Small Claims Court in Alabama

In Alabama, Small Claims Court is division of each county's District Court. Any claim involving $3000 or less can be filed in Small Claims Court and you do not have to be represented by an attorney. You may represent yourself.

If you would like to sue someone in Small Claims Court, you first need to get the name and address of the person or business you are suing. After you file the lawsuit, you will be known as the plaintiff and the person you are suing will be known as the defendant. Once you have this information, take it to the District Court in either the county where the person or business is located or the county where the alleged damage took place. Ask the court clerk for a Statement of Claim for and fill it out. Then return this form to the clerk and court will see that a copy is sent to the defendant.

The defendant will then be served with a copy of your lawsuit and have 14 days to submit an answer to the court. If the defendant does not answer within 14 days, you can ask the judge to enter a default judgment in your favor.

You must pay a filing fee when you file a lawsuit in Small Claims Court, but the fees vary from county to county in Alabama. If you cannot afford to pay the filing fee, you can file an Affidavit of Substantial Hardship to ask the judge to delay payment. The court clerk will have the Affidavit of Substantial Hardship form.

You will find links to several individual county websites below and most of those have their current filing fees listed.

You do not have to be represented by an attorney in Small Claims Court. These trials are relatively informal and your case is not presented to a jury. Both sides present their evidence to a judge who then makes a ruling.

If the defendant answers your complaint and denies it in part or in whole, the court will set a hearing date and notify all parties. You should make sure and locate all documents, papers, receipts, pictures or anything else that will help prove your case at trial. You should also bring as many witnesses who have firsthand knowledge of the matter with you to trial to testify on your behalf.

If you believe a witness if important to your case, but they refuse to appear, you can force them to appear with a subpoena issued by the District Court clerk. To have a subpoena issued, you must pay a subpoena fee and fill out a subpoena application with the court clerk. If you want to file a subpoena, you should do so well in advance of your hearing date.

You should make sure you are on time for your hearing. If you are not, the judge may enter a ruling against you. Make sure you do not interrupt the other party during the hearing. You will have an opportunity to react to whatever they are saying and if you believe it is wrong, you will have an opportunity to explain why to the judge. The judge will issue a ruling based on the law and the evidence presented after both sides have had an opportunity to present evidence. A written judgment will be sent to both parties.

If either party disagrees with the judge's ruling, they can file an appeal with the clerk's office within 14 days of the ruling. To file an appeal you must pay a filing fee and an appeal bond. If you do appeal a ruling from Small Claims Court, you may want to consider hiring an attorney because the appeal will be heard by the Circuit Court, not the Small Claims Court.

If the court awards a money judgment against one party, that party has 14 days to pay the judgment. If the judgment is not paid within 14 days, then the other party may go to the clerk's office and file an Execution or Garnishment form. You can get this form from the court clerk. There will be a fee for filing either of these forms.

When an execution form is filed, it is requesting the court to issue an order authorizing the sheriff to locate and pick up any property that belongs to the other party and then sell it to satisfy the judgment. If you file a garnishment form, you are requesting the court issue a withholding order authorizing the garnishment of wages to satisfy the judgment.

The information provided by this Web site is done as a service to the public. Since some of the site information is provided by other sources, the author/web site does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy of the content of this site, nor that of any site for which a link is provided. Providing a link to another site shall in no way be deemed an endorsement by the author/website, express or implied, of any such site. The author/website does not guarantee accessibility to this site, nor any other linked site, and will not be liable for damages for reliance upon the information at this site, nor the unavailability or lack of access to this site or information contained thereon.

The information contained at this site is not legal advice, and should not be relied on by the user of this site as such. The user is encouraged to retain the services of a lawyer for legal advice. Use of this site constitutes an agreement by the user that the user will hold the author/web site harmless for any inaccurate information contained herein, or the inability to access this site or any other site herein referenced.

Data Recovery