In Tennessee, small claims courts are set up to handle disputes involving less than $5,000.00. Anyone 18 years or older can file a small claims case. The person requesting the small claims case just needs to contact the county clerk of court for the small claims court papers, service of process and Statement of Claim form. The case can be filed in the county where payment will be received or the defendant’s county of residence. If the dispute involves property, It can be served in the county where the property is located.

Before filing the small claims court papers, the plaintiff needs to do some preparation work. First, the money amount needs to be established. If the defendant wants to drag out the dispute, they can always state the amount in dispute should actually be higher. If the small claims judge agrees with the defendant, the judge will have to dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction. Second, the plaintiff needs to provide documentary evidence of their good faith efforts to resolve the dispute without filing a small claims case.

Once these small claims court papers are filed, process serving or the delivery of these papers is required. Registered mail can be used for process serving, but it requires the defendant to sign for receipt of the document. The plaintiff can also be the process servers for the case but many prefer not to since the dispute is still unresolved. Professional process servers can serve small claims court papers to defendants on the plaintiff’s behalf.

ADI Tennessee Process can serve small claims court papers throughout the state.

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