Does anyone here have experience with small claims court? (Miami: condo, attorney)

[destacado]

I'm about to file a small claims court case. According to the documentation provided on the Hillsborough County court website, I need

* One original summons
* One original Statement of Claim
* One self-addressed stamped envelope (if the documents are mailed to the Clerks Office)
* Any attachments or exhibits in support of the Statement of Claims

Then I need

* Two copies of the summons per defendant
* One copy of the Statement of Claim per defendant
* One copy of any attachment of the Statement of Claim per defendant

to serve papers on the defendants

I filled out as much of the Statement of Claim and summons as I was able to and left CASE NO., DIVISION, and the date and time of the pre-trial conference blank. I need to have these fields filled out before I make copies to serve the Statement of Claim and summons on the defendants, right? How does this work? Do I submit the papers (with the Statement of Claim notarized) at the filing window and get them back immediately with these fields filled out? Or do I have to wait to get the completely filled-out forms mailed to me (which means I need to include a self-addressed stamped envelope with my filing) and then proceed to make copies in order to prepare the summons?

[MyITGuy]

I filed a claim in Miami and I didn't have to have the Statement of claim notarized and they took everything at the clerks window to fill out the case #, division and any court dates/times.

[MortonR]

You will get the forms filled out while you are at the window in the Clerk's office. They can mail the summons, which you have to pay them for at the time of filing, or you can mail them.

You will find the process pretty straightforward when you do it and the Clerk's employees to be very, very helpful in answering any questions you have. Just take everything with you and be patient.

I've done it myself and it's actually a pretty easy thing. The folks in the Clerk's office will help shepherd you through the process - you're not the first one to need help with it.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

RM

[destacado]

Thanks for the responses! One more thing:
I'm not sure what to attach to my filing. My condo unit got damaged by a leak from a neighbor. I'm planning to attach a letter from the office, invoices from contractors, and receipts for materials. I also have some photos - should I attach them too or should I leave them out of the filing and bring them to the pre-trial conference instead?

[MortonR]

Originally Posted by destacado

Thanks for the responses! One more thing:
I'm not sure what to attach to my filing. My condo unit got damaged by a leak from a neighbor. I'm planning to attach a letter from the office, invoices from contractors, and receipts for materials. I also have some photos - should I attach them too or should I leave them out of the filing and bring them to the pre-trial conference instead?

Sounds like you've got enough for the makings of a valid claim. I'm not an attorney, nor do I play one on TV or have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express lately, but I would probably include them just for additional documentation to make your case. That's assuming you've got copies or the ability to get more copies of them.

Again, the folks at the Clerk's office will be quite helpful and give you some idea of what is typically included. While they can't give you legal advice either, they've seen everything there so they'll have a reasonable idea of what is typically included.

Good luck.

RM

[destacado]

Does anyone know where I can download the registration form for the Hillsborough On-line Viewing of Electronic Records (HOVER)?

When I go to https://hover.hillsclerk.com/html/re...istration.html and click on "Complete Form," nothing happens.

[MortonR]

Works for me.

Make sure any pop-up blocker or other browser tool/extension you're using is turned off. Try a different browser if you can.

RM

[destacado]

Now it works for me, too. I had already tried turning off pop-up blockers and using different browsers last night, to no avail. I'm guessing that they fixed a bug this morning.