Before Court
Your court attendance depends upon the type of eviction you are requesting as well as the county where the property lies. Typically, for simple non-payment cases one of our attorneys will handle the eviction hearing without you having to attend. If you file an eviction for any reason other than non-payment (we call those ONP cases) you may be needed for the hearing. Our attorney will advise you in advance if that is the case.
For all eviction cases, you are always welcome, and if you are available to attend the hearing, it would never hurt to be present, just in case the tenant shows up in court and disputes the eviction and wishes to testify or presents evidence. When this happens, it is always helpful to have someone from the property there to testify as well. However, in most cases the judge will not hear evidence at the initial hearing, but if that should happen your presence could prevent a future trial date. Otherwise, the judge, in a disputed matter will set a trial date or continue the case which will results in additional invoice charges. If you know that a tenant is going to show up in court, please notify your attorney to discuss the matter in advance and plan to attend.
We encourage you to utilize our contact form to send your processor and/or attorney with any questions and all pertinent information well before court, so that they may prepare your case thoroughly. This is especially important if you know that the tenant has issues that they intend to bring up in court.
To ensure that all your cases are handled properly and to reduce the risk of errors, please direct all correspondence regarding your cases to our office. Please do not contact the Court or our eviction software partner regarding your cases. The only exception to this is when you are contacting the Sheriff to schedule the lockout, but that is only after the Writ has been filed with the Clerk and properly served.
Likewise, the Court should not contact you since counsel represents you. If the Clerk of Court or the Magistrate contacts you, however, please respectfully redirect them to our Firm.
We are here for you and will do everything needed to help you successfully file and process your evictions. Please be sure to communicate with us so that we can do our job most effectively for you.
Day of Court
On the day of court, your attorney will meet you at the Courthouse. You will need to be on time but it is preferred that you arrive 15 minutes prior to the hearing. This early arrival allows time to make any changes to amounts due and address questions between yourself and the attorney. You will need to bring the tenant’s entire file containing a current lease, most up-to-date ledger, and all correspondence between your company and the resident. You will want to dress professionally and remember that the attorney will take care of everything and guide you through the process.
