Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in North Carolina

If that much is owed, you would be foolish NOT to use an attorney. The limits of small claims court, even though expanded, only go up to $10,000. Which means that you are talking about regular court. There are no forms for this. Courts do not like people who represent themselves and as you ask basic questions, this does not make me believe that you would be ok representing yourself.

You would not do brain surgery on yourself or install a furnace or put on a new roof to your house unless you were a professional and skilled in these areas. So why should law be any different? Filing a lawsuit is not all that expensive assuming the debtor can be served. If there are problems with service though, if you do not get a lawyer you will have to figure out how to do this yourself. Assuming that you can overcome the service hurdle, where you are going to have problems is in collecting on a money judgment if the debtor has no assets. There is no wage garnishment in NC and if the debtor is married and or owns assets jointly with another, its going to be very hard to get to them.

Just because money is owed does not mean you win. Do you have a signed promissory note? If not, do you have some proof that the debt is owed, like cancelled checks/money orders or other documentation? Can you prove you made a loan and not a gift? What about the statute of limitations? How long has it been? These are all things that you would beed to discuss with a lawyer.

The action should be filed where the debtor resides in most cases. See below:

NC GS � 1-82. Venue in all other cases.

In all other cases the action must be tried in the county in which the plaintiffs or the defendants, or any of them, reside at its commencement, or if none of the defendants reside in the State, then in the county in which the plaintiffs, or any of them, reside; and if none of the parties reside in the State, then the action may be tried in any county which the plaintiff designates in the plaintiff's summons and complaint, subject to the power of the court to change the place of trial, in the cases provided by statute; provided that any person who has resided on or been stationed in a United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, or Air Force installation or reservation within this State for a period of one (1) year or more next preceding the institution of an action shall be deemed a resident of the county within which such installation or reservation, or part thereof, is situated and of any county adjacent to such county where such person stationed at such installation or reservation lives in such adjacent county, for the purposes of this section. The term person shall include military personnel and the spouses and dependents of such personnel.

Ms. Hunter is correct that you should use an attorney. It is impossible to say with certainty which county the case could be filed in because you don't give enough information about why the money is owed.