Colorado Address Confidentiality Program (ACP)

Start to finish: your path to a protected address

Written the way you'd actually walk it. Every link below goes straight to the official state program — confirmed live July 2026.

• 1 · Safety first — before anything else. If someone may monitor your phone or computer, use a safer device (a library computer, a trusted friend's phone). This page has a Quick Exit button at the top. If you're in immediate danger, call 911. For safety planning right now, our Safety & Victim Resources hub lists 24/7 hotlines and every DA victim advocate in Colorado.
• 2 · Check that you qualify. The ACP covers people who have been victims of domestic violence, a sexual offense (including sexual assault), human trafficking, or stalking or harassment, and protected reproductive health-care workers (including their employees, volunteers, patients, and immediate family members). You must have confidentially moved within the last 90 days or be planning a confidential move within Colorado. Everyone in your household can enroll with you. Helpful evidence: police reports, protection orders, a letter from an advocate, counselor, medical provider, or clergy. Official eligibility page ↗︎
• 3 · Protect the new address before it exists on paper. The program shields your new address — it can't erase one that's already public. So: don't put the new address on anything yet (leases where avoidable, deliveries, school forms, USPS mail forwarding). Enroll first, then hand out only the substitute address.
• 4 · Meet a certified Application Assistant — the only door in. You cannot apply to the state directly. Application Assistants are trained advocates at victim-services agencies across Colorado. Find one near you ↗︎ · servicios en español ↗︎ — or call the ACP at 303-866-2208 and they'll point you to one. Your local DA victim advocate can help too. Protected healthcare worker? Email acp@state.co.us directly — the ACP staff will walk you through options.
• 5 · Apply, together. You and the Assistant confirm the fit, complete the application, and every adult co-applicant signs (children enroll with a guardian's permission). The Assistant submits it. If you haven't heard back in two weeks, call the ACP. Bring our free prep worksheet to the meeting to save time.
• 6 · Receive your substitute address. Your household gets a Welcome Folder with your legal substitute address and authorization card. Your first-class mail — including certified mail and service of process — routes through the program to your real address, free. Enrollment lasts 4 years, and the ACP contacts you about renewal before it expires.
• 7 · Use it everywhere it counts. Every Colorado state and local agency must accept it: driver's license & state ID, confidential voter registration, your kids' school enrollment, county benefits, and court filings. Private companies (banks, landlords, utilities) are encouraged but not required — ask; most will. Key limits: it cannot go on recorded real-estate documents like a deed, in property-tax records, or on vehicle titles and registration. Program rules & statutes ↗︎
• 8 · Pair it with legal protection. The ACP hides where you are; a civil protection order restrains what they can do — and in a divorce or custody case, we can ask the court to seal or restrict your address in the file itself. That's where we come in.

Honest limitations

• The substitute address cannot be used on real-property documents recorded with a county Clerk and Recorder (e.g., a home deed), for property-tax records, or for vehicle titling and registration, and voter registration is handled through a separate confidential process.
• Private companies are not required to accept it.
• It does not forward junk mail or magazines.
• It protects your new address going forward — it can't erase an address that is already public. It is one part of a safety plan, not a substitute for a protection order.

Leaving your lease safely: Colorado's domestic-violence lease law

A new address only helps if you can actually get to it. Colorado law lets a tenant who is a victim of domestic violence or abuse, unlawful sexual behavior, or stalking end a lease early — without the early-termination penalties a lease would normally impose. A 2025 law (HB25-1168, effective May 22, 2025) made the door wider.

• Written notice plus one document. Tell the landlord in writing that you are terminating under the statute, and include one of: a police report from the last 120 days, a civil, emergency, or criminal protection order, a self-attestation affidavit (added in 2025 — no police involvement required), or a letter from a qualified third party you sought help from, such as a victim advocate, attorney, social worker, medical or mental-health provider, or faith leader.
• What you can owe: at most one month's rent. A landlord may charge no more than one month's rent after you leave — and only if they actually suffered economic loss from the early termination and document it to you within 30 days. No early-termination fees. You are also not liable for damage the abuser caused or that happened during an incident.
• Locks. You may change your locks (including electronic locks) or add other reasonable safety measures. Your landlord cannot stop you, charge a fee, or retaliate, and you should give the landlord a key or code within 14 days (unless the landlord is the person who harmed you).
• Timing with the ACP. Give notice to the old landlord, then enroll in the ACP before signing anywhere new — so the new lease, utilities, and mail carry your substitute address from day one, not your real one (see step 3 above).

Step-by-step letters, what to do when a landlord pushes back, and how to keep your deposit are in our full guide: Breaking a Lease After Domestic Violence — Colorado → This is general information about Colorado law, not advice about your lease; the specifics of your agreement and your situation matter.