Tools · Small Claims
Minnesota Small Claims Checker (2026)
Enter your claim amount to see whether it fits under the Minnesota small claims limit ($20,000), with the filing fee and whether a lawyer is allowed at the hearing.
Minnesota 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.
The general limit rose from $15,000 to $20,000 effective August 1, 2024. Older guides that still say $15,000 are out of date; the $20,000 figure is current.
Enter your claim amount above to see it compared against the Minnesota figures.
Where and how to file is procedure this page does not walk through; the official self-help resource is Minnesota Judicial Branch (conciliation court). 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
- Minnesota small claims limit
- $20,000
- Filing fee
- ~$65–$80
- 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 Minnesota small claims reference, cited to Minn. Stat. §491A.01, subd. 3a.
How the Minnesota small claims limit works
Minnesota calls its small claims court "conciliation court," and the ceiling is $20,000 for most claims under Minn. Stat. §491A.01. We confirmed both the general cap and the exception verbatim on the official Revisor of Statutes site: the statute reads that conciliation court hears claims where the amount does not exceed "$20,000" or "$4,000, if the claim involves a consumer credit transaction." That second number matters. If your dispute is over a purchase or a loan used to buy personal property for household use, the cap drops to $4,000, not $20,000. The general limit went up from $15,000 on August 1, 2024, so any source still printing $15,000 is stale. Lawyers are allowed but not required, and the filing fee starts at $65, with a few counties adding a small law-library surcharge.
This checker compares your number to the Minnesota 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 Minnesota small claims reference.
Small claims checkers for other states
Same tool, each with its own ceiling and fee.