Welcome to the Pine Tree Legal Assistance Small Claims Forms Preparation Tools.
Use these tools to prepare forms in a small claims case. In Maine Small Claims Court is for claims that are $6,000 or less.
Starting Your Claim
To begin a case in Small Claims Court you need to prepare a Statement of Claim.
Serving the Papers
You can serve the papers on the defendant by sending a Notice of Service. If the defendant does not sign and return the Notice of Service within twenty days, you will have to try another way to serve the papers. If the defendant does sign the Notice of Service you must file the original and two copies of the Notice with the Court, along with your Statement of Claim.
If you will not file more than three small claims cases during this calendar month you may request the Clerk to arrange to serve the papers on the defendant by filing an Affidavit and Request for Service. This can be by mail or by a deputy sheriff. You will have to pay for service unless the court orders that you can proceed without payment of fees.
If you have no money to pay court or sheriff's fees, you may file an Application to Proceed without Payment of Fees. There is a lot of financial information you will need to provide along with that Application.
If the defendant does not return the Acknowledgment or if you believe it would be futile to request the defendant to accept and acknowledge the papers you may try service by certified or registered mail. You may send the copy of the Statement of Claim (with any attachments) to the defendant first class, postage prepaid, registered or certified, restricted delivery, return receipt requested. You will have to get the necessary forms for this type of mail at the post office. You should advise the Post Office that when it delivers the Statement of Claim it should have the defendant sign the green card and mail it back to you. You then must file the original of the Statement of Claim, the filing fee and green card with the signature of the defendant on it with the clerk within 20 days of the date on which the post office delivered the Statement of Claim.
If either one of the two methods above does not work, you then must arrange with the sheriff’s office to have service made by a deputy. For deputy service you should give the sheriff’s office the original and the copy of the Statement of Claim. The deputy will give the defendant the copy and make a return of service on the original and return that to you. You must file the original with the return of service with the clerk within 20 days of the service and pay the filing fee.
If You Already Have A Judgment
If you already have a small claims judgment and want to schedule a "Disclosure Hearing" in court to try to collect that judgment, use the Request for Disclosure Hearing.
PTLA #997