Private Investigators in Colorado, From the Front Range to the Western Slope

01How we cover the state

How Delator Group Assigns Private Investigators in Colorado

Delator Group is a private investigation and process serving firm headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, and it keeps no office in Colorado. We assign vetted, insured investigators to Colorado matters and supervise every file through one chain of command led by people with military and federal law-enforcement backgrounds. The leadership that reviews our Tennessee reports reviews the Colorado ones too, so the standard for evidence, billing and communication does not change when a case crosses the Mississippi.

Colorado had an estimated 6,012,561 residents in 2025, and most of them live along the Front Range between Pueblo and Fort Collins. That is where most files begin, usually through our Denver investigator assignments or the Colorado Springs investigation page. The rest of the state matters just as much. Ranch disputes in Yuma County, resort-town claims in Summit County and family cases in the San Luis Valley get the same written scope and the same reporting format.

The people who hire private investigators in Colorado through Delator are mostly attorneys, insurers, employers and individuals who need facts that hold up in front of a judge, an arbitrator or a claims examiner. Some matters reach north into Cheyenne or Laramie, and those continue under our Wyoming investigation coverage without a second intake. Every engagement starts with a confidential call with Delator leadership about what the work can and cannot establish.

• No Colorado office claimed; investigators assigned by county
• A single chain of command from first call to report
• Written scope and price before any field work
• Reports formatted for Colorado courts and claims files

02Logistics

Front Range, Mountains and Western Slope: Three Different Field Plans

Interstate 25 carries most Colorado casework. It runs about 299 miles from Raton Pass to the Wyoming line through Trinidad, Walsenburg, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Castle Rock, Denver, Broomfield, Loveland and Fort Collins. Surveillance and witness work along that corridor is mostly a matter of traffic, parking and timing. A subject who lives in Thornton and works in Centennial can be followed lawfully in one shift, and our Fort Collins investigators cover the northern end near Colorado State University.

West of Denver the picture changes. Interstate 70 climbs to the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel, which sits at 11,158 feet at its west portal, the highest point on the Interstate Highway System. Colorado's traction and chain laws are in force on the I-70 corridor from September 1 through May 31, and a closure at Vail Pass or in Glenwood Canyon can cost a day. We plan mountain shifts with that in mind and tell clients before weather affects a scheduled observation, including work for the Summit County process server page and its resort towns.

The Western Slope and the southwest corner sit several hours by road from Denver, so files there are scoped as separate trips rather than add-ons. Grand Junction, the largest Western Slope city, anchors Mesa County work through our Grand Junction investigation coverage, and southwest matters near the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute reservations run through the Durango investigator page. On the Eastern Plains, distances are long but roads are open, so the quote turns on mileage more than weather.

03Legal limits and vetting

Colorado's PI License Ended in 2020. Vetting Now Falls to You.

Colorado made private investigator licensing mandatory on June 1, 2015, under the Private Investigator Practices Act. The program had a sunset date, and in 2020 the legislature passed HB20-1207 to continue it. Governor Polis vetoed that bill on July 11, 2020, and regulation was set to repeal on September 1, 2020. The state's licensing rules were repealed effective January 14, 2022. A 2025 bill to license private security officers was postponed indefinitely and never covered investigators. Our guide on how to vet an investigator without a state license walks through the practical checks.

Many websites still describe Level I and Level II Colorado licenses, a bond requirement and a state licensing office. That information is out of date. Colorado no longer licenses private investigators at the state level, so vetting falls to you. Delator Group is a licensed Tennessee private investigation firm and holds itself to Tennessee's standard in every state where it works, and we confirm any local business-license requirement before field work starts.

The absence of a license does not mean the absence of rules. Colorado is a one-party consent state for recording, and wiretapping and eavesdropping on conversations you are not part of are class 2 misdemeanors under C.R.S. §§ 18-9-303 and 18-9-304. Stalking under C.R.S. § 18-3-602 includes repeatedly placing a person under surveillance in a way that causes serious emotional distress, and trespass law applies to every investigator. Our page on what an investigator may lawfully do in Colorado covers these limits in more detail.

• Ask for the firm's home-state license and proof of insurance
• Ask for a written scope, estimate and reporting format
• Ask how the firm handles recording and tracking limits
• Ask who supervises the investigator and signs the report

04Attorneys and courts

Litigation Support Across Colorado's 23 Judicial Districts

Colorado now has 23 judicial districts. The 23rd, made up of Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties, began on January 14, 2025, and the 18th is now Arapahoe County alone. Most counties house the district court and county court together in a combined court. County courts hear civil cases up to $25,000 and run the small claims division, which handles disputes up to $7,500. We build witness lists, retrieve records and prepare trial exhibits for counsel in any of those courts, and the attorney services page for Colorado explains how we report to a firm.

Denver works differently from the rest of the state. The City and County of Denver has four separate courts: County, District, Probate and Juvenile. Civil and domestic matters in Denver District Court sit at the City and County Building on Bannock Street, while criminal cases go to the Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse on West Colfax Avenue. Defense teams that need scene work, witness interviews or timeline analysis can reach us through our criminal defense investigations in Colorado.

Federal cases go to the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, with its clerk's office at the Alfred A. Arraj Courthouse in Denver and court locations in Colorado Springs, Grand Junction and Durango. Appeals go to the Tenth Circuit, which also sits in Denver. Before a deposition or trial, we often research the people on the other side through Colorado witness background checks, and jury consultants use our jury pool research within the limits the court sets.

05Families

Divorce, Parenting Time and Relationship Questions

Colorado is a no-fault divorce state, so an affair rarely changes the grounds. It can still matter. Colorado courts allocate parental responsibilities by the child's best interests, with paramount consideration to the child's safety, and they weigh how each parent supports the child's relationship with the other. Documented conduct around the children, a new partner's history or spending of marital money can all bear on those questions. Our Colorado married infidelity investigations focus on facts a family law attorney can actually use.

Timing is part of the work. A Colorado divorce decree cannot enter until 91 days after the court acquires jurisdiction over the respondent, which usually runs from service rather than filing. Once the petition is filed and served, an automatic temporary injunction generally bars either spouse from hiding marital property or removing the children from Colorado without consent or an order. That makes careful service and early asset research important, and our guide to finding hidden assets in a Colorado divorce explains where to look.

Not every relationship question involves a marriage. Couples who share a lease, a business or a child sometimes need verified facts before they make a decision, and people meeting someone new online want to know whether the story they were told is true. We handle both through background research on a new partner, using lawful records and public-place observation only. Our investigators never attach a tracking device to a car the client has no lawful right to, and never record conversations they are not part of.

06Employers and insurers

Insurance, Workers' Compensation and Business Investigations

Colorado law expects insurers to take fraud seriously. Under C.R.S. § 10-1-128, insurers must keep an anti-fraud plan that includes hiring or contracting for fraud investigators and must report suspected fraud to authorities. Workers' compensation fraud is a class 6 felony under C.R.S. § 8-43-402, and a claimant who commits it forfeits the right to benefits. Adjusters and defense counsel use our Colorado workers' comp surveillance to document activity in public view, with dated photographs and a neutral log.

Colorado's economy gives every region its own mix of cases. Weld County's oil and gas fields bring equipment theft and contractor disputes, the ski counties generate seasonal-worker and premises claims, and the Front Range technology, defense and health care employers need internal inquiries handled quietly. Employers with a theft, harassment or conflict-of-interest problem start with our corporate investigations in Colorado, which end in a report counsel can rely on.

Businesses also hire us before problems start. A lender, buyer or investor weighing a Colorado partner can order a $300 due diligence report or a fuller M&A due diligence review that adds litigation history, liens and reputational issues. We use lawful, permissible-purpose data sources, we follow federal privacy law and the Colorado Privacy Act where it applies, and we tell you at the outset which questions records can answer and which need field work.

07Serving papers and finding people

Process Serving and Locates Through Delator Field Services

Delator Field Services, our process serving division, coordinates service in all 64 counties. Under C.R.C.P. 4(d), generally any person 18 or older who is not a party may serve process in Colorado, and no process server license is required. Serves outside Tennessee may be carried out by vetted servers Delator contracts with, working under our documentation standard: logged, time-stamped attempts and a signed affidavit of service on the state's JDF 98 form or the form the court requires. The Colorado process serving hub covers abode service, workplace service and evictions.

Service deadlines in Colorado are short. C.R.C.P. 4(m) generally requires service within 63 days after the complaint is filed, and the defendant then has 21 days to answer, or 35 days if served outside Colorado or by publication. When an address has gone stale, our skip tracing in Colorado starts with a $102 database search and moves to field confirmation only if the file needs it. A detailed attempt log also supports a motion for substituted service under C.R.C.P. 4(f).

Pricing for serves is published by county. Routine service starts at $125 in the larger metro counties and rises with distance and population, and the final price is always confirmed in writing first. You can compare all 64 counties on the Colorado process server rate map before you send anything, and mountain or plains serves that need extra travel are quoted that way up front rather than billed afterward.

All 64 counties

Colorado coverage by county and judicial district

Colorado has one district court and one county court in each of its 64 counties, grouped into 23 judicial districts. The table shows the district for every county, the Delator investigation pages that cover it, and the published Routine starting rate for process serving there. Denver and Broomfield are consolidated city-counties, and Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties have formed the new 23rd Judicial District since January 14, 2025. Routine serves start at $125 in the Denver metro, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Greeley, Pueblo, Grand Junction and Durango areas and reach $255 in Sedgwick County on the Nebraska line. Urgent, Rush and Same Day Rush cost 1.5, 2 and 3 times Routine, and the price is confirmed in writing before any attempt. Every level for every county appears on the Colorado county rate finder.

Services

Investigative Services Available in Colorado

• Surveillance investigationsLawful mobile and static surveillance for parenting-time, relationship and claim matters, planned around Front Range traffic and mountain weather, with dated photographs.Learn more
• Criminal defense investigationsWitness interviews, scene work and timeline analysis for defense counsel in county, district and federal court, with case minimums starting at $750.Learn more
• Attorney and litigation supportWitness location, statements, records retrieval and background research for Colorado civil cases, carrying a $1,000 minimum and reports written for court.Learn more
• Corporate investigationsInternal inquiries into theft, fraud, harassment and conflicts of interest for Colorado employers in energy, technology, health care, tourism and construction.Learn more
• Insurance investigationsActivity checks, surveillance and witness canvasses on workers' compensation, liability and property claims, from Denver suburbs to resort towns and ranch country.Learn more
• Skip tracing and locatesRemote skip traces from $102 and field locates from $1,000 for defendants, witnesses, debtors and heirs who have moved within or out of Colorado.Learn more
• Specialized investigationsSixty-three narrowly defined service lines, from hotel surveillance and tenant screening to crypto scams and nursing home abuse, each tied to Colorado law.Learn more
• Asset investigationsPublic-record research into real property, business interests, vehicles and judgments for marital property division, collections and litigation strategy, from a $1,000 minimum.Learn more
• Process servingDelator Field Services coordinates personal, abode, workplace and registered agent service in all 64 counties, with logged attempts and a signed affidavit.Learn more

How it works

How a Colorado Engagement Works

1. 01

   Confidential intake

   Tell us the county, the people involved and the question you need answered. Delator leadership tells you plainly whether an investigation is likely to help before you spend anything.

2. 02

   Written scope and price

   We set the objectives, the methods, the expected hours and any travel to the Western Slope or mountain counties, and you approve the total in writing first.

3. 03

   Assigned field work

   A vetted investigator near the work carries out the approved plan within Colorado's recording, stalking and trespass limits, and leadership reviews progress as it happens.

4. 04

   Court-ready report

   You receive a dated, factual report with photographs, sources and a timeline, organized so an attorney can attach it to a filing or a claims file.

Compare

Matching Common Colorado Problems to a Service

Statewide coverage

Where Colorado Casework Concentrates

Most Colorado files start in the Denver metro, where Aurora alone spans Arapahoe, Adams and Douglas counties, so we confirm the county and venue for every address. Suburban matters often run through our Aurora investigation page or our investigators serving Lakewood in Jefferson County. North of the metro, growth in Weld County keeps the Greeley investigation coverage busy, and Douglas County cases go to the Castle Rock investigator page. Southern Colorado work reaches from Pueblo to Trinidad, and the Western Slope is scoped trip by trip.

• Denver
• Colorado Springs
• Aurora
• Fort Collins
• Grand Junction
• Durango
• All of Colorado

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Every service

Investigations available in Colorado

Every service below is available in Colorado and across Colorado, run by the same Delator Group leadership that manages our Tennessee casework. Choose a service to read how it works in Colorado.

Service areas

Private investigators across Colorado