Anyone been to small claims court? ***Not asking for legal advice***

Handsome Robb

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Anyone been to small claims court? Was it worth your time, money and the hassle of the entire ordeal?

I know it varies from state to state, county to county and even municipality to municipality. Just looking for generalized experiences and opinions.
 

gonefishing

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Anyone been to small claims court? Was it worth your time, money and the hassle of the entire ordeal?

I know it varies from state to state, county to county and even municipality to municipality. Just looking for generalized experiences and opinions.
Depends. Always seek legal advice from a lawyer before going. The fees can be a hassle. But if its a strong enough case in your favor than yea but seek legal counsel first.
 
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Handsome Robb

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I've spoken with a lawyer and from the sounds if it they generally will use property to pay the debts and if they don't have property it's like an act of God to get the state to garnish wages.

My understanding is the usual is you win and they order payment but without property or wage garnishment there's no guarantee you'll be paid even if there's a standing court order
 

gonefishing

Forum Deputy Chief
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I've spoken with a lawyer and from the sounds if it they generally will use property to pay the debts and if they don't have property it's like an act of God to get the state to garnish wages.

My understanding is the usual is you win and they order payment but without property or wage garnishment there's no guarantee you'll be paid even if there's a standing court order
Right. It's a hit or miss.
 

vcuemt

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Anyone been to small claims court? Was it worth your time, money and the hassle of the entire ordeal?

I know it varies from state to state, county to county and even municipality to municipality. Just looking for generalized experiences and opinions.
I go all the time (an exaggeration) for my full-time job. We'll sue anyone if they owe us money, but once you've won a judgment you have to collect. We will often wait until we have enough judgments won to send it to a collections agency to find us info on bank accounts, garnishments, etc. However, if you have a judgment against you it will sit on your credit report and record until you pay it, so if you want to take out a loan the lender will tell you you gotta clear it before you get the loan. We've gotten calls from judgments we won years ago with a credit card number to pay off their debt so they can get a loan, at which point we send a letter to the courts.

For an individual? It depends on the amount of money, how confident you are you'll win, and how vindictive you're feeling. For a business it's a no-brainer every time. We have an iron-clad contract.

Blah blah legal advice blah blah.
 

Rick Tresnak

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Been there twice. I figure it is worth a try. But if they didn't have the money to pay you they won't have the money to settle either.
 
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