What Are Small Claims Cases?
A Small Claims case is a legal action filed in a county court to settle minor legal disputes among parties where the dollar amount involved is $8,000 or less, excluding costs, interest, and attorney fees. Because the Small Claims court is considered a “people’s court,” it is not necessary to have an attorney to file a claim.
Forms to file a small claim case are available at the County Civil Department at the Clerk’s Office and at the bottom of this page. Attorneys are not precluded from this court, but are not required.
Small Claims Case Process
The Statement of Claim form is available at the Clerk’s Office or on this website. If the form is signed outside of our office, it needs to be notarized. It can also be signed in the presence of a Deputy Clerk here at the Clerk’s Office.
The case is filed in the county where the incident occurred. If the case is filed in the wrong county, the Defendant may ask the court to change the venue to the proper county.
Determine Who You Are Suing
Many individuals, partnerships, and corporations do business under a fictitious name, such as:
- John Jones, dba Book World
- John Jones, Bill Smith, a partnership, dba Jones & Smith Plumbing
- ABC, Incorporated, a Florida corporation dba Snack Shop
If You Are Suing an Individual:
Obtain the proper name and street address of the individual. If the spouse will be included in the suit, obtain the proper name and street address of the spouse. First names must be used, and any alias names, if known.
If You Are Suing a Corporation:
You must know the correct name of the corporation and the state in which it is incorporated.
Obtain the name and address of an officer of the corporation: the president, vice-president, etc, or in the absence of any of these, the name and address of the business agent residing in this state, or the name of the resident agent transacting business for the corporation in this state. To find this information, you may write or call:
SECRETARY OF STATE OF FLORIDA ATTN: CORPORATION DIVISION TALLAHASSEE, FL 32304 (850) 488-9000 sunbiz.orgIf You Are Suing a Partnership:
Obtain the names and addresses of all the partners.
Determining the Venue
The law gives the person filing a lawsuit the right to sue in any of several places. If a lawsuit is filed in the wrong venue, the Court may direct that the case be transferred to the correct venue or may direct that the case be dismissed. A proper location or venue may be one of the following:
- Where the contract was entered into.
- If the suit is on an unsecured promissory note, where the note is signed, and the maker resides.
- If the suit is to recover property or to foreclose a lien, where the property is located.
- Where the event giving rise to the suit occurred.
- Where any one or more of the defendant(s) reside(s).
- Any location agreed to in a contract.
Also, in an action for money due, if there is no agreement as to where suit may be filed, proper venue lies in the county where payment is to be made.
If you have any attachments to prove your claim, you must provide the Court with one copy for the file and one copy to be served on each defendant.
You can have your summons served by the Sheriff, a process server, or by certified mail. Certified mail can only be served within the State of Florida.
When your case is filed, you will be given a pre-trial date. All parties will be required to attend. If your defendant is not served, your case will not go to court, and you will have to file a request for the Clerk to prepare a new summons for service.
If there is service on your defendant, your case will go to a Pre-Trial Conference. The Judge will call your case, and if the Plaintiff does not appear, the case will be dismissed. If the Defendant does not appear and the Plaintiff is present, a Default Judgment may be entered. If both parties are present, the Judge will order the case to either Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) or to mediation. If parties are unable to come to a resolution via ODR or mediation, the case would be set for a Non-Jury Trial for the Judge to resolve the issue.
The court does not collect the Judgment for you. There is an information sheet you can obtain from the Clerk’s office that gives you a few options on how to collect on the Judgment; however, everything is not explained to you in that form, so you may want to contact an attorney for guidance.
If you and the other party reach a settlement, the Clerk’s office must be notified in writing.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can obtain a judgment lien on the judgment debtor’s real property by recording a certified copy of your judgment in the real estate records of the county in which the property is located. Such liens are not recorded with the Department of State.
These liens last for ten years, and they can be continued for another ten. You can download forms at Florida Department of State – Sunbiz – Judgment Lien or call the Department of State, Division of Corporations, Judgment Liens Section, at (850) 245-6011.
You can obtain a judgment lien on all of the judgment debtor’s personal property located anywhere in the state by filing a Judgment Lien Certificate with the Department of State. To get the proper form, you must go to the Internet to the Department’s website: Florida Department of State – Sunbiz – Judgment Lien.
You can either download the form from the website or have it mailed to you. Once you have filled out the form, you can either file it and pay the filing fee electronically or mail it to the Department with the filing fee.