Court Process: Small Claims Court

• You will be charged a filing fee in small claims court. If the amount you claim is less than $1,000, the filing fee is $65. If it is more than $1,000, the filing fee is $90. 32 V.S.A. § 1431 (c)(1). If you can’t afford to pay the filing fee or the costs of a sheriff to serve your papers, you can apply to have the fees waived. Use this fee waiver form.
• To start a case, you have to use the court’s Small Claims Complaint form (see page 3 of this PDF). When you start a small claims case, you are called the “plaintiff.” The person you are suing is called the “defendant.”
• Here is what to write:
  • All the reasons the defendant owes you money. You can’t do separate lawsuits for each reason. 
  • How much money the defendant owes you — this is called the “amount of your claim.” If possible, list each separate cost.
  • What the defendant did that was wrong that cost you money.
  • Your address and phone number. If you change your address or phone number, let the court know because they send notice of hearing for the trial on your case. If you don’t get the notice and don’t show up you will lose.

Give the completed Complaint form to the court clerk with the filing fee or fee waiver. Then:

• The clerk will send it back to you with a docket number and a signed Summons.
• Make a copy for yourself.
• Mail the Summons and Complaint to the defendant.
• Send a Certificate of Service to the court showing the date you mailed the Summons and Complaint.
• Wait 30 days for the defendant to mail you an Answer. Check with the court to see if the court got an Answer if you did not. If the court got one, get a copy.
• If the defendant does not answer, you must have the sheriff serve the defendant within the next 30 days. To do this:
  • Make another copy of the Summons and Complaint.
  • Take the Summons and Complaint to the sheriff along with $60, or an approved fee waiver.
  • Be sure the sheriff knows the deadline for service.
• If there is a reason the sheriff can’t serve the Summons and Complaint in 30 days, make a motion for more time with the court before the 30 days is up.
• If you don’t get permission for more time from the court, and don’t serve the papers within 60 days of the day you first mailed the Complaint, the court is allowed to dismiss the case. You would have to start over if that happens.
• Make sure the sheriff files a Sheriff’s Return of Service form with the court. On it the sheriff swears that the defendant was served.
• Wait 30 days for the defendant to file an Answer. Check with the court to see if the court got an answer if you did not. If the court got one, get a copy.
• Wait for the clerk to send you a notice of hearing, telling you the date and time of your trial.

• The Answer needs to be in writing. The court has a Small Claims Answer form, but the defendant could use their own form.
• In order for the court to schedule a trial, the Answer needs to say the defendant disagrees with your Complaint. If the defendant says they agree with your Complaint, the court will not schedule a trial. It will issue a judgment against the defendant.
• The defendant can file counterclaims against you. The defendant needs to pay a filing fee for counterclaims. The defendant must mail you the Answer and Counterclaims, and file a Certificate of Service showing the date they did that.
• In small claims court, you do not need to file an Answer to the counterclaims, but you can do that if you want to. If you do, mail a copy to the defendant and file a Certificate of Service showing the date you did that.

If the sheriff served the defendant, and 30 days have passed, and neither you nor the court has received an answer, file a Motion for Default Judgment.

• Don’t wait longer than 90 days after the day the sheriff served the defendant. Filing has to be within 60 days of the date the defendant was supposed to answer.
• Use the court’s Motion for Default Judgment form.
• Mail a copy to the defendant. File a Certificate of Service showing the date you did that.
• The court will send you the Default Judgment in the mail. You must mail it to the defendant and file a Certificate of Service showing the date you did that.
• You can begin the process to enforce the judgment 30 days after the date of the judgment.

The defendant has the right to make a motion to the court to re-open a Default Judgment within 90 days of the date of the judgment, or before the first financial disclosure hearing, whichever comes first. The court does not have a form to re-open default. There is a filing fee of $65. 32 V.S.A. § 1431(c)(1).

Get prepared ahead of time.

• What was the defendant’s answer?
• Did the defendant admit any facts?
• Think through your story. It is helpful to think about it in chronological order. Think about the facts that are relevant to your claim.
  • For example, to get a security deposit back, you don’t have to tell everything that happened between you and the landlord, only that you paid a security deposit, you moved out, and the landlord didn’t give you your security deposit back or send you a letter explaining why not within 14 days.
• Be ready to say what you did, saw, heard and felt. Be ready to say what the defendant said to you.
• Put the papers proving your case in order. Be ready to bring everything you might need.
  • The court will not give you a chance to go get something and come back another day.
  • The court will not look anything up for you.
  • Bring the originals or best copies of receipts and letters and other documents showing that the landlord owes you money.
  • Bring an extra copy for the defendant. Keep a copy for yourself.

• You are the plaintiff and you go first. In small claims court, the judge usually asks each party questions. If you have a question you want to ask the defendant, ask the court for permission to ask the defendant questions. VRSCP 6.
• If you don’t show up, your case could be dismissed. If you don’t show up, but the defendant does, the judge could grant judgment for the defendant. If the defendant doesn’t show up, you still need to show the judge why you should be granted judgment.
• Usually, the court will decide who gets judgment, and how much, on the day of the trial. The court has a judgment form. Try to make sure the defendant signs a court document accepting service of the judgment while still at court. You should accept service, too.

If you think the judge made a mistake of law in the small claims judgment, you can appeal the judgment. You need to do that within 30 days at the Civil Division of Superior Court in your county.

• You file the appeal with the same clerk. The court will assign a new docket number.
• Your appeal request should be on the court’s Small Claims Appeal form. VRSCP 10. You should mail a copy of your request for appeal to the defendant. File a Certificate of Service showing the date you did that. There is a filing fee of $295. You can ask that the fee be waived. Use this fee waiver form.

There will be a hearing, but it will only be to argue why the law should have led to a different judgment than the one that was granted by the small claims court. No new evidence will be allowed. If the Civil Division does not give you what you want in your appeal, and you want to appeal to the Vermont Supreme Court, you have to file a request to appeal with the Civil Division clerk within 14 days of the judgment by the Civil Division. Mail a copy to the defendant. File a Certificate of Service showing the date you did that.

A judgment is a court order to one party to pay the other party money. If the money is paid, file a notification form in the court saying it has been paid.

If the defendant does not send you the money the court ordered within 30 days, you can enforce the judgment. The Vermont Judiciary website has a step-by-step explanation of the ways to enforce a judgment.

Here is a brief description of how to enforce your judgment.

Financial disclosure hearing

If the defendant does not pay you, you can file a Motion for Financial Disclosure. VRSCP 7. There is a filing fee, but you can file a fee waiver request. Use this fee waiver form. You should send a copy of the motion, along with a copy of the Certificate of Service, to the defendant.

Once you file this motion, the clerk sets a time and sends the defendant a notice of hearing and a financial disclosure form. At the hearing, the judge can order the defendant to pay, or order the defendant to make payments according to a payment plan. Or, if the defendant has a very low income, the judge may not be able to order a payment at all because the defendant’s income is exempt from collection. VRSCP 7.

Other enforcement of judgments

If you have a judgment, and 30 days have passed, there are several ways to enforce the judgment. You must pay a filing fee to file any of these post-judgment motions, or you can apply to have the filing fee waived.

• Get money from the defendant’s bank account. VRSCP 9. You can get from the court clerk an execution and Summons to Trustee. Send the Summons to Trustee and a list of exemptions to the defendant’s bank. The bank will then freeze the defendant’s bank account. The bank will report back to the court the amount and source of the money in the bank account. VRCP 4.2(k). The court will order the bank to pay you what you are owed out of the account.
• Get a wage garnishment order. VRSCP 9; VRCP 4.2 First, send the defendant’s employer a form for the employer to disclose the defendant’s income. At the same time, file a motion for wage garnishment with the court. Be sure to send copies of these papers to the defendant with a Certificate of Service. If the defendant does not pay after a payment order from a financial disclosure hearing, you may also ask the court to find that the defendant is in contempt. VRSCP 8. Make a Motion for Contempt with the small claims court. Send a copy of the motion and Certificate of Service to the defendant, and file an original certificate of service with the court.