Tools · Small Claims
Wisconsin Small Claims Checker (2026)
Enter your claim amount to see whether it fits under the Wisconsin small claims limit ($10,000), with the filing fee and whether a lawyer is allowed at the hearing.
Wisconsin 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 $10,000 money-judgment and replevin caps rise to $15,000 on January 1, 2027 under 2025 Wisconsin Act 105. The $5,000 tort cap is not changed by that act. The figures below are the ones in effect through the end of 2026.
Enter your claim amount above to see it compared against the Wisconsin figures.
Where and how to file is procedure this page does not walk through; the official self-help resource is Wisconsin Courts small claims help center. 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
- Wisconsin small claims limit
- $10,000
- Filing fee
- ~$94.50
- 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 Wisconsin small claims reference, cited to Wis. Stat. §799.01(1).
How the Wisconsin small claims limit works
Wisconsin has a small-claims quirk that trips up a lot of people, and it runs the opposite way from what you might expect. Under Wis. Stat. §799.01(1), the general limit for money judgments and most civil actions is $10,000, but tort claims (personal injury, property damage, and third-party complaints) are capped LOWER at $5,000, not exempted. We confirmed both figures on the official Wisconsin Courts small claims help page, which states the $10,000 money limit and the separate $5,000 tort limit. Eviction actions carry no dollar ceiling at all, and return-of-property cases run to $10,000 in value, so the real answer to "what is the limit?" depends on the kind of claim. Lawyers are allowed but not required, and even a business can appear through an authorized employee. The base filing fee is $94.50. One change to watch: on January 1, 2027 the $10,000 money and replevin caps jump to $15,000 under 2025 Act 105, while the $5,000 tort cap stays put.
This checker compares your number to the Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin small claims reference.
Small claims checkers for other states
Same tool, each with its own ceiling and fee.