PREPARING YOUR EVIDENCE

You must be ready to prove your dwide of the story to the judge.  And if you file a counterclaim against the landlord you needevidence to prove your counterclaim.  The judge will not investigate your claims if you do not have evidence to support them. 

Evidence is either testimony or paperwork. Sometimes it might be an object.

Testimony comes from you or any witnesses who testify on your behalf.  If you plan to testify, take some time to think about what you need to say to prove your side of the story. 

For example, the landlord claims that you broke your lease by letting someone live with you. You say the landlord knew about the guest and allowed the guest to stay. You tell the judge that the landlord knew about the guest and what the landlord did to show they agreed to it.

There is a better chance the judge will believe you if you can tell specifics about the dates and conversations. 

If you have a witness besides yourself, be sure that the witness goes with you to court.  The judge will not accept a written statement. Talk to your witness about what they will say in court. If the witness says something that hurts your case, you're stuck with it. 

If the witness refuses to come to court, the court can make the witness come. You must ask the court to subpoena a witness at least ten days before the date of your trial.  Review Instruction #9 in the Instructions at the end of this section for more details about having the court subpoena a witness.

Finally, be sure to have any papers that support your case. For example:

1.  If the landlord claims that you did not pay rent, and you did, you should make copies of your receipts, cancelled checks, bank statements showing where your rent came out or where you withdrew money to pay the rent. Be sure to mark out personal information like social s ecurity number and account number.

2.  If the landlord claims that you had a pet in violation of a "No Pets" rule in your lease, but you have texts where the landlord says its OK, print out screenshots of the texts or take a picture the texts one by one and print them out. 

Bring these papers with you to court with extra copies for the judge and the landlord. The judge will not look at documents or photos on your phone.  You must print out whatever you want the judge to see.  
 

People sometimes show up at court for a final eviction hearing and tell the court that they have documents that can prove what they say.  But if they have not brought the documents to court to show the judge, they are of no use.  The court will probably not allow you to go get the documents and bring them back after the final hearing.  You can ask the court to reschedule, or continue, the hearing so you can bring the papers you have. But that probably won't be allowed either.