Notes to help claimants fill in a claim form

Easy Read version of: Notes for claimant.

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About these notes

Some words are in bold. There is a list of what they mean on the last page.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service wrote these notes. We are part of the Ministry of Justice. We make sure courts work well and treat everyone fairly.

These notes will help you apply to a court to claim money that a person or business owes you.

This is called making a court claim for money.

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You are the claimant and people you

claim money from are defendants.

You take them to court to try to get the money back.

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Before you fill in the form

There are things you must do before you can go to court. Think about mediation. It might be quicker and cheaper.

You have to pay a fee to make a claim. You might be able to get help with fees. Leaflet EX160A tells you about this.

Read all these notes.

They go through things in the order you need to write things on the form.

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It can be quicker and cheaper to fill in the form online. You can do this at either: www.gov.uk/make-money-claim or www.moneyclaim.gov.uk.

If you fill the form in by hand please use a black pen and write in CAPITAL LETTERS.

Make one copy of the form for yourself, one for the court and one for each defendant.

If the claim is for money, send it to the County Court Money Claims Centre PO Box 527 SalfordM5 0BY

ABC

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If it is a High Court claim or for anything other than money, send the form and the fee to a court.

You can use this website to find your nearest court: www.courttribunalfinder.service.gov.uk.

If you need legal advice, you can ask a

solicitor or Citizens Advice.

If you need help to fill in the form, contact the Money Claim Contact Centre.

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Telephone:

0300 1231372.

They can answer questions about the form but cannot give advice or tell you what to write.

The court can tell you how to get free information leaflets. You can also find out more on the website: www.gov.uk

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Going through the form

Heading

Write which court you want to issue the claim. If the claim is just for money and you want it to go to the County Court write ‘County Court Money Claims Centre’.

The claimant and defendant

You are the claimant. Write your name and address.

People you claim money from are defendants. Write their names.

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Information about yourself and the defendant

When you write your address and the defendant’s home address you must include the postcode.

If you want to send it to an address other than their home address, you need permission from a judge.

If you or the person you are taking to court to get money back are:

● an individual – write their full name, title, home address, postcode and telephone number

● a business owner or being taken to

court for a club or organisation – write the address where they live or run their main business

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● running a business under another name – write their name and then ‘trading as’

● representing another person –

write the person’s name and then ‘representing’ and the other person’s name. You might need legal advice to find out if you can represent them

● being taken to court in the name of a

club or organisation – write ‘on behalf of’ and then the name of the club or organisation

● a firm or business that is not

registered – write the full name of the business followed by ‘-a firm’ and the business address or home address of the owner

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● a registered company – write the full company name and then ‘Ltd’ and the business address in the UK

● a corporation - write the full

corporation name and then ‘corporation’ and the business address in the UK

● an overseas company - write the full

company name and the business address

● under 18 years old – if the child is

representing themselves write ‘a child’ after their name. If their parent is representing them, write the child’s name and then ‘a child by’ and the parent’s name then ‘their litigation friend’. There is more information about this on the website: www.gov.uk/litigation-friend

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● a patient under the Mental Health Act

– write ‘litigation friend’ after the name of the person speaking for the defendant.

Brief details of the claim

Under this heading write:

● what you are claiming for

● why you think you are owed the

money.

Do not write a lot, just explain things clearly.

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£10,000

£10,000

£25,000

£25,000

Value

If you are claiming a set amount of money write this amount in the box where it says ‘amount claimed’.

If you cannot say exactly how much you want to claim, write something like:

● not more than £10,000

● more than £10,000 but less than

£25,000

● more than £25,000.

You must pay the fee for the highest amount you are claiming. A judge cannot give you more money than you claim for.

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£10,000

If you cannot put a value on your claim, write ‘I cannot say how much I expect to recover’.

If you do this you will have to pay the highest fee of £10,000.

You must also write if you are claiming for anything else, including:

● personal injury

● housing disrepair

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● other damages.

You should say how much you are claiming for each of these.

You might need help to fill in this part and use the right words. You could ask the court staff or Citizens Advice to help. They can answer questions about the form but cannot tell you what to write.

Preferred

Court

There is a list of courts at

https://courttribunalfinder.service.gov.uk /search/

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You can write on the form which court is easier for you to get to. But the hearing might not be held there.

Defendant’s name and address

Write the title, full names, address and postcode of every defendant who will get a copy of the claim form.

You might need the court’s permission to claim against someone who is not in the UK.

Legal representative’s costs

You can only ask for this money if you have a legal representative making the claim for you.

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Particulars of claim

You must clearly say:

● what facts you are using to make your claim

● if you are asking for damages and which type

● if you are claiming any interest on the

money you are owed

● if you believe your claim is about

human rights issues you must send information about this with your claim form. A judge will need to look at this before it is sent to the defendant.

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● any evidence or paperwork you think will help your claim.

Statement of truth

You, your solicitor or your litigation friend

must sign this part of the form.

If the claimant is a company or corporation then a director, mayor, chairman or president must sign it.

Address for documents

This is the address you want all of the post from the court or the defendants to go to. If you have a solicitor then they will put their address here.

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What the words mean

Apply

To ask the court to decide or do something for you.

Claim Ask for something that you believe someone owes you.

Claimant A person or organisation who makes a claim.

Corporation

A large company or group of companies that act as one big company.

Damages Money paid to someone for a loss or harm.

Defendant The person or organisation you are claiming money from.

Fee

Payment for a service.

Housing disrepair When a landlord does not look after your home properly.

Interest When someone pays you extra money at a set rate because they owe you money.

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Litigation friend

If someone is not able to make their own decisions or be involved in court, a litigation friend can be appointed to speak for them. Not just anyone can be a litigation friend. The person must be someone suitable and willing.

Mediation

When someone independent tries to help you sort things out.

Ministry of Justice

The part of the UK government department that manages the police, courts, probation service, prisons and other parts of the justice system.

Personal injury

When you are hurt because of something another person does or because they do not do something they should.

Recover Get something back.

Registered company A company that meets Companies House rules and is on their list of companies.

Represent Someone who speaks for you.

Solicitor

Someone who has training about the law and can give advice and speak for you in some courts.

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Suitable

Proper or right for something.

Value How much something is worth.

Credits

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