Tools · Small Claims
Louisiana Small Claims Checker (2026)
Enter your claim amount to see whether it fits under the Louisiana small claims limit ($5,000), with the filing fee and whether a lawyer is allowed at the hearing.
Louisiana small claims checker
The dollar amount you would ask the court for: the deposit, the unpaid bill, the repair cost. Interest and court costs usually sit on top of the limit, not inside it.
Enter your claim amount above to see it compared against the Louisiana figures.
Where and how to file is procedure this page does not walk through; the official self-help resource is Shreveport City Court (small claims division). If your claim is a security deposit a landlord kept, the security deposit calculator shows the cap and the return deadline that apply to it.
- Your claim amount
- Not entered
- Louisiana small claims limit
- $5,000
- Filing fee
- ~$35–$150 per case
- Lawyers at the hearing
- Allowed
Plain-language summary, not legal advice.
Informational only, not legal advice, and not a prediction that any claim would succeed. Limits change and some states carve out claim types this summary cannot weigh. See the full rule and the citations on the Louisiana small claims reference, cited to La. R.S. 13:5200 et seq. (13:5202 jurisdiction).
How the Louisiana small claims limit works
Louisiana caps small claims at $5,000, set by La. R.S. 13:5202. The wrinkle here is where those cases are heard. The statute (R.S. 13:5201) lets each city court create a small claims division by its own court rule, but it does not force every court to have one, so the small claims division exists in city courts that chose to set one up rather than uniformly across all 64 parishes. We confirmed the $5,000 figure on the official Shreveport City Court small claims page, which cites the statute directly, and the Baton Rouge City Court page shows the same limit. If your parish has no city court small claims division, a minor money dispute usually goes to justice of the peace court instead, which is a different court with separate rules. One thing worth planning around: a small claims judgment here is final, with no appeal, so both sides often bring a lawyer even though it is not required. Filing costs are set court by court, so expect roughly $35 for a single defendant in Shreveport up to around $85 in Baton Rouge, plus service costs on top.
This checker compares your number to the Louisiana ceiling; it is informational only and not legal advice, and it says nothing about whether a claim would succeed. For where to file and what the hearing looks like, use the official self-help resource linked in the result. The full rule and the citations are on the Louisiana small claims reference.
Small claims checkers for other states
Same tool, each with its own ceiling and fee.