Hot take: small claims court isn't as scary as people make it sound

Honestly, I always thought going to small claims court would be this huge ordeal with lawyers and crazy paperwork. But last month I had a dispute with a contractor in Denver who ghosted me after I paid him $800 for a fence he never finished. I filed the claim online in like 20 minutes and it cost me $35 to get it started. When we showed up to the hearing, the judge basically just had us tell our sides and asked for receipts. The contractor didn't even bring his paperwork so I won by default. Took maybe 45 minutes total from walking in to walking out with a judgment. Now I gotta actually try to collect the money, which is a whole other thing. Has anyone else had luck getting paid after winning a small claims case?

2 comments

2 Comments

leohart1mo ago

Winning is the easy part, collecting's where it gets ugly.

sarahhart1mo ago

Just staying on top of it every few days saved me from a mountain of headaches.