Terms of Service
Last updated: July 17, 2026
Welcome to CourtConfident. These Terms of Service ("Terms") are an agreement between you and Tahoma Ventures LLC, doing business as CourtConfident ("CourtConfident," "we," "us"). By creating an account, completing a case intake, or paying for our services, you agree to these Terms. Please read them. They're written to be understood, not to hide things.
1. What CourtConfident is — and is not
CourtConfident is a document preparation and electronic filing service for California small claims cases. We help you prepare your case, generate your court forms and demand letter, and file your case electronically with the court. We are not a law firm. We are not your attorney. We do not provide legal advice. Nothing on our site, in our emails, or in our product is legal advice. We cannot tell you whether to sue, whom to sue, how much to sue for, or whether you'll win. Those judgments are yours. If you need legal advice, every California county provides a free small claims advisor by law, and the court's self-help center is free. We'll point you to these resources throughout our service.
2. What you're buying
Preparation ($19.99, paid when you start). When you complete intake and pay, you immediately receive: your completed court form (SC-100), a drafted demand letter ready for you to send, and your case held ready to file. This fee is called the preparation fee. Filing and acceptance ($299, charged only if the court accepts your case). When the court accepts your filing and schedules it for hearing, you are charged a single Court Acceptance Fee of $299 — total, and never more. Your court's filing fee (set by the court at $30–$75 depending on your claim amount) is included inside the $299 at the court's exact cost. Your receipt itemizes both amounts. You may see two charges on your card statement that together total $299. What "acceptance" means: the court has approved your filing and scheduled your hearing. Acceptance is not winning your case. What happens at your hearing is between you, the other party, and the judge. We charge at acceptance because that is what our service delivers: a correctly prepared case the court accepts. Service of process ($100 deposit, optional). After acceptance, the law requires the defendant to be formally served. You can arrange this yourself — the court offers low-cost options, including clerk's certified mail — or you can ask us to coordinate it for a $100 deposit. We'll show you both options honestly. If the court doesn't accept your filing, you are not charged the $299. Your total spending on a case that is never accepted is $19.99.
3. Payment authorization
By paying the preparation fee, you authorize us to: • Charge $19.99 immediately; • Charge the $299 Court Acceptance Fee (which includes your court's filing fee) to your saved payment method when the court accepts your filing, without further action from you. We will email you when this charge occurs, itemized, at the amount quoted when you started. Between those two charges, your card is not charged, held, or authorized for anything. If the $299 charge fails (expired card, insufficient funds), we'll contact you to update your payment method. Your case status is unaffected while we resolve payment, but continued nonpayment is a breach of these Terms.
4. Cancellation and refunds
You may cancel any time before we file your case with the court, for a full refund of the $19.99 preparation fee. No conditions. It doesn't matter why — even if you used the demand letter and the other party paid you. (Honestly, that's our favorite outcome.) Your refund right stays open for as long as your case is unfiled — up to 90 days. If we haven't heard from you and the case is still waiting, we'll email you at day 80 with a reminder of your open refund and the approaching close. On day 90 your case expires and the refund window closes with it (see Section 6). Once we file your case with the court, the preparation fee is non-refundable. The court then decides whether to accept or reject your filing; Section 7 (rejection) or Section 8 (acceptance) governs from that point. The $299 Court Acceptance Fee is only ever charged after the court accepts your case; there is no refund scenario for it because it is never charged for a case that isn't accepted.
5. Your case, your statements, your responsibilities
Everything you tell us goes on your court forms under your signature. You are responsible for the truth and accuracy of the information you provide — including your statement that you asked the other party to pay before filing (the court requires this). We prepare documents from your information; we do not verify your facts. Your demand letter is your letter. We draft it from your information, but you sign it and you send it. We do not deliver it and do not track its delivery. When you confirm to us that you've asked the other party to pay, you are attesting to a fact — and that attestation goes on your court form. Your typed signature is a legal signature. When you type your name to sign your court form, that is your signature under California court rules, with the same force as ink.
6. Filing: when and how it happens
If you told us you already asked the other party to pay: your payment is your instruction to file. We review your case (typically 1–3 business days) and file it with the court. You can cancel any time before we file. If your claim has a legally required waiting period (for example, security deposit claims cannot be filed until 21 days after move-out): we tell you your exact filing date at checkout, and we file automatically on that date unless you cancel first. You can cancel any time before that date for a full refund. If you haven't asked the other party to pay yet: we give you the demand letter. You send it, then return and confirm that you've asked them to pay and when. We never file until you confirm — because only you know whether you've made the demand. We'll remind you if we haven't heard from you. Changes to your case: you may request changes any time before we begin filing — just message us and we'll update your case. If a change affects your court form, you'll re-sign the updated form before we file. Once filing has begun, changes must go through the court's own processes; we cannot modify a filed case. Case expiration: if your case remains unfiled for 90 days (for example, you never confirmed your demand), it expires. We'll email you a reminder before then — at day 80 — which also includes a last-chance refund offer (see Section 4). On day 90, your case expires and your refund window closes with it. You can start a new case any time; starting again is a new case with a new preparation fee, not a resumption of the expired one.
7. If the court rejects your filing
Court clerks sometimes reject filings for technical reasons. If that happens: nothing further is charged — the $299 never applies. We'll tell you the court's stated reason, help you correct the issue, and refile at no additional charge, as many times as it takes. Each rejection makes us better at preventing the next one.
8. After the court accepts your case
Acceptance is where our accountability ends and your case continues. After acceptance: • Serving the defendant is your responsibility. California law requires formal service by specific methods and deadlines (we'll tell you the deadline). You may serve through the court's options or through our optional service-of-process offering. If the defendant is not properly served in time, your hearing may be postponed or your case dismissed — and that is not something we can prevent or remedy. • Appearing at your hearing is your responsibility. We'll remind you of your hearing date. If you don't appear, the court may dismiss your case. • We will send you: your acceptance confirmation with hearing details, a service-of-process reminder with your deadline, and a hearing reminder. Our post-acceptance obligations are these notifications. We cannot serve for you (outside the optional SOP service), appear for you, argue for you, or guarantee any outcome. • If you want to end your case after acceptance: you may dismiss your case by filing a court form (CIV-110, "Request for Dismissal"). This is a court action — you file the form directly with the court, and the court's self-help center can help you free of charge. We don't file CIV-110 for you at this time. The $299 Court Acceptance Fee is not refunded on dismissal; the acceptance service you paid for was delivered when the court accepted your case. • No refunds are available for cases that fail after acceptance due to non-service, non-appearance, or the court's judgment. The service you purchased — a prepared, filed, and accepted case — was delivered.
9. What we don't do
• Provide legal advice or act as your attorney • Represent you in court (California law prohibits attorney representation in small claims hearings anyway) • Guarantee that the court will accept your filing, that you will win, or that you will collect • Handle post-judgment enforcement or collection • Support fee-waiver (FW-001) filings — if you cannot afford the court's filing fee, the court can waive it, but a waiver application must be filed at the court's own clerk window along with your claim (the clerk will help you free of charge). We'll ask you at intake whether you plan to apply for a waiver; if you do, we'll route you to that clerk-window pathway before we take any payment • File claims outside our supported case types — some claims (injuries, claims against government agencies, evictions, and others) need an attorney or a different process, and our intake will tell you when that's the case
10. Eligibility
You must be at least 18 years old and filing a California small claims case in your own name (or as authorized for your business, where supported). You must be the original owner of your claim. One case per intake.
11. Text messages (SMS)
If you opt in to text updates, we'll send you case status notifications (filing confirmations, court decisions, hearing reminders). Message frequency varies with your case activity. Message and data rates may apply. • Reply STOP to cancel at any time. Reply HELP for help. • Opting out of texts does not affect your case or your email notifications. • We do not share or sell your phone number or SMS opt-in data with third parties for their marketing purposes. Text messaging originator opt-in data and consent will not be shared with any third parties. • Consent to receive texts is not a condition of purchase.
12. Email communications
By using CourtConfident, you agree to receive transactional emails about your case (payment confirmations, filing status, court decisions, hearing reminders). These are part of the service and cannot be opted out of while your case is active. Marketing emails, if any, are separate and always include an unsubscribe link.
13. Your account and accurate information
Keep your login credentials secure and your contact information current — court deadlines are real, and we can only reach you at the addresses you give us. You're responsible for activity under your account.
14. Intellectual property and acceptable use
The CourtConfident platform, software, and content are ours or our licensors'. Your case information is yours. Don't misuse the service: no false claims, no filing on behalf of others without authorization, no attempts to breach or reverse-engineer the platform, no use of the service for harassment or claims you know to be false. We may suspend accounts for misuse.
15. Privacy
Our Privacy Policy (at /privacy) explains what information we collect and how we use it. It is part of these Terms.
16. Disclaimers and limitation of liability
These services are provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We do not warrant that the court will accept any filing or that you will obtain any particular outcome. To the maximum extent permitted by law, CourtConfident's total liability for any claim arising out of these Terms or the service will not exceed the amounts you paid us for the case giving rise to the claim, and we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages. Some rights cannot be limited under California law; nothing in these Terms limits rights that cannot lawfully be waived.
17. Disputes
These Terms are governed by California law. Any dispute arising out of these Terms or the service will be brought in the state courts located in Contra Costa County, California. (And yes — small claims court is available for disputes within its limits. We'd expect nothing less.)
18. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms. If we make material changes, we'll notify you by email before they take effect. Changes don't apply retroactively to cases already paid for — the terms in effect when you paid govern that case.
19. Contact
Tahoma Ventures LLC (d/b/a CourtConfident) [Address] Questions about these Terms: use the contact email below.
Questions? Contact us at [email protected]