Build a Small-Claims Prep Checklist From Your Timeline
Small-claims is mostly preparation, and the preparation has an order. This takes your dispute timeline and sequences the prep around it — demand letter first, evidence next, filing and serving after — with a deadline rail for the dates that actually bind you. Local only; nothing leaves the tab.
- Sequencing
- Prep steps ordered around your timeline
- local
- What it replaces
- A generic pamphlet with no order
- $0.00
- Input
- Your dispute timeline
- no card
- Output
- An ordered checklist plus a deadline rail
- recomputed
What you pay otherwise
| Route | What you get | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Lawyer consultation | Advice on whether and how to file | $200+/hr |
| Filing unprepared | The case continued or dismissed on a technicality | real cost |
| Giving up on the claim | The amount lost for lack of a checklist | the claim |
| This page | Your timeline, turned into ordered prep | $0 |
The workflow
Paste the timeline as events with dates
'March 3: paid $900 deposit', 'April 10: no work done'. Dates and events, in order. The checklist hangs the prep steps on what you actually lived.
Do the demand letter before anything else
Most jurisdictions expect a written demand before you file. The checklist puts it first, because a case that settles at the letter costs you nothing more.
Gather evidence in the order it happened
Receipts, messages, photos — the evidence step lists them in your timeline's order, so you're assembling a story, not a pile. The strongest case is the one that reads in order.
Watch the deadline rail
Statutes of limitation vary and the rail only flags the dates in your timeline — it doesn't compute the legal deadline. Check the limit for your jurisdiction before you rely on any date.
Worked example
Sample: a contractor dispute timeline Events 4 (deposit, promise, missed date, refusal) Prep steps 6, sequenced Deadline rail 1 flagged (the last missed date) Uploaded nothing — built in the tab
Numbers above are sample data produced by the tool's own pre-loaded example, run in the browser — not averages or measured benchmarks.
What breaks this
A timeline with no dates gives the checklist nothing to hang on — add the dates. Skipping the demand letter to 'just file' is the common error that can lose a case on process; it's first for a reason. Trusting the rail for the legal deadline is wrong — the tool sequences your facts, and the statute of limitations is a question for your jurisdiction, not this checklist.
Try it now
A contractor-dispute timeline is loaded and sequenced. Paste your own timeline and watch the checklist rebuild around it.
Open the prep checklist →Go deeper: the printable docket
The checklist is free forever. The $4 one-time tier adds:
- Printable docket — the ordered checklist on one sheet — estimate: ~12 min saved versus writing it out.
- Saved cases shelf — keep prep for one case together — estimate: ~15 min saved per case.
- Evidence log — track what you've gathered — estimate: ~10 min saved.