Where can I get a sample before I file a lawsuit in court? How and where then to file a lawsuit correctly? These and other issues are of interest to many citizens who have encountered some difficulties in life. You can get answers to all these questions by reading this article.
The concept of a statement of claim
Before starting the question of how to make a statement of claim to a court, a sample of which could not be found either on the Internet or in any other specialized publications, you need to understand what a statement of claim is.
A statement of claim is a written appeal of citizens to the courts with certain requirements for other persons. The one who submits such requirements is called the plaintiff in the legislation, but his counterparty is called the defendant.
The statement of claim must be executed in accordance with the requirements established by the legislator. More specifically, the rules and necessary conditions that should be contained in such a petition of a citizen or legal entity to the court are determined by civil procedure law.
Claims
How to make a statement of claim to the court, a sample of which is not available on the court’s website? To be honest, this process is absolutely uncomplicated. The main condition is to comply with all requirements established by Articles 131 and 132 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
Starting to write a lawsuit, it is necessary to reflect the following data:
- personal data of the plaintiff;
- personal data of the defendant;
- indication of the judicial authority to which the application is sent;
- addresses of the defendant and the plaintiff;
Solving the question of how to independently file a lawsuit with the court, indicating all the above details, you can then proceed to the next stage of processing the appeal. It should indicate what exactly served as the basis for its submission - by what and how the rights and interests of the claimant were violated. To do this, it is not at all necessary to lay out on the paper all the smallest details of what happened, it is enough to indicate only the most basic nuances. The judge who has received the statement of claim must, after reading it, clearly understand what the applicant wants from him. Incidentally, there is an opinion that the longer the text of the lawsuit, the more reluctant it is for the judges to read it.
Having described the situation and noting the rights that have been violated, a citizen or a representative of a legal entity must submit evidence to the court that will be a confirmation of his words. By the way, this evidence should also be written in a statement.
Attachment to the claim
Before preparing the document in question, it is best, of course, to look for suitable patterns of claim on the official website of the judicial authorities. A sample of a claim can, as you understand, significantly simplify the task of preparing it yourself.
Having drawn up a document on your own or with the help of a template, you should not forget that the law requires certain documents to be attached to it. Among them are those that will confirm the validity of the plaintiff's arguments - papers of probative value. You should also make copies of the claim in advance, as well as copies of all attached papers. The number of such copies is determined by the number of all parties involved in a civil case, including the court.
If the civil case provides for a pre-trial procedure for the settlement of the dispute, for example, by filing a claim, then letters and answers must be attached to the lawsuit. Keep in mind that non-compliance with this order, which can be established both by regulatory enactments and by agreement between the parties, may lead to a refusal to accept a statement of claim and to initiate a civil case. After a successful resolution of the question of how to make a statement of claim in court, it is best to leave the sample of this claim to yourself for the future.
State duty payment
In order to file a lawsuit with the courts, it will be necessary to pay the state fee determined by the state. This requirement is regulated by tax law.
It is in the Tax Code that the obligation to pay this fee to the budget of the country is prescribed. Therefore, after preparing all the necessary documents, you need to look into this regulatory act to determine the amount that will have to be paid. The tax code, by the way, provides for several sizes of payment of the tax levy - it all depends on the nature of the claims, as well as on the price of the claim. The larger it is, that is, the higher the claimed property requirement, the higher the state duty, respectively. As a rule, it is determined by the established amount of rubles with the addition of a percentage of the price of the claim.
Claims of a non-property nature are another matter - if an application is filed with such a demand, the amount is calculated slightly differently. Here again, you need to turn to tax legislation. It should be noted that certain categories of persons are exempted from paying the state duty, and this issue is also regulated by the Tax Code.
Submission of application to court
So, all the necessary documents have been prepared, and, accordingly, the question arose of how to write a statement of claim. A sample of this document was found and applied for its intended purpose. What next?
The next step after the preparation of a full package of documents will be sending them to the judicial authority. Before that, you need to find out which court to send the application to. Code of Civil Procedure establishes a certain jurisdiction of cases. As a rule, claims are referred to the territorial court at the location of the defendant. But, as always and everywhere, there are also exceptions - in certain situations, a lawsuit may also be filed at the plaintiff's place of residence.
Having decided on the court, you can go directly there and contact the office that receives incoming correspondence in order to transfer a package of documents. In this case, the specialist of the office will check all the attached documents according to the list, and on one copy of the claim will put a mark on their admission. That, in principle, is all the actions that a citizen will need to perform at this stage. It should also be noted that at present, the lawsuit can be sent to the court via Internet resources.
Where can I get sample claims
All claims, of course, if you try hard, can be found on the Internet. However, as you understand, no one is responsible for the quality of such samples; references to the norms of legislation in them may be outdated or even completely incorrect. Naturally, this will not entail a refusal to satisfy the claims, but it will nevertheless create a so-called unpleasant aftertaste by the parties to the process.
That is why it is best to take actual and correctly executed statements of claim, forms and samples of claims from the official websites of the judicial authorities. As a rule, templates of the most demanded applications are placed there (for example, on divorce, on debt collection, division of property, recognition of dismissal as illegal, etc.). However, it will most likely be difficult to find samples of rarer lawsuits on such sites.
Therefore, there is another option for obtaining them - in law firms that provide assistance to citizens. Of course, most likely, you will have to pay for such assistance, but the amount of remuneration will be several times less than the amount that would have to be paid for drawing up a lawsuit by a lawyer or attorney with the subsequent representation of the interests of the plaintiff in court.
Legal forums are also a good resource where you can find not only a sample claim, but also find answers to many questions (and absolutely free). However, here, too, sometimes one has to doubt the competence of the forum participants, and therefore one must be careful.
In some buildings of the judiciary in the waiting rooms there are stands where information is presented, how to make a statement of claim to the court, a sample of such a statement, as well as other information necessary for the citizen. After reviewing this information, you can do everything yourself.
Refusal to accept application, motionless
Having figured out how to draw up a statement of claim to the court, a sample of which was nevertheless obtained, and handing it over to the office, it is necessary to wait for the court to be notified. According to the current legislation, a judge is given several days to make a decision. It may be as follows:
- on initiation of a civil case and acceptance of a statement of claim for proceedings;
- on the refusal to accept the claim in the proceedings on the grounds established by the civil procedural legislation;
- about leaving statements without movement.
The latter decision implies that the plaintiff is given a certain amount of time by the judge to eliminate any deficiencies. Such flaws in the statement of claim can be expressed in anything. For example, one of the most common mistakes by which a citizen’s appeal may be left without movement is incorrect payment of state duty. In this case, the judge may provide the applicant with several days to pay the state duty up to the prescribed amount. Another such reason may be, for example, an incorrect indication of the defendant, an incorrect and illegible claim, or other grounds.
If the shortcomings indicated by the judge are not eliminated, this is, in accordance with the law, the basis for the return of the claim with all the documents.
Return of claim
Failure to comply with a court ruling on the elimination of deficiencies is not the only reason for the return of documents to the applicant. That is why it is important to know how to make a statement of claim in court.
An example of the return of the statement of claim due to the incorrectness of its preparation may be as follows - the claim will be returned if the statement is not signed by the plaintiff or is signed by a person not authorized. There are other reasons for returning:
- the non-jurisdiction of the civil claim under consideration to the court to which it is filed;
- filing a claim by a person who is incompetent;
- an existing court decision on the same dispute between the same plaintiff and defendant.
An additional reason for the return of the claim is the statement of the plaintiff with a request to return documents to him. However, there is one rule - the judge should not yet accept the lawsuit in production. As a rule, the plaintiffs write such a statement if there is any agreement with the defendant. In any case, the returned statement of claim may be again filed with the court; no obstacles are created for this.
Specialists help
In some situations, the best solution would be to contact a law firm, whose specialist will be happy to help you file a lawsuit in an arbitration court, a sample of which he naturally has, like any professional lawyer.
Of course, a true professional in his field will be able to write a lawsuit not only to the arbitration tribunal, but also to other instances, he will tell you which documents will be needed, which petitions should be filed. Therefore, if the case is very complicated, and the plaintiff does not have legal experience and knowledge, then he would be better off playing safe by inviting a qualified lawyer than to save and lose the case. Moreover, the cost of legal assistance can be recovered from the defendant (in case of winning the case).
Counterclaim
The defendant’s lawsuit against the plaintiff is called a counterclaim. All the rules provided for simple statements of claim apply to him. Therefore, if you, for example, the defendant and think that the plaintiff also violated your rights and interests, then your actions will be similar to the actions of the plaintiff - we draw up a lawsuit (a sample of the claim is taken from the above sources) and submit it to judicial office or via the Internet.
Thus, the question of how to make a statement of claim to the court yourself can be difficult in some cases, and quite simple in others. It all depends on the complexity of the case and on the level of legal training of the plaintiff.
If you have the patience, resources and time to study all the legislative nuances of this method of asserting your legal rights, you can try to apply to the court yourself. But in those situations where the matter is very complicated, and a lot depends on its resolution, it is better to contact a law firm, at least so that its specialists draw up a statement of claim.
In any case, the choice of option and method for writing and filing a lawsuit with the court is entirely up to the plaintiff, but we should not forget that in certain cases it is not worth sparing money on legal experts.