The County Desk
67 counties · 20 circuits · one rulebookThe Small Claims Rules are statewide — the same 25 rules and 24 forms in every courthouse. What changes by county is the geography and the clerk's own numbers. This desk carries the statewide facts the statutes fix (the fee ladder's maximums, the summons charge, the no-fee-to-respond bar), maps every county to its circuit, and hands your chosen county straight into the Official Forms Desk caption. What it does not do: invent county-specific fees, addresses, or local practice — those are the county clerk's own published facts.
Which county? The rule's own venue menuFla. Sm. Cl. R. 7.060(a)
A proper location or venue may be one of the following: 1. Where the contract was entered into. 2. If the suit is on an unsecured promissory note, where the note is signed or where the maker resides. 3. If the suit is to recover property or to foreclose a lien, where the property is located. 4. Where the event giving rise to the suit occurred. 5. Where any one or more of the defendants sued reside. 6. Any location agreed to in a contract. 7. In an action for money due, if there is no agreement as to where suit may be filed, where payment is to be made.
The summons itself must print this venue menu in bold. A defendant sued in the wrong place can ask for a transfer orally at the first court date, or by sworn written request filed 7 days before it with a copy to the plaintiff.
Pick your county
67 of 67 counties shown · every county sits in exactly one judicial circuit · the choice of where to file is the filer's, from Rule 7.060(a)'s own venue menu.
3 captured judge procedures on the honest board
1 captured judge procedure on the honest board
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
2 captured judge procedures on the honest board
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
8 captured judge procedures on the honest board
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
4 captured judge procedures on the honest board
6 captured judge procedures on the honest board
1 captured judge procedure on the honest board
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
2 captured judge procedures on the honest board
4 captured judge procedures on the honest board
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
8 captured judge procedures on the honest board
2 captured judge procedures on the honest board
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
1 captured judge procedure on the honest board
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
2 captured judge procedures on the honest board
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
1 captured judge procedure on the honest board
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
1 captured judge procedure on the honest board
1 captured judge procedure on the honest board
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
38 captured judge procedures on the honest board
2 captured judge procedures on the honest board
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
1 captured judge procedure on the honest board
3 captured judge procedures on the honest board
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
no judge procedures captured for this county — stated plainly, never guessed
5 captured judge procedures on the honest board
The money facts the statutes fix statewide
Eight facts in the statutes' own words — filing-fee maximums, the writ adders, who pays for the summons and the postage, the defendant's no-fee bar, the counterclaim tiers with their transfer carve-out, the jurisdictional line, and the reopen caps. Every fragment is re-proven against the stored corpus by the release bench.
The filing-fee ladder — statutory maximums, tier by tier§ 34.041(1)(a), Fla. Stat.
Upon the institution of any civil action, suit, or proceeding in county court, the party shall pay the following filing fee, not to exceed: 1. For all claims less than $100 .......... $50. 2. For all claims of $100 or more but not more than $500 .......... $75. 3. For all claims of more than $500 but not more than $2,500: $170, from which the clerk shall remit $20 to the Department of Revenue for deposit into the General Revenue Fund. 4. For all claims of more than $2,500 but not more than $15,000 .......... $295.
The statute sets NOT-TO-EXCEED maximums — the amount actually charged is the clerk's under this section plus §§ 28.24/28.241 service charges. Every small-claims amount (up to $8,000) lands in the first four tiers. The county clerk's own published schedule is the number to pay.
The writ adders — and the $125 small-replevin package§ 34.041(1)(a)6.–7., Fla. Stat.
6. In addition, for all proceedings of garnishment, attachment, replevin, and distress: $85, from which the clerk shall remit $10 to the Department of Revenue for deposit into the General Revenue Fund. 7. Notwithstanding subparagraphs 3. and 6., for all claims of not more than $1,000 filed simultaneously with an action for replevin of property that is the subject of the claim .......... $125.
Garnishment, attachment, replevin, and distress carry an $85 adder — but a claim of $1,000 or less filed with a replevin of the same property pays $125 TOTAL, and the statute's own words bar any other filing fee on that filing. That package is the Form 7.336 lane's fee posture.
The summons charge and who pays postage§ 34.041(1)(d), (1)(b), Fla. Stat.
The clerk of court shall collect a service charge of $10 for issuing a summons or an electronic certified copy of a summons, which the clerk shall deposit into the fine and forfeiture fund established pursuant to s. 142.01. The clerk shall assess the fee against the party seeking to have the summons issued.
The $10 summons charge is the filer's, and § 34.041(1)(b)'s own words put the clerk's postal charges for service by mail on the party at whose instance service is made.
DEFENDING IS FREE TO FILE — the statute's own bar§ 34.041(6), Fla. Stat.
A charge or a fee may not be imposed upon a party for responding by pleading, motion, or other paper to a civil or criminal action, suit, or proceeding in a county court or to an appeal to the circuit court.
The defendant's money fact: responding — the appearance, a written motion, any responsive paper — carries no filing fee by statute. Affirmative relief (a counterclaim seeking money) is different; see the counterclaim tiers.
Counterclaim fees — and the transfer carve-out§ 34.041(1)(c), Fla. Stat.
This fee does not apply if the cross-claim, counterclaim, counterpetition, or third-party complaint requires transfer of the case from county to circuit court. However, the party shall pay to the clerk the standard filing fee for the court to which the case is to be transferred.
A counterclaim seeking more than $2,500 carries its own statutory fee tier — unless it TRANSFERS the case to circuit court, where the statute swaps it for the circuit court's standard filing fee. This is the money half of Rule 7.100(d)'s beyond-jurisdiction transfer; the rule's deposit-or-waive mechanics live in the defendant journey.
Where the $8,000 court sits inside the county court§ 34.01(1)(c)3., Fla. Stat.
Of all actions at law, except those within the exclusive jurisdiction of the circuit courts, in which the matter in controversy does not exceed, exclusive of interest, costs, and attorney fees: ... 3. If filed on or after January 1, 2023, the sum of $50,000.
County court civil jurisdiction runs to $50,000 (with a CPI adjustment mechanism beginning July 1, 2030, in the statute's own words) — the small-claims rules govern the first $8,000 of it (Rule 7.010(b)). Beyond $8,000 the case is still a county-court case, just not a small-claims one.
The statute that cites Rule 7.100(d) by name§ 34.011(2), Fla. Stat.
In cases transferred to the circuit court pursuant to Rule 1.170(j), Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, or Rule 7.100(d), Florida Small Claims Rules, the demands of all parties shall be resolved by the circuit court.
The landlord-tenant jurisdiction statute names the small-claims transfer rule itself: once a 7.100(d) transfer lands in circuit court, EVERY party's demands resolve there. The legislature and the rule speak with one voice.
Reopening after judgment — the caps and the exemptions§ 34.041(2), Fla. Stat.
A party reopening any civil action, suit, or proceeding in the county court shall pay to the clerk of court a filing fee set by the clerk in an amount not to exceed $25 for all claims of not more than $500 and an amount not to exceed $50 for all claims of more than $500.
Post-judgment work can trigger a reopen fee — capped at $25/$50 — but the statute's own exemption list includes the writs (garnishment, replevin, distress, attachment), a rehearing motion filed within 10 days, contempt motions, and responsive pleadings. The judgment-collection layer walks this ledger.
The census above is the code's pinned geography — 67 counties, each in exactly one judicial circuit, proven by the release bench against the platform's single geography layer. Indigency: the clerk's office administers civil-indigency determinations that can defer fees — ask the clerk; the determination is the clerk's, not this platform's.
TrialVector is software, not a law firm — legal information, not legal advice. Which county to file in is the filer's decision from the rule's own menu, and where judgment is needed a licensed Florida attorney is the right reader — the review bridge takes requests for free. Back to the Command Center or the Official Forms Desk.