I am a normal citizen. A normal, smart, resourceful and educated citizen who wanted to make things right with a crook in the civil court process (small claims, no lawyer). The City civil courts has zero online resources. You will not even know where to start, i.e., which building to even go to. Contrast this with the County which has a whole online guide to the small claims process including phone numbers. To start a small claim, you go to the first floor clerk's office in the building at the corner of Tucker and Market. You also have to pay in cash, no checks (this is stated no where and you cannot call to get this information). File is $80, $36 to serve or $10 to certify mail.
From there, the court process was pretty smooth. The judge was fair and involved. All those involved in the court room seemed fine.
After a judgement is won, you will have no idea what to do and there is no information to help you figure it out. I tried to figure out if I could get a lien against the debtor and 4 people sent me to 4 different offices in this building, all of whom could not answer the question and had 10 excuses each. I read the statutes myself later and figured out MO does not allow a small claim judgement to become a lien. Too bad no one at the court knew this. Again, the County has online resources for this including a phone number to call to get some information.
I tried to call and figure out where to go to start a garnishment. I called the main number, pressed the right buttons for transfer and got "this number is no longer is service". Are you *&%^ing kidding me? Always go back to that first floor clerk's office for questions. When I was lost at the building next door, I went across the street, through rain, to ask, and back again.
The garnishment process is again, a mess. The first time I finally found the place and did the paperwork for an execution, the clerk couldn't answer any fundamental questions (she literally didn't know the answers). She also only had me fill out one form when there were supposed to be two. I later got it mailed back to me telling me it was wrong. Back I go, through the whole multiple building goose chase to eventually find out it wasn't done right the first time. And, they can't tell you what to put in the blanks because that's legal advice. So, you cannot have a lawyer for small claims but you also cannot be told how to fill out a form or anything about the process you are invoking. And there are no resources or guides. Hmm, thanks. By the way, after you do the execution, you do need to have $10 cash to pay at the building across the street.
I have still not completed this process (thanks to an appeal by the no-show defendant), but I am sure there are more tornadoes to come. As resourceful as I am, I cannot imagine how difficult this process could be for the average Joe. It really makes me want to write a guide or figure out how to provide help to normal people that just want their money back from crooked landlords, contractors, neighbors, etc. C'mon City of St Louis, steal some content from the County website and up your game. The City buildings are way prettier, less crowded, and honestly who wants to go to Clayton anyway? NOT ME
UPDATE: the real civil court is more formal than the small claims court and takes much longer but you are not one of many cases on the docket. You are solo. My judge was very fair.
Garnishment execution orders are in the building next door in the "file room". Make sure you have a knowledgeable person helping you. They will then mail you the stamped copy. That copy goes to the sheriff's office to be served. In the County, this is the 5th floor of 105 S Central in Clayton. I'm not sure where it is in the City. Asking questions about this process has a 50% chance of getting the completely wrong answer. Be prepared to ask multiple people, multiple times.
Add'l update: Judgements earn 8% interest and last 10 years. You can renew them after that. You can also transfer them to another county. If you cannot collect, you can force them to court to disclose assets, but they can plead the 5th. Also, if you sued an individual you can run their credit to find their money. For a business, not really. Sue the individual. Collecting can be a nightmare. read more