Small claims court

[minnie]

Happy and Healthy 2014 to all.

Is there such a thing as a small claims court in France? If so does anyone have details of a French website which details procedures? I've no need of it at present but would welcome details in case of future need.

[Val_2]

For amounts under €5000 you go through a local Tribunal via a Huissier and/or an Avocat. Any amount over that and it goes via the TGI where you will need an avocat to deal with it for you. In France YOU do not get the chance to speak nor present the case yourself, the professionals do that. Personally if it is the lesser amount, pay an Huissier to get back your money for a fee or you could end up paying thousands in fees.There are plenty in the pages jaune, go and see one and explain your problem and they will advise you accordingly.You can also read up on the government information site regarding justice etc.

[Kitty]

Recently, I was owed just under 2000 euros of work from a local builder.

I visited a huissier, who wanted to charge me 90 euros just for the initial meeting (20 minutes) but decided to waive the fee when I expressed surprise.  He then wanted a further 450 euros for visiting the builder and writing a report.  Had I commissioned the report, the hussier would not have collected the money and merely reported about the chances of getting it.  We would have needed a lawyer, to whom the report would be sent.  So the fees would have increased even more.

I gave up.  Instead, I tried the route of talking to everyone that knew the builder, including officials such as staff at his local Mairie, the local police etc.  Soon afterwards, he turned up out of the blue (claiming marital problems) and did the work.

The short visit to the huissier was useful in that I realised that despite having signed paperwork from the builder, my legal case was not very good.  So it focused my mind on taking another route.  You could consider going to a huissier but be aware that the costs are not cheap.