{"id":20,"date":"2013-03-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/easyliving\/?p=20"},"modified":"2026-08-03T21:54:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T21:54:22","slug":"small-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/easyliving\/small-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Claims #1 Over View"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Small Claims #1 Over View<\/a><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

First, as a basis of the knowledge that I am giving you, I worked in the California Court system as an Assistant Court Clerk\/Judicial Assistant for over 20 years.<\/p>\n

While in the Small Claims<\/strong> area, I helped many people get through the Small Claims process.<\/p>\n

I was responsible for the cases from start to finish, so I know the process, but do want to remind you that I am not an Attorney.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

FYI \u2013 If you did not know that the cases that are heard on the Judge Judy show are real cases taken from courts. \":)\" <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Second, Laws<\/a> in California have the opportunity of changing every January and July, this includes the Statute of limitations.<\/p>\n

So this information might be out of date and I urge you to check out the websites and your local Court.<\/p>\n

As forms are concerned, they change as well, and each County might have local forms that your Court may require.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

NOTE:\u00a0 You may seek legal advice, but an attorney will not be able to represent you in a Small Claims case.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here I did a video that outlines the basics of the process of a Small Claims<\/em> case.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you liked the content of this video<\/a> be sure to subscribe to get the rest of the series.<\/p>\n

Over view of Small Claims:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Get the packet with the filing forms and a fee waiver if needed. <\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Read through it and get help from the adviser if needed.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. Fill out the filing form typed or printed clearly.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. Your claim needs to be filed in the Court nearest to either where the Defendant lives or where the action took place.<\/b><\/li>\n
  5. Make at least 1 copy of the filing form (5 pages long the last time I looked) .<\/strong><\/li>\n
  6. Give the original and copy to the court for filing, Pay fee or file fee waiver.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  7. Take your conformed copy to make other copies to get your defendants served.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  8. File proof of the service at the court.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  9. Be at your hearing 5 minutes before the hearing with you evidence and witnesses with you.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  10. After the Judge makes a decision the Notice of entry of Judgment will be sent to you (at the address that is on the Claim, if it is not correct, make sure the clerk knows what the correct address is)<\/strong><\/li>\n
  11. You will have a 30 day stay before you can start any collections.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  12. Your Judgment will be good for 10 years.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I do urge you to talk the issue out with the other person before filing a Small Claims<\/span> suite.\u00a0 But before you go to them or call them, look at the issue from their point of view, this might change the way you speak to them.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    Here are a few of the websites that I used while working in the Court. J\u00a0 They will probably give you more information that you ever wanted, but as long as you stay focused on the issue that you are trying to resolve they will help.<\/p>\n

    Reminder \u2013 most of these websites are California specific and your own State or Country should have references for you.<\/p>\n

    http:\/\/www.sbcourts.org<\/a>,\u00a0 www.courtinfo.ca.gov<\/a>,\u00a0 www.leginfo.ca.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

    http:\/\/www.nolo.com\/legal-encyclopedia<\/a>,\u00a0 http:\/\/www.scscourt.org\/self_help\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    If you are not familiar with a search engine you can put in something like \u201c legal help in Oregon\u201d for an example.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    When you are ready to share your wealth of knowledge and expertise with the world and make an income from it, I would be privileged to assist you along the way.<\/p>\n

    Click here and check out my team<\/a>!!<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    To your success, and God Bless!!<\/p>\n

    <\/a><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    Contact me on:\u00a0\"Facebook\"<\/a>\u00a0\"LinkedIn\"<\/a>\u00a0\"Twitter\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

    \u00a0Pam Bivans<\/strong><\/address>\n
    pambivans@gmail.com<\/strong><\/address>\n
    \u00a0<\/strong><\/address>\n
    \u00a0<\/address>\n

    PS:\u00a0 If you like this post on Small Claims #1 Over View<\/em>, re-tweet and comment please!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u00a0Small Claims #1 Over View \u00a0 First, as a basis of the knowledge that I am giving you, I worked in the California Court system as an Assistant Court Clerk\/Judicial Assistant for over 20 years. While in the Small Claims area, I helped many people get through the Small Claims process. I was responsible for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1099,"featured_media":585,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5,24],"tags":[25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32],"class_list":["post-20","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hints-tips","category-how-tos","category-inspiration","category-legal","tag-demand-letter-small-claims","tag-file-small-claims","tag-file-small-claims-online","tag-small-claims-court-limit","tag-small-claims-definition","tag-small-claims-forms","tag-small-claims-out-of-state","tag-small-claims-statute-of-limitations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/easyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/easyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/easyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/easyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1099"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/easyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/easyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":731,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/easyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions\/731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/easyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/easyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/easyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/easyliving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}