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Eight Veterans Courts, and a Sealing Rule That Outlives the Case
Veterans treatment courts sit in eight judicial districts. The El Paso and Teller court takes veterans whatever their discharge status. On a later petition to seal the record, a court must weigh successful completion of a veterans programme in the veteran’s favour.
Verified August 23, 2026
What this benefit is
Veterans treatment courts sit in eight judicial districts. The El Paso and Teller court takes veterans whatever their discharge status. On a later petition to seal the record, a court must weigh successful completion of a veterans programme in the veteran’s favour.
What it's worth: Treatment instead of incarceration in eight districts, plus a favourable factor at sealing
- The problem-solving court unit’s own location list names a veterans docket in the 1st (Jefferson and Gilpin), 2nd (Denver), 4th (El Paso and Teller), 8th (Larimer and Jackson), 10th (Pueblo), 17th (Adams and Broomfield), 18th (Arapahoe) and 23rd (Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln) judicial districts.
- The 18th and 23rd districts run two tracks — a Veterans Treatment Court for high-risk, high-need participants and a Veterans Support Court alongside it.
- The 4th Judicial District court, which began in December 2009 and was the first in the state, states in terms that it takes veterans regardless of discharge status, because veterans without VA health-care eligibility still need help.
- The 4th Judicial District court is a post-plea programme: a person who intends to contest the charge is told not to seek entry.
- The enabling act of 2018 requires a court, at first appearance or before accepting a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, to ascertain whether the defendant is serving or has served, and to inform them they may be entitled to mental health treatment, substance use disorder treatment or other services as a veteran.
- That act also requires a court deciding whether to seal the criminal records of someone who has successfully completed a veterans treatment programme to consider that completion as a favourable factor.
- The chief judge of a district MAY establish a programme; it is not mandatory, which is why some districts have none.
- Each veterans court carries a volunteer mentor programme with a lead peer mentor coordinator in the district.
Who is entitled to it
- You served, which is the gate here.
- Your home is in this state.
Not sure whether that describes you?
Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.
How to claim it
Deadline: Before the plea, in a post-plea district- 1Raise military service at the first appearance. The court is required to ask, and the answer opens the door to a referral it will not make on its own if the question is dodged.
- 2Ask which district the case sits in and whether that district runs a veterans docket. Eight of them do; the rest do not, and a chief judge is permitted rather than obliged to set one up.
- 3Do not assume a discharge that is not honorable closes the door. The El Paso and Teller court says the opposite in writing, and the reasoning it gives applies to a veteran with no VA health-care eligibility.
- 4Understand the plea posture before entering. The 4th Judicial District programme is post-plea, so it is for a person taking accountability, not contesting the charge.
- 5Ask the coordinator to put in writing that completion will be recorded as successful — that record is what a later sealing petition is weighed against.
- 6Ask to be paired with a peer mentor. Every district with a veterans docket has a lead peer mentor coordinator, and the mentor is not a counsellor or a lawyer.
- File with
- The veterans court coordinator in the judicial district where the case sits
- Documents you will need
- dd214
- No renewal
- Once granted it does not need renewing.
CorrectionRound-ups that describe a single statewide veterans court are wrong twice over. There are eight, run by different districts under different names — Veterans Trauma Court in one, Veterans Court in another, a two-track Veterans Treatment Court and Veterans Support Court in two more — and a veteran living outside those districts has none.
CorrectionThe assumption that a bad paper discharge bars a veterans court does not hold here. The oldest court in the state publishes the opposite rule and explains why.
Worth knowingThe section text of C.R.S. 13-5-144 was not read this session; the operative language above comes from the General Assembly’s own page for the enacted 2018 act and from the judicial branch’s programme pages. The sealing provision sits in the record-sealing statute rather than in section 13-5-144, and that section number is carried as a research candidate.
Sources
- authority · published policyColorado General Assembly — HB18-1078, Court Programs For Veterans (enacted)
- operating · published policyJudicial Branch — 4th Judicial District Veterans Trauma Court
- operating · published policyCriminal Justice Programs Unit — problem-solving court locations by district
- operating · published policyCriminal Justice Programs Unit — Veterans Court Mentor Program
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