can sit in the background while wage withholding runs in the foreground.

Costs stay modest by court-system standards: no filing fee is listed for the JDF 1813 itself, the transcript of judgment runs $25, and county recording fees vary. For contrast, the cost structure of modification filings — $105 per motion plus e-filing fees — is covered in our cost breakdown.

Common Questions About Support Arrears

Does interest accrue automatically, or do I have to request it?

The interest accrues by statute, but collecting it is the judgment creditor’s option — JDF 1813 is where you state the total including interest. Colorado case law holds that courts must include properly calculated interest in the judgment, though the good-cause provision at C.R.S. § 14-14-106(2) gives the obligor a path to ask for a reduction.

Can arrears be erased or negotiated away?

Retroactive forgiveness of accrued child support arrears is generally not available — modifications reach back only to their filing date, not to when circumstances changed. The interest component, as opposed to the principal, is the piece the statute allows courts to adjust for good cause.

What if the other parent lives in Colorado but owns property somewhere else in the state?

The JDF 1800 instructions describe recording the transcript in every county where the other parent lives or is believed to own real property. The lien reaches only property in counties where the transcript has actually been recorded.

Is there a deadline to act on old arrears?

Support installments become judgments as they come due, and district court judgments are generally enforceable for 20 years and can be revived. Interest, meanwhile, compounds the whole time — which cuts both ways depending on which side of the ledger you’re on.

Sources worth bookmarking. The forms and instructions referenced here — JDF 1800 (instructions), JDF 1813 (Verified Entry of Support Judgment), and JDF 111 (Satisfaction of Judgment) — are on the Colorado Judicial Branch’s enforcement page, with the judgment-collection walkthrough at coloradojudicial.gov’s collecting-a-judgment guide. The interest statute is C.R.S. § 14-14-106; the judgment provision is C.R.S. § 14-10-122(1)(c).