Court Fees Small Claims Case

[jj123]

What is the name of your state? Texas

Hello

I have a standard promissory note for $2,000 signed by my x-girlfriend. She has only made a $100 payment in 2 years. The contract expires next week so I want to take her to small claims court before it expires.

The contract says she will have to pay attorney fees and costs if she fails to make payment.

When filling out the small claims case do I also include the court fees in the 2,000 amount or should I ask for it in-front of the judge when we go to trial.

In Texas the filing fee is $49 and Serving fee is $75 totaling $124.00.


Thanks

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state? Texas

Hello

I have a standard promissory note for $2,000 signed by my x-girlfriend. She has only made a $100 payment in 2 years. The contract expires next week so I want to take her to small claims court before it expires.

The contract says she will have to pay attorney fees and costs if she fails to make payment.

When filling out the small claims case do I also include the court fees in the 2,000 amount or should I ask for it in-front of the judge when we go to trial.

In Texas the filing fee is $49 and Serving fee is $75 totaling $124.00.


Thanks

Ask for all court fees in your complaint, where it says on the small claims form: “Additionally, Plaintiff seeks the following -“.

 

[zddoodah]

The contract expires next week

Please explain exactly what that means.

Also, when was the note signed? Does the note call for regular, period payments? If so, what were the payment terms? Does it have an acceleration clause? I assume that you have no perfected security interest. Correct? When was the one payment made?

When filling out the small claims case do I also include the court fees in the 2,000 amount or should I ask for it in-front of the judge when we go to trial.

Please explain exactly what "filling out the small claims case" means. If you're talking about a petition, it appears that the forms vary from county to county. Here's one from Harris County that includes a "relief requested" section where you can include a request for court costs. There's certainly no harm in repeating the request if/when the case goes to trial.

 

[quincy]

Here is a link to a “Self-Help Legal Information Packet: Filing a Small Claims Case,” published by the Texas Justice Court Training Center:

https://gato-docs.its.txstate.edu/jcr:2c0d52a4-6fe2-47b4-b78f-d4380726568c/SRL - small claim plaintiff.docx

 

[adjusterjack]

I have a standard promissory note for $2,000 signed by my x-girlfriend. She has only made a $100 payment in 2 years. The contract expires next week so I want to take her to small claims court before it expires.

If she has until one day next week to pay in full and you didn't have an acceleration clause (I'm guessing you didn't) then she's not in default until after the deadline so you would be wasting your time filing before then because you will just have to start all over.

 

[jj123]

The contracts states full balance is due by April the 15th, 2019. She signed the contract on August the 19th, 2018. I think Texas we have a 2 year small claims case time period.

 

[quincy]

The contracts states full balance is due by April the 15th, 2019. She signed the contract on August the 19th, 2018. I think Texas we have a 2 year small claims case time period.

Four years, unless your contract stated otherwise.

You can prepare your small claims complaint for filing now.

 

[Taxing Matters]

The contracts states full balance is due by April the 15th, 2019. She signed the contract on August the 19th, 2018. I think Texas we have a 2 year small claims case time period.

If the full balance was due by 4/15/2019, what do you mean when you say the contract "expires" next week? Did you mean to say the statute of limitation (SOL) expires next week? She'd have been in default when she failed to make payment as required, and when she first breached the contract is when the SOL would have started to run. It is not the date that the contract was signed that matters for the SOL, it is the date that she breached the contract, i.e. the date when the payment was due but not made, that matters.

 

[quincy]

One other note: Unless your contract has additional conditions not mentioned here, the amount owing would be $1900 and not $2000, if your ex-girlfriend made a $100 payment.

 

[FlyingRon]

SOL on contracts in Texas is four years.

 

[quincy]

SOL on contracts in Texas is four years.

For both breach of contract cases and for debts. The four years was mentioned earlier.

 

[Zigner]

For both breach of contract cases and for debts. The four years was mentioned earlier.

True, but "SOL" and "four years" were never actually mentioned in the same "breath", so to speak. It's good to be clear about it for the OP.

 

[quincy]

True, but "SOL" and "four years" were never actually mentioned in the same "breath", so to speak. It's good to be clear about it for the OP.

True. I reread my previous post and I realize now it was not all that clear.

 

[zddoodah]

The contracts states full balance is due by April the 15th, 2019. She signed the contract on August the 19th, 2018. I think Texas we have a 2 year small claims case time period.

I'm not sure what you mean by "a . . . small claims case time period," but the time to sue (i.e., the statute of limitations) runs from the date of breach. While you unfortunately ignored most of the questions I asked, it appears that the Texas statute of limitations for breach of written contract is four years from the date of breach. The date on which the contract was signed doesn't matter for statute of limitations purposes. Nor would it make sense for it to matter. What if a contract said that payment isn't due until ten years after the date it was signed? If the statute of limitations were based on the date of the contract, then it would expire before the payment became due, and the obligor would have no remedy.

Nevertheless, if payment was due 16 months ago, there's no good reason not to have sued by now.

 

[quincy]

jj123, I think we must have made it pretty clear by now that the statute of limitations (the time within which you need to file suit) is four years.

You still should have plenty of time to sue your ex-girlfriend for the $1900 but, because people move away and circumstances change, you might want to file your small claims suit soon, while you still know where your ex is located. This will make it is easier to serve the summons and complaint.

Good luck.