Your business is owed $10,000 or more, and the client won't pay?
Tell SueEasy what happened, and it helps you prepare a complete filing to collect your unpaid invoice, ready for the right California court, with fees starting at $199.
File a Lawsuit
The cost of waiting to collect what you're owed
Your paper trail gets harder to find
Emails, signed proposals, and delivery records get harder to track down the longer an invoice sits unpaid.
Your money stays with the client longer
Every month you wait is a month they hold cash that may be legally yours.
A collectible client today may not be tomorrow
A struggling client today can turn into a dissolved, asset-less one tomorrow. Check now, not after you've already won.
So is this worth filing?
Not every unpaid invoice is worth the time and cost of a lawsuit. These are the patterns that tend to decide it.
Worth filing
- The client is still active and clearly has assets
- The invoice, contract, or emails clearly show what was agreed
- Nobody disputes that the work was done, only payment
- A demand letter was sent and ignored
Not worth filing yet
- The client has dissolved with no assets left to collect from
- You can't find the client or confirm they're still in business
- The client disputes the work itself, not just the amount owed
- You haven't yet checked whether the business is still registered or has liens against it
What it costs to collect on an unpaid business invoice
Start free, see everything before you pay
- Full guided intake
- Invoice and contract checked for common problems
- Defenses your client may raise
- Draft demand letter preview
Priced by how much is at stake in your case
- Invoice amount claimed under $12,500: $199
- Invoice amount claimed $12,500-$35,000: $699
- Invoice amount claimed over $35,000: $1,299
- Complete demand letter and complaint, ready to file
- Court fee collected in one checkout
Extra confidence, priced by case size
- Everything in File it yourself
- Licensed CA attorney review
- Revisions before filing
- Attorney files on your behalf
Court filing fees are separate, paid to the clerk. This covers preparing and filing your complaint. It does not include legal representation unless you add attorney review.
When you might not need us
Owed less than about $6,250 by an individual, not a company? Small claims is open to you directly, with a free SC-100 (California's small claims court form) and help from your county's small claims advisor. If your client isn't disputing the amount so much as fighting you on liability itself, that's a case for a litigation attorney, not a document-prep service, and no filing service changes that.
The value is in the analysis, not the forms
PLD-C-001, (the standard court form for a contract claim) is a public form. What we actually charge for is getting the forum and defendant right, checking whether your case qualifies as a Rule 3.740 collections case, a faster and more streamlined court track for simple, undisputed debts, and building a complaint around your strongest evidence of the debt.
California's rules for collecting on an unpaid invoice
"CCP" below is short for the Code of Civil Procedure, and "Civil Code" is a separate California code, each cited next to the specific rule it comes from.
Your LLC's cap
Small claims tops out at $6,250 for corporations, LLCs, and partnerships. CCP 116.220.
Sole proprietors differ
No separate entity means you get the full $12,500 individual small claims limit.
Limited civil
Covers $10,000 to $35,000, the range most unpaid business invoices actually fall into.
Above $35,000
You're in unlimited civil, a $435 filing fee and meaningfully more procedural formality.
Suing personally instead
Only works if the contract was genuinely with you, not your LLC. Otherwise expect a standing challenge, the defendant arguing you're not the right party to bring the case at all.
Two-claims rule
No more than two small claims filings above $2,500 per filer, per year, statewide.
Written contract
Four years from breach. CCP 337.
Oral agreement
Two years from breach. CCP 339.
Open book account
An ongoing running tab with a client, like a series of invoices. Its four-year deadline runs from the date of the last entry, not the first invoice. CCP 337(2).
What counts as breach
Generally the date payment became due and wasn't made, not when you gave up chasing it.
Prejudgment interest
10% a year on a sum certain, a fixed and specific dollar amount rather than an estimate, running from the due date. Civil Code 3289.
Attorney fees
Only recoverable if your contract has a fee-shifting clause, a term saying the losing side pays the winner's legal costs. Civil Code 1717.
Fee clauses run both ways
Once a contract has a fee-shifting clause at all, section 1717 makes it apply to both sides. Whichever side wins can use it, even if the clause was written to favor only one.
Contractual late fees
Courts will generally enforce a reasonable rate your contract or invoice specifies, separate from the statutory 10%.
LLC or corporation
Name the entity exactly as registered with the Secretary of State.
Sole proprietor DBA
DBA means "doing business as," a fictitious business name. Name the individual, with the DBA noted, since a fictitious name can't be sued on its own.
Personal guarantee
A guarantor on the contract or credit application may be a separate defendant worth naming.
General partnership
Partners can generally be held personally liable for a partnership's debts, so name the partnership and its partners.
Is your case a Rule 3.740 collections case?
Rule 3.740 is a California Rule of Court that creates a streamlined subset of limited civil for straightforward money owed on a contract, account, or judgment.
Likely qualifies
- A simple, undisputed debt on a contract, account, or prior judgment
- No claim for punitive damages or the recovery of specific property
- Damages are a fixed or readily calculable sum
- Comes with somewhat faster service and case-management timelines
Probably doesn't qualify
- Your client disputes liability, not just the amount
- The claim involves anything beyond a straightforward money debt
- You're seeking equitable relief alongside the money owed
- Classification gets assessed at intake, since it changes what actually gets filed
A cross-complaint, a counter-lawsuit the other side files back at you, alleging your work was defective is the moment this case stops being simple. Preparing and filing your complaint is the service, It doesn't extend to carrying a contested case through discovery and trial.
File a LawsuitHow to sue a client for an unpaid business invoice
Before filing
Send a demand letter first. Not required, but a meaningful share of disputes settle here.
- Invoice & datesAmount owed, invoice date, due date, any partial payments
- The exact termsWhat the contract or emails actually established
- What you're claimingPrincipal plus 10% interest, cite Civil Code 3289
- A number & deadlineWhat you're demanding, a response deadline, where to send payment
Confirm your forum
Get this wrong and you file in the wrong court entirely.
- Small claimsCapped at $6,250 for your LLC, $12,500 if you're a sole proprietor
- Limited civil$10,000 to $35,000, most invoice disputes land here
- Rule 3.740Check whether your case qualifies as a streamlined collections case
- Unlimited civilAbove $35,000, a $435 fee and more formality
Name the defendant
Get this wrong and you can win the case and hold an unenforceable judgment.
- LLC or corporationExact registered name and the agent for service, the person or company authorized to receive legal papers on the business's behalf
- Sole proprietor DBAName the individual, note the DBA
- Personal guaranteeConsider naming the guarantor too
- Dissolved entityStill generally nameable, and an alter-ego theory (treating the business and its owner as legally the same) may apply if a member drained the account
File the complaint
Judicial Council form PLD-C-001, or the collections-case forms if it qualifies.
- Filing fee$225 up to $10,000, $370 over $10,000 up to $35,000
- VenueWhere the contract was to be performed or the defendant is based
- Fee waiverGenerally available to individuals, not to entities
- ClassificationRule 3.740 collections case, decided at intake
Serve the papers
You can't serve them yourself.
- Personal serviceMost reliable, a process server or someone over 18
- Substituted serviceLeave with someone at the business, then mail a copy
- Certified mailCheapest, only works if they sign
- DeadlinesGenerally 60 days to serve after filing
After service
Filing is the start of the case, not the end of it.
- Response windowDefendant generally has 30 days to answer
- No responseMove for a default judgment (winning automatically because no answer was filed), plus a prove-up hearing or declaration to confirm the amount owed
- Case management conferenceCourt sets a schedule if they do respond
- Cross-complaintA defective-work counterclaim turns this into real litigation
After judgment
A judgment is permission to collect, not money.
- Abstract of judgmentA lien on real property they own in the county
- Wage garnishmentIf the debtor is an individual with a job
- Bank levyThrough the county sheriff, if you know where they bank
- Interest & duration10% a year, enforceable for 10 years and renewable, they can appeal
Unpaid invoice FAQs
SueEasy is a self-help legal technology product built by LegalForce RAPC Worldwide, P.C. Using SueEasy does not create an attorney-client relationship and does not provide legal advice. We are not a law firm and cannot represent you in court. Every California county provides a free small claims advisor, and we can point you to yours.