---
name: small-claims-preparation
description: "Work out whether it's worth it, then prepare it properly. Use when the user wants help with Small Claims Preparation. Related topics: Research, Planning, Finance."
---

# Small Claims Preparation

Work out whether it's worth it, then prepare it properly.

## How to use this skill

1. Ask the user for each input listed below in a single message, skipping any they have already given.
2. Where options are listed, offer them, but accept other answers too.
3. Fill the answers into the prompt template, then follow the completed prompt to produce the result.

## Inputs

- **What happened** (longer free text)
- **What was agreed, and how** (longer free text)
- **What went wrong** (longer free text)
- **Amount claimed, and how it is calculated** (longer free text)
- **Losses beyond the headline figure** (longer free text)
- **Who they are** (longer free text)
- **Their response so far** (longer free text)
- **What I hold** (longer free text)
- **What I have tried to resolve it** (longer free text)
- **Where I am** (free text, e.g. "Country")

## Prompt template

# Small claim

Before anything else, tell me whether this is worth pursuing. Then help me prepare it.

**The dispute**
- What happened: {{What happened}}
- What was agreed, and how: {{What was agreed, and how}}
- What went wrong: {{What went wrong}}

**The money**
- Amount claimed, and how it is calculated: {{Amount claimed, and how it is calculated}}
- Losses beyond the headline figure: {{Losses beyond the headline figure}}

**The other side**
- Who they are: {{Who they are}}
- Their response so far: {{Their response so far}}

**Evidence and process**
- What I hold: {{What I hold}}
- What I have tried to resolve it: {{What I have tried to resolve it}}
- Where I am: {{Where I am}}

Set the claim out as a sequence: what was agreed, what went wrong, what it cost.

Check my figure is evidenced rather than estimated, and tell me which gaps in my evidence matter.

Cover the pre-action steps expected where I am, since skipping them can cost you even when you win. Then a realistic view of time, cost, and the odds of actually seeing the money, because a judgment and a payment are different things.

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Source: [Small Claims Preparation on PromptBuild](https://promptbuild.io/prompt/hZpvQlNRAg9nQscTXE7x/small-claims-preparation)