Colorado § 13-14-101 - Definitions.

§ 13-14-101. Definitions.

For purposes of this article 14, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) "Abuse of the elderly or of an at-risk adult" means mistreatment of a person who is sixty years of age or older or who is an at-risk adult as defined in section 26-3.1-101 (1.5), including but not limited to repeated acts that:

(a) Constitute verbal threats or assaults;

(b) Constitute verbal harassment;

(c) Result in the inappropriate use or the threat of inappropriate use of medications;

(d) Result in the inappropriate use of physical or chemical restraints;

(e) Result in the misuse of power or authority granted to a person through a power of attorney or by a court in a guardianship or conservatorship proceeding that results in unreasonable confinement or restriction of liberty; or

(f) Constitute threats or acts of violence against, or the taking, transferring, concealing, harming, or disposing of, an animal owned, possessed, leased, kept, or held by the elderly or at-risk adult, which threats or acts are intended to coerce, control, punish, intimidate, or exact revenge upon the elderly or at-risk adult.

(1.5) "Adult" means a person eighteen years of age or older.

(1.6) "Coercion" means compelling a person by force, threat of force, or intimidation to engage in conduct from which the person has the right or privilege to abstain, or to abstain from conduct in which the person has the right or privilege to engage.

(1.7) "Contact" or "contacting" means any interaction or communication with another person, directly or indirectly through a third party, and electronic and digital forms of communication, including but not limited to interaction or communication through social media.

(2) "Domestic abuse" means an act, attempted act, or threatened act of violence, stalking, harassment, or coercion that is committed by a person against another person to whom the actor is currently or was formerly related or with whom the actor is living or has lived in the same domicile. "Domestic abuse" may also include an act, attempted act, or threatened act of violence against:

(a) The minor children of either of the parties; or

(b) An animal owned, possessed, leased, kept, or held by either of the parties or by a minor child of either of the parties, which threat, act, or attempted act is intended to coerce, control, punish, intimidate, or exact revenge upon either of the parties or a minor child of either of the parties.

(2.1) "Domestic violence", commonly known as "intimate partner violence", means a pattern of violent behavior or an act, attempted act, or threat of violence, stalking, harassment, or coercion that is committed by a person against another person with whom the actor is involved or has been involved in an intimate relationship. A sexual relationship may be an indicator of an intimate relationship but is never a necessary condition for finding an intimate relationship.

(2.2) "Minor child" means a person under eighteen years of age.

(2.3) "Protected person" means the person or persons identified in a protection order as the person or persons for whose benefit the protection order was issued.

(2.4) (a) "Protection order" means an order that prohibits the restrained person from contacting, harassing, injuring, intimidating, molesting, threatening, touching, stalking, or committing sexual violence through sexually assaulting or abusing a protected person or from entering or remaining on premises, or from coming within a specified distance of a protected person or premises, or from taking, transferring, concealing, harming, disposing of or threatening harm to an animal owned, possessed, leased, kept, or held by a protected person, or any other provision to protect the protected person from the risk or threat of physical harm or the threat of psychological or emotional harm that is issued by a court of this state or a municipal court and that is issued pursuant to:

(I) This article 14, section 18-1-1001, 19-2.5-607, or 19-4-111, or rule 365 of the Colorado rules of county court civil procedure;

(II) Sections 14-4-101 to 14-4-105, C.R.S., section 14-10-107, C.R.S., section 14-10-108, C.R.S., or section 19-3-316, C.R.S., as those sections existed prior to July 1, 2004;

(III) An order issued as part of the proceedings concerning a criminal municipal ordinance violation; or

(IV) Any other order of a court that prohibits a person from contacting, harassing, injuring, intimidating, molesting, threatening, touching, stalking, or sexually assaulting or abusing a person, or from entering or remaining on premises, or from coming within a specified distance of a protected person or premises, or from taking, transferring, concealing, harming, disposing of or threatening to harm an animal owned, possessed, leased, kept, or held by a person, or from entering or remaining on premises, or from coming within a specified distance of a protected person or premises.

(b) For purposes of this article only, "protection order" includes any order that amends, modifies, supplements, or supersedes the initial protection order. "Protection order" also includes any emergency protection order, as described in section 13-14-103, any restraining order entered prior to July 1, 2003, and any foreign protection order as defined in section 13-14-110.

(2.8) "Restrained person" means a person identified in a protection order as a person prohibited from doing a specified act or acts.

(2.9) "Sexual violence" means an unwanted or nonconsensual sexual behavior, act or attempted act, or threatened act, including, but not limited to, unlawful sexual behavior, as described in section 16-11.7-102 (3), by a person against another person, regardless of the relationship between the actor and the petitioner.

(3) "Stalking" means any act, attempted act, or threatened act of stalking as described in section 18-3-602, C.R.S.

Source: L. 99: Entire article added, p. 495, § 1, effective July 1. L. 2000: (3) amended, p. 1012, § 3, effective July 1. L. 2003: IP(1) amended and (2.3), (2.4), and (2.8) added, p. 995, § 1, effective July 1. L. 2004: (1.5) and (2.2) added and (2.4) amended, p. 544, § 1, effective July 1. L. 2010: (1)(e), (2), IP(2.4)(a), and (2.4)(a)(IV) amended and (1)(f) added, (SB 10-080), ch. 78, p. 264, § 1, effective July 1; (3) amended, (HB 10-1233), ch. 88, p. 295, § 3, effective August 11. L. 2013: (1.7) and (2.9) added and (2), IP(2.4)(a), (2.4)(a)(IV), (2.4)(b), and (3) amended, (HB 13-1259), ch. 218, p. 1002, § 6, effective July 1. L. 2020: IP and IP(1) amended, (HB 20-1302), ch. 265, p. 1274, § 7, effective September 14. L. 2021: (2.4)(a)(I) amended, (SB 21-059), ch. 136, p. 710, § 13, effective October 1. L. 2024: (1.6) and (2.1) added and IP(2), IP(2.4)(a), and (2.9) amended, (HB 24-1122), ch. 330, p. 2230, § 2, effective January 1, 2025.

ANNOTATION

Law reviews. For article, "Statutes Consolidate Civil Restraining Orders", see 28 Colo. Law. 39 (Oct. 1999). For article, "Crisis Intervention to Prevent Elder Abuse: Emergency Guardianships and Other Legal Procedures", see 33 Colo. Law. 91 (July 2004). For article, "Practical Solutions to Elder Financial Abuse and Fiduciary Theft", see 41 Colo. Law. 61 (Dec. 2012). For article, "Animal-Related Legal Disputes: Litigation, ADR, and Court Appointments", see 42 Colo. Law. 43 (Dec. 2013).