Small Claims Court Rules and Procedures (including October 2009 and August 2010 Updates)
Date:
New Small Claims Court Rules went into effect in October 2009. According to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, these "amendments address many of the issues identified by the Working Group in collection cases, and four in particular: increased certainty of service, insufficiently detailed claims, increased scrutiny of default judgments, and notice to the court when a judgment is paid." (SJC Press Release)
- Small Claims Court Rules (effective October 2009)
- Memorandum from the Massachusetts District Court, Sept. 11, 2009, providing an overview of the new rules and introducing new forms for implementing the rules.
- Links to the Small Claims Forms and Instructions, in English, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Khemer, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese
- Links to to the Court's Multilingual Videos Explaining the Small Claims Process in English, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Khemer, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese
Effective August 2010, the limit for small claims cases was raised to $7,000 (not including statutory damages or attorneys fees). The amount of the filing fees was also amended at that time.
Additional Resources About Small Claims
- Massachusetts Trial Court Library materials about Small Claims Court
- Massachusetts Court General Information about Small Claims
- Massachusetts Small Claims Advisory Service -- provides information about Massachusetts small claims law and procedure