Georgia: Small Claims Court Dollar Limits
The short answer
Georgia's small claims limit is $15,000, exclusive of interest and costs, for anyone: individuals and businesses face the same figure. There's no separate small claims court; it's the ordinary civil jurisdiction of the Magistrate Court, which also handles evictions and other matters under separate, uncapped provisions. There's no jury, and a business can be represented by any of its employees, not just an attorney. Either side can appeal within 30 days for a full new trial (with a jury available) in State or Superior Court.
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This is the general rule in Georgia. Ezel applies current Georgia law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law | O.C.G.A. § 15-10-2(5) (Magistrate Court's general civil jurisdiction, the $15,000 cap); § 15-10-41 (no jury; de novo appeal); § 15-10-43 (procedure, including corporate representation) |
|---|---|
| Dollar limit | $15,000, exclusive of interest and costs: one flat figure, no venue split and no natural-person/entity split |
| Limit for businesses/entities | No lower dollar figure: an entity faces the identical $15,000 cap as an individual, and may be represented by an employee just as freely as an individual represents themselves |
| Court name and where to file | No separately named small claims court: it's the ordinary civil jurisdiction of the Magistrate Court for the county where the case is filed, commonly called 'small claims' as a matter of description, not a distinct division |
| Can you bring a lawyer? | Not required for anyone. Nothing bars an attorney, but an employee of a corporation or other legal entity may represent it at any stage, with no restriction on cross-examination or argument (§ 15-10-43(i)): broader than several other states' corporate-representative rules |
| Limit on how many claims you can file | None found: Article 3 (§§ 15-10-40 to 15-10-54) imposes no limit on how many claims a plaintiff may file |
| Can you appeal? | Symmetric and broad: either party may appeal a final judgment to the State Court or Superior Court of the county within 30 days, for a full trial de novo (§ 15-10-41(b)(1)): not available from a default judgment or a dismissal for nonappearance, which instead go through a separate review procedure |
| What you can sue for | Primarily money damages, in a civil claim not exceeding $15,000; the same Magistrate Court also independently handles dispossessory (eviction) and distress-warrant proceedings under a SEPARATE grant of jurisdiction (§ 15-10-2(6)) that is not subject to the $15,000 cap: a different proceeding type, not an extension of the small-claims money jurisdiction itself |
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Requirements one by one
Governing law
Georgia's Magistrate Court civil jurisdiction is set out in O.C.G.A. § 15-10-2(5): claims up to $15,000 where exclusive jurisdiction isn't vested in the superior court. The procedural rules that make this forum work like a small claims court — no jury, simplified pleadings, a specific corporate-representation allowance — come from Article 3 of the same chapter (§§ 15-10-40 through 15-10-54).
Dollar limit
$15,000, exclusive of interest and costs, under § 15-10-2(5) — a single flat figure with no split by plaintiff type. If your claim is worth more, you'd need to file in State or Superior Court instead, which have general civil jurisdiction and no dollar ceiling.
Limit for businesses/entities
There's no separate, lower dollar figure for a business. A corporation, LLC, or other entity faces exactly the same $15,000 cap as an individual under § 15-10-2(5).
Court name and where to file
There isn't a distinct "Small Claims Court" institution in Georgia — you file in the Magistrate Court of the county where the case belongs. Every county has one, and its ordinary civil docket is what most people mean when they say "small claims" in Georgia.
Can you bring a lawyer?
Yes, but nothing requires it, and Georgia's rule for businesses is unusually permissive. Section 15-10-43(i) says plainly that nothing in the chapter prohibits "an employee of any corporation or other legal entity from representing the corporation or legal entity before the magistrate court" — full stop, with no carve-out limiting that employee to filing paperwork or barring them from cross-examining witnesses or making arguments. That's broader than some neighboring states, where a non-lawyer corporate representative can present a claim but can't actively advocate.
Limit on how many claims you can file
No cap was found. Article 3 doesn't restrict how many claims a single plaintiff can file in Magistrate Court, unlike states that cap high-dollar filings at a set number per year.
Can you appeal?
Yes, and it's a genuine fresh trial, available to either side. Section 15-10-41(b)(1) sends an appeal from a Magistrate Court judgment to the State Court or Superior Court of the county "the same to be a de novo appeal" — the case is retried from scratch, not reviewed for legal error on the existing record. The notice of appeal is due within 30 days of judgment. There's an important exception: § 15-10-41(b)(2) blocks an appeal from a default judgment or a dismissal for the plaintiff's nonappearance; those go through a separate "petition for review" process to the State or Superior Court instead.
What you can sue for
Mainly money damages, capped at $15,000 under § 15-10-2(5). But the same Magistrate Court also independently handles landlord-tenant dispossessory (eviction) proceedings and distress warrants under § 15-10-2(6) — a completely separate grant of jurisdiction that Georgia courts have held is NOT subject to the $15,000 cap. That means a landlord can pursue both eviction and a money judgment exceeding $15,000 in a dispossessory case in the very same court, even though an ordinary small claim there tops out at $15,000. It's a different type of proceeding, not a broader version of the small-claims money jurisdiction itself — and a tenant's own counterclaims in that same dispossessory case are still capped at $15,000, since courts treat counterclaims as ordinary § 15-10-2(5) claims.
What trips people up
"Magistrate Court" and "small claims court" are the same thing here, just under a different name. People sometimes search for a separate small claims court and don't find one — that's because Georgia never created a distinct forum; it's all handled inside the Magistrate Court's regular civil docket.
Appealing means starting over completely, for either side. Because the appeal is de novo, winning at the Magistrate Court level doesn't lock in much if the other side appeals — the State or Superior Court hears the whole case again, new evidence and all.
A landlord's eviction claim can seek far more than $15,000 in the same courtroom that caps ordinary claims at $15,000. That asymmetry catches people off guard: the money-damages cap that applies to an everyday small claim doesn't apply to the dispossessory jurisdiction the same Magistrate Court also exercises.
Common questions
Can my LLC send a regular employee to represent it in Magistrate Court? Yes — § 15-10-43(i) allows any employee of a corporation or other legal entity to represent it, without the narrower restrictions (like a bar on cross-examination) that some other states impose on non-lawyer corporate representatives.
If I win, can the other side get a full new trial just by appealing? Yes. A Magistrate Court appeal in Georgia is de novo — the State or Superior Court retries the whole case, not just reviews it for errors.
Can I get a jury trial for my small claim? Not at the Magistrate Court level — § 15-10-41(a) bars jury trials there entirely. A jury may become available only if the case is appealed to State or Superior Court.
Statutes and sources
- O.C.G.A. § 15-10-2(5) — "The trial of civil claims ... in which ... the amount demanded or the value of the property claimed does not exceed $15,000.00." — https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2020/title-15/chapter-10/article-1/section-15-10-2/ — accessed 2026-07-09
- O.C.G.A. § 15-10-2(6) — "The issuance of summons, trial of issues, and issuance of writs and judgments in dispossessory proceedings and distress warrant proceedings." — https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2020/title-15/chapter-10/article-1/section-15-10-2/ — accessed 2026-07-09
- O.C.G.A. § 15-10-41(a)-(b)(1) — "There shall be no jury trials in the magistrate court. ... appeals may be had ... to the state court ... or to the superior court ... the same to be a de novo appeal." — https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/title-15/chapter-10/article-3/section-15-10-41/ — accessed 2026-07-09
- O.C.G.A. § 15-10-41(b)(2) — "No appeal shall lie from a default judgment or from a dismissal for want of prosecution after a nonappearance of a plaintiff for trial." — https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/title-15/chapter-10/article-3/section-15-10-41/ — accessed 2026-07-09
- O.C.G.A. § 15-10-43(i) — "Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit an employee of any corporation or other legal entity from representing the corporation or legal entity before the magistrate court." — https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/title-15/chapter-10/article-3/section-15-10-43/ — accessed 2026-07-09
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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