How to take someone to civil court - the process

Summary

What are the stages of a civil court claim? This guide explains what happens at each stage of a small claim or fast-track claim so you know what is coming next. It also explains all the legal jargon you may come across. This guide is about the law in England and Wales. This explanation of the process is designed to give you a picture of what is involved in a typical case. It will be most helpful for people making a claim using the paper N1 claim form or where the person being taken to court has responded on paper. It will not help you decide what to do in your case. But it will help you keep track of where you are in the process and what will happen next. This guide is part of a series that explains how to take someone to small claims court or use the fast track process in a county court to sort out a disagreement about money owed, broken contracts, compensation, or personal injury. Most claims for a fixed amount of money under £25,000 can now be done online using the online Money Claim service (also called Online Civil Money Claims). If you use that online service, the process is a little bit different (although we explain how below). It is designed for people to use without a.

Key information

• •What are the stages of a civil court claim? This guide explains what happens at each stage of a small claim or fast-track claim so you know what is coming next. It also explains all the legal jargon you may come across.
• •This explanation of the process is designed to give you a picture of what is involved in a typical case. It will be most helpful for people making a claim using the paper N1 claim form or where the person being taken to court has responded on paper. It will not help you decide what to do in your case. But it will help you keep track of where you are in the process and what will happen next.
• •This guide is part of a series that explains how to take someone to small claims court or use the fast track process in a county court to sort out a disagreement about money owed, broken contracts, compensation, or personal injury.
• •Most claims for a fixed amount of money under £25,000 can now be done online using the online Money Claim service (also called Online Civil Money Claims). If you use that online service, the process is a little bit different (although we explain how below). It is designed for people to use without a lawyer, so most people find it easier. See How to start a small claim for more information about using that service and how to avoid the common pitfalls.
• •One of the problems of going to court is that you will come across lots of new technical words and ideas. This is the jargon that lawyers and court staff use. Where we think you might have to know it we have included it, but we always explain what it means.
• •Sometimes we describe the court as ‘doing’ things, for example, sending out a form or making a decision. It sounds a bit odd because a court is a place. But ‘the court’ is used as shorthand to refer to the people working in the court.
• •Rory, an electrician, has re-wired Ceri’s house. Ceri says the installation hasn’t been done properly and is unsafe and there is lots of re-plastering still to be done.
• •Ceri has followed the pre-action protocol (the official procedure you need to follow before you start taking someone to court) and has tried to come to an agreement with Rory to resolve the dispute. This was not successful, so Ceri has decided to take Rory to court.
• •Ceri is the claimant (the person who is starting the court proceedings). She is a litigant in person (someone who represents themselves without the help of a solicitor or barrister).
• •Rory is the defendant (the person who has court proceedings brought against them). He is also is a litigant in person.
• •This guide shows step by step how the court proceedings go in this case. It is an example of a typical case, but other cases could proceed in a different way.
• •At every step, you should consider whether it is possible to end the court case by agreeing a compromise with the other side. This is called ‘settling’. There are formal ways you can suggest a settlement to the other side, or they can suggest one to you. You can settle a claim at any point up to the trial. See our guide to how to settle a civil case out of court.

Practical guidance

• •Source: [How to take someone to civil court - the process](https://www.advicenow.org.uk/get-help/going-court/small-claims-and-civil-court/overview-process-taking-someone-civil-court)

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