Filing a Foreclosure

Law Firms

Click here for a list of Foreclosure Law Firms

Filing a Foreclosure 

Colorado Revised Statue 38-38-101 requires certain documents to be filed with the Public Trustee in order to initiate a foreclosure. Although the law is very specific concerning what must be submitted and should be carefully reviewed, in general, these documents include:

  • Cover letter
  • Notice of Election and Demand
  • Original Evidence of Debt, or a copy of the Note with certificate from the attorney for the Holder of the Evidence of Debt certifying, among other things, the holder is in possession of the evidence of debt, is the current beneficiary and is a qualified holder under the law or a Corporate Surety Bond in the amount of one and one-half times the face amount of the original Evidence of Debt.
  • Original Deed of Trust or certified copy, or copy with a certification letter
  • List of names and addresses of parties to receive notice in Word Document
  • Any recorded affidavit used to modify the Deed of Trust
  • Statement identifying the current owner
  • Notice of Foreclosure Deferment Eligibility, if applicable (see C.R.S. 38-38-802)
  • A deposit of the Combined Notice to be sent to the persons/entities on the mailing list. However, the Routt County Public Trustee’s office has chosen to produce this document.
  • A deposit of $1000.00 - or the amount of the fee permitted pursuant to 38-37-104(1)(b)(I), whichever is greater - is required


All filings submitted by an attorney or pro se will be proofread for completeness and accuracy in accordance with the referenced statutes.

When the filing is complete and accurate:

•The Notice of Election and Demand (NED) will be recorded within ten (10) business days

•The submitter will receive a notice when the filing has been accepted

•Electronically recorded documents that are required to be returned will be sent via email

•If an error is found, the entire file will be rejected for corrections to be made. When the file is complete and accurate, the NED will be recorded ten (10) business days from the receipt of the corrected filing

The owner now has at least 110 calendar days to cure or reconcile with the bank. For agricultural property, the time is at least 215 days. Shortly thereafter, the Public Trustee mails a Combined Notice of Foreclosure stating the schedule sale date which is sent to all persons/entities on the mailing list.  


In the event that we need to return the original documents, we ask that you include instructions with your initial packet and one of the following:

•A self-addressed, stamped envelope of sufficient size for documents

•A prepaid label for shipment (FedEx, UPS, etc.)

•Please advise if you prefer to have the documents returned by courier. Provide the proper procedures

Acceptable Methods for Filing

Government Technology Systems
Email Submission
Paper Submission   

Electronic Filings Through Government Technology Systems, LLC. (GTS)

For more information about this system, contact Will Gosnell at 303-875-2301. Filings must meet all the statutory requirements of 38-38-101 (1) - (10). The following requirements are added to the statutory requirements:

•Memo of Understanding to establish an ACH account for payment of fees. Please contact our office for instructions

•Adherence to our naming conventions (PDF)

•Scanned documents must be complete with regard to the number of pages. Each page must be complete and legible

•Social Security Numbers or other sensitive information related to the borrower must be redacted

•Mailing lists must match the names uploaded in the system. The public trustee is no longer required to be on the mailing list

•Mailing lists must have an address listed for occupant and lessee CRS 38-38-100.3 (14) (d)

•A legal description longer than four lines must be submitted as an Exhibit A in Word file format and as a separate document in Tiff format

•A separate document stating the name and address of the current owner of the property. If we can't verify the address from the Deed of Trust, please don't add it to the NED

•All documents must be submitted in TIF file format except for any exhibits which must be submitted in MS Word file format

TIF Image Requirements

•Scanned black and white

•Scanned at 200 dpi

•Scanned in portrait model

•Images captured as multi-page TIFS

•Group IV TIF compression

Note: The Combined Notice for mailing and publication will be created with our software unless you add language that is not in our database. If our software doesn’t support fields for the added language, you will need to provide a Combined Notice in Word format. Examples of fields not included in our software are loan modifications and recording in different counties. The Combined Notice is in Word format so the information can be added as it appears on the NED. Our software generates the Certificate of Purchase and Confirmation Deed. That information will not appear, so it must be included as a reference in the legal description field.


Email Submission

Filings must meet all the statutory requirements of 38-38-101 (1) - (10). The following are added to the statutory requirements:

  • If a payment method has not been established for payment of fees, please contact our office for instructions
  • Adherence to our naming conventions (PDF)
  • Scanned documents must be complete with regard to the number of pages. Each page needs to be complete and legible
  • Social Security Numbers and other sensitive information related to the borrower must be redacted
  • The public trustee is no longer required to be on the mailing list
  • Mailing lists must have an address listed for occupant and lessee CRS 38-38-100.3 (14) (d)
  • A legal description longer than four lines must be submitted as Exhibit A in Word file format and scanned as a separate document
  • A separate document stating the name and address of the current owner. If we can not verify the address from the Deed of Trust, please do not add it to the NED
  • All documents must be submitted in TIF file format except for the mailing lists and any exhibits must be in .doc format
  • Submissions sent via email
  • Identify this as a new foreclosure filing in the subject line of the email including the borrower's name and your file number; example: NEW FC (borrow's name) (attorney file number)
  • Include the current rate of interest in your email or add it to your DATADOC
  • A DATADOC is document submitted in Word from which we can copy and paste into our database