For general information about small claims court or about other court process and procedure, please call Tele-Court at 1-800-968-5669 or 1-800-YOU-KNOW. Tele-Court is a Michigan Public Information System that gives you pre-recorded answers to the questions people ask most about the courts. You can choose over 60 different messages 24 hours a day. Through Tele-Court you can listen to as many messages as you want, request a brochure and leave your comments.

     Individuals with special needs who may require assistance in utilizing any service of one of Michigan's District Courts should contact the Court Administrator's office at your local court. They will be happy to reasonably accommodate you.

HOW TO FILE A SMALL CLAIMS CASE

1. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF COLLECTING THE MONEY OWED YOU IF A JUDGMENT IS ENTERED IN YOUR FAVOR?

        A judgment does not mean automatic payment. It only means that you have proven, to the satisfaction of the Court, that the person you sued owed you money. A judgment is often not difficult to obtain but the collection of money may be difficult, if not impossible. The party you sued may be penniless or bankrupt; may have gone out of business or left town; may not earn enough for you to garnish wages or, for other reasons, it may be impossible to make them pay. Income such as welfare, unemployment, social security and other similar payments cannot be garnished.

   PLEASE CONSIDER THE COLLECTABILITY OF YOUR CASE BEFORE FILING.

2. IF YOU FILE A SMALL CLAIMS CASE, YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR HANDLING THE CASE IN ACCORDANCE WITH ALL APPLICABLE COURT RULES AND PROCEDURES AND FOR COLLECTING ON ANY JUDGMENT.

     You cannot be represented by an attorney in small claims court. Although it was designed to be an informal process, it can be complicated and frustrating.

Please be advised that:

• Our court clerks are not attorneys and cannot give legal advice and cannot assist you in filling out forms. We are sure you can see the wisdom in the state law which would prohibit giving legal advice to both sides and then making an impartial decision. Only attorneys are licensed to give legal advice in Michigan.
• The Judges and Magistrates may not, and will not, give advice on matters they may have to rule on; they must remain impartial.
  REQUIREMENTS FOR FILING

  To start a small claims suit in District Court:

• The "defendant" (i.e., the person or business being sued) must reside or be a business established in the district or be employed in the District. There are some situations where you may file in whatever district in which the cause of action occurred, regardless of where the defendant lives or is established. (Check with the Clerk of the Court when filing your suit.)
• You (i.e.. the "plaintiff" or person suing) must have a direct interest in the suit; for example: (a) In traffic accident cases, the claim must be filed by the owner of the vehicle; (b) You can't file a claim on behalf of someone else; or (c) if you are filing on behalf of a business, you must be a full-time employee with knowledge of the facts.
• Your claim may not exceed $3,000. A summary of the Michigan Small Claims Act is available on-line. You are however limited to not more that $500 for traffic accident claims.
• In a Small Claims case, you waive certain rights. You may not:

  Have an attorney represent you;
  Have a jury decide the case;
  Appeal the Judge's decision;
  Have a right to a transcript.

  The defendant cannot be forced to waive these rights and submit to the small claims division. So they, like you, have a choice of keeping the case in Small Claims or removing it to the regular court. If either of you wishes, the matter will be transferred to the general civil division. This may not be known until the time of the hearing.

1. Submit a completed AFFIDAVIT AND CLAIM form.
   
   The same form is available in every District Court in the State (even though you may be filing in a different Court). You may also find small claims forms in PDF format on the Supreme Court Site. This form requests information on the defendant's full and correct name and current address, the date and amount of the claim and the reason for the claim. Please note that the Affidavit must be signed by each plaintiff and witnessed by a Deputy Court Clerk or notarized. If your claim is based on a written agreement, it is recommended that you attach a copy of the document(s) to your claim. You must provide a copy for the Court and a copy for each defendant.

2. Pay the filing fee. If the amount of the claim is $600.00 or less, the filing fee is $17.00. If the amount of the claim is over $600.00, the filing fee is $32.00. If filing by mail, send check (Michigan banks only) or money order made payable to the local District Court.

3. Select and pay for service of process. Each defendant must be served with a copy of the Affidavit and Claim. There are 3 ways to serve:

   Service by certified mail with return receipt requested. The fee is $6.00 per defendant. (See below if defendant fails to sign receipt).

Note: Personal Service (preferably by a court officer) would be required if certified mail is returned "unclaimed" by the post office or the return receipt is signed by someone other than the defendant and the defendant fails to appear on the hearing date.

• Personal service by a court officer. The fee is $13.00 plus mileage. Note: You must have the defendant's complete street address and not a post office box number for personal service. If you furnish an incorrect address or the defendant has moved, the court officer is allowed, by law, to charge you $10.00 for his time if service is attempted. Personal service may become a time-consuming process as many defendants are evasive. There is no guarantee the court officer will be able to serve the defendant. You cannot have your case tried until the defendant is served. The defendant must be served within 91 days from the date of filing or the case will automatically be dismissed.

• Personal service may be made by any legally competent adult who is not a party to the suit. However, please be advised that if you select this option, service must be in accordance with the Michigan Court Rules or the service will be considered invalid. Whoever serves the papers must file a written, notarized "Proof of Service" (See back of Affidavit & Claim form).

  Note: If after diligent attempts, the defendant cannot be personally served, you may request an Order for Alternate Service. (Ask the Court's civil clerk about this.)

     SOME COURTS have volunteer attorney Mediators. Such Court will generally schedule a mediation date within 30 to 45 days after the claim has been filed. Parties receive notice of the court date by mail within one to two weeks of filing. However, note that if the defendant has not been served within 7 days of the hearing date originally set, the mediation may have to be rescheduled.

     Parties are expected to appear on time.

     The case will be assigned to a mediator, an experienced attorney, who will attempt to assist the parties in reaching a settlement. Mediation offers parties an opportunity to discuss the case in a more relaxed, informal setting than going before a Judge or Magistrate.

     Both sides will have an opportunity to discuss their views about the claim with the mediator. The mediator may offer advice concerning relevant points of law and will make a recommendation as to how the case may be resolved. Parties should bring applicable evidence and documentation with them to the mediation hearing.

• If a defendant fails to appear and the Court determines that they had proper notice, the plaintiff's evidence will be heard by the mediator. If the mediator determines that the plaintiff has a proper claim, a default judgment will be prepared and submitted to the Magistrate for approval and mailed to the parties within a week.

• If the plaintiff fails to appear the claim may be dismissed.

• If both parties appear and agree to a settlement the mediator will indicate the terms of the agreement on a judgment form to be signed by both parties. The Magistrate will later review the mediation settlement and sign the judgment. Parties will receive their copies within a week.

• If both parties appear and cannot agree to a settlement the case will be scheduled before a magistrate for a hearing. Parties will receive notice of the new court date by mail within 10 days.

     Frequently, the defendant offers to settle the case prior to the hearing date. If lump sum settlement is not possible and you are agreeable to installment payments, REDUCE THE AGREEMENT TO WRITING SIGNED BY BOTH PARTIES AND FILE A COPY WITH THE COURT to avoid a future dispute as to the terms of the agreement. If the claim is paid, you should notify the court in writing that you want to dismiss the suit. Yet another form is available, if you wish, to Order Installment Payments.

     If agreement is reached, but there has been no payment, you may wish to dismiss the suit. However, many people prefer to continue to judgment in the event that there is a default on the payment agreement.

     Adjournments must be requested in writing in a timely fashion PRIOR to the court date and must indicate the REASON for the adjournment and how long of an adjournment is requested. A copy of this request (as well as a copy of everything you file with the court) MUST be mailed to the other party and then you should write a note to the court indicating that you did mail a copy. The adjournment request will be submitted to a Magistrate or Judge and, if granted, the parties will be notified of the new date by mail. Do not assume your request has been granted; you must check with the clerk to learn the response. Always put the names of the Plaintiff and Defendant and the case number on all papers filed.

     MAGISTRATES are appointed by judges in some of Michigan's District Courts. They may conduct a hearing and issue a judgment. If either side is displeased with the Magistrate's decision, they may have a completely new hearing in front of a Judge. There is no appeal of a Judge's decision in a Small Claims case. Most courts report that well over 90% of cases decided by Magistrates are not appealed to a Judge. If the exact same testimony and evidence is presented before the Judge, you may get the exact same decision, so before you file an appeal, consider if there are any additional witnesses or documents that could be brought in.

     Claims that are not resolved will be heard by a Magistrate or a Judge. PLEASE NOTE THAT A SMALL CLAIMS CASE MAY NOT BE REMOVED TO THE GENERAL CIVIL DOCKET AFTER A HEARING HAS BEEN STARTED.

     When the case is called, the plaintiff takes the stand, is sworn and makes a statement as to why the defendant is liable. The plaintiff may offer other witnesses and evidence, if any.

     The defendant may then take the stand and make a statement as to why they are not liable and, likewise, may offer other witnesses and evidence, if any.

     Each party has the right to question the other party or the witnesses while they are on the stand and after they have completed their statements. This is called cross-examination. This must be in the form of questions. All statements are to be made to the Court. You should only address the other party or witness in the form of a question and should not argue with the other party or his witnesses directly.

     After the testimony and evidence have been presented, each party has an opportunity to summarize his/her position.

     The Magistrate or Judge will then either render a decision at the end of the case (and a written judgment will be given to both sides) or the case may be taken under advisement if additional research or reflection is necessary. In the latter event, the decision will be mailed to the parties.

     If the plaintiff prevails, the court costs are usually added to the amount of the judgment.

     Any Small Claims judgment entered by a Judge cannot be appealed. Any judgment by a Magistrate may be appealed by filing an appeal form within 7 days. The matter will then be scheduled for a new trial before a Judge.

     Again, it is essential that each party have the evidence and witnesses with him or her at the time of the hearing. It is difficult for the Court to render a fair decision with less than all the facts. If you need witnesses, you must subpoena them well in advance to make sure they are present. The Court must make its decision based solely upon the evidence presented and NOT on all the witnesses who couldn't be there.

     It is the plaintiff's responsibility to collect the judgment, not the Court's. The Court encourages the parties to agree among themselves how to pay the judgment. Parties may agree on either lump sum or installment payments. Any agreement reached SHOULD BE REDUCED TO WRITING, SIGNED BY BOTH PARTIES AND A COPY FILED WITH THE COURT to eliminate a future dispute on the terms of the agreement.

     If agreement cannot be reached, the defendant has the right to petition the Court to set the payments. A hearing date will be scheduled and the plaintiff will be notified and may choose to be present. The defendant must provide the Court with all income and expense information to permit the Court to set payments that are reasonable, yet satisfying the judgment without undue delay. The plaintiff will have an opportunity to offer facts and opinions.

     If the payment agreement or order setting payments is followed, the plaintiff may not take further Court action to collect against the defendant's wages.

     If the defendant will not voluntarily pay the judgment, there are several options available to you.

1. Garnishment: If you know anyone who owes money to the defendant, such as wages, bank accounts, rent, etc., you may file a garnishment to collect this money. A plaintiff must wait 21 days after the judgment has been entered to file a writ of garnishment. The garnishment is filed against the person or business having possession of the monies. They are referred to as the garnishee. As previously mentioned, income such as welfare, unemployment, social security, etc., cannot be garnished.

   To file a garnishment, you are responsible for providing the following:

   • The name of the party who owes the defendant money (this will be the garnishee.)
   • Proper name and current address of the garnishee.
   • The amount the defendant still owes you on the judgment.
   • Filing fee - $15.00.
   • Service fee -$10.00 plus mileage.

   The garnishee has 14 days after they are served the writ of garnishment to let you, the Court and the defendant know if there are monies owed. In the case of wages, you are not entitled to the defendant's entire paycheck; only a portion of it as determined by a federal formula.

   Please note that a garnishment cannot be issued prior to a judgment and once a garnishment has been issued, the Court is powerless to stop it unless dismissal is requested by the plaintiff or a hearing is held to set aside the garnishment or order installment payments.

2. Writ of Execution. If information necessary to file a garnishment is unknown but the defendant has physical property, you may want to file a Writ of Execution. This process allows a court officer to seize property to satisfy a money judgment. The court officer may require information on the property to be seized such as vehicle title information in order to act upon the execution.

   A plaintiff must wait 21 days before filing an execution. There is a $15.00 filing fee for a Writ of Execution.

3. Discovery Subpoena. If you don't have information necessary to file a garnishment or a writ of execution, you may file a Judgment/Debtor Discovery Subpoena. This subpoena must name an individual, not a business. It is served on that person ordering them to appear for questioning as to their assets on the date set. If the party fails to appear, the Judge may issue a warrant. Make sure you have a list of questions to ask in case they do show up. Your questions should be designed to learn if they have any assets or income which can pay your judgment.

   A plaintiff must wait 21 days before filing a Discovery Subpoena. There is a $15.00 filing fee, $13.00 service fee plus mileage for this action.

4. Abstract of Judgment. If your suit involves a traffic accident, you may request that the Court prepare an abstract of judgment which would suspend the driver's license (Michigan only) of the defendant until the judgment has been satisfied. When filing an Abstract of Judgment, you must wait 30 days after the judgment date and must have the defendant's full name, date of birth and Michigan driver's license number. There is no fee for filing an Abstract of Judgment.

5. Interest on Judgment. Interest may be calculated on small claims judgments. The interest rates are determined by the State of Michigan and change every six months. Check with the court clerk for the current rates. COURT STAFF CANNOT PROVIDE ASSISTANCE IN COMPUTING INTEREST- You must do the arithmetic yourself.

   Note that if you are requesting that interest be included in your judgment, you must provide the Court with a written summary of the calculated interest you are requesting as permitted by law.

Filing Fee:  (to $600.00)  $17.00;  ($600.01 to $3,000.00)   $32.00

Writ of Garnishment, Execution and Judgment Debtor Discovery Subpoena     $16.00

Certified Mail:     $6./Defendant

Service Fees:

    Affidavit & Claim - $13.00 + mileage
    Garnishments - $10.00 + mileage
    Discovery Subpoena - $13.00 + mileage
    Process with incorrect address (not taxable) - $10.00

Post Judgment Forms:     $ .25 each