To Sue or Not to Sue

Dealing with late paying customers can be frustrating, especially when your efforts have gone unnoticed! Fortunately, you do have many options for collecting on what you’re owed. And, in the interest of pleasant customer relations, it’s best that you try out all of them before resorting to legal action. If you’ve tried all of the following to no avail, then it may be time to head to court:

l  Sending demands for payment/late notices, etc.                       

l  Phone calls

l  Working with a debt collection agency

If you’ve exhausted all of these options, then court may be an option for you. May is really the operative word there though. You should only head to court if you have all of the necessary documentation for proving your case. This includes things like a signed, dated, and properly notarized contract and proof that you have formally requested payments in the past.

If you do have enough to build a case on, you’ll need to look at the total amount that’s owed and use that to decide which court to go to. Smaller amounts may only be grounds for going to small claims court while larger amounts may be sufficient for a civil trial. In either case, getting a professional lawyer to actually do the legal work for you can be helpful and can make the process of collecting your money a lot more streamlined and simple.

The bottom line is that suing is not something anyone or any business wants to do. It’s a last resort option. If you’re given no choice but to sue, however, just make sure you go about it the right way to guarantee positive results.