The statutory affidavit
Section 1753 doesn't just require an affidavit — it prints the form. The statute sets out two versions (one for money and replevin claims, one for interpleader), and every small claims case in Oklahoma begins on one of them. The plaintiff swears to:
- the defendant's residence and mailing address — the single most consequential line on the page, because service and the case calendar run off it;
- the amount owed and the basis for it (or, in replevin, a description and value of the property wrongfully held); and
- the truth of all of it, sworn before a notary, the clerk, or a judge.
Since 2019 the affidavit must also include the plaintiff's jury disclaimer under §1751(F) — covered in what qualifies.
The Order to Appear
Printed on the same document is the court's Order to Appear. When the affidavit is filed, the clerk fills in the hearing date and place and signs it. The order commands the defendant to appear with all books, papers, and witnesses needed to establish any defense — and delivers the Act's bluntest sentence:
Unless the defendant appears and gives evidence of a legal defense, judgment will be rendered against the defendant for the amount of the claim, together with costs and attorney fees.
Order to Appear, 12 O.S. §1753 (paraphrased)
That is the default-judgment engine that makes small claims fast for prepared plaintiffs: a properly served defendant who stays home loses at the first setting, for the full sworn amount. The hearing date itself must fall 10 to 60 days out — the clock rules live in the service guide.
What the clerk will — and won't — do
Section 1754 puts the clerk at the filer's service: the plaintiff prepares the affidavit or, on request, the clerk drafts it. This is genuinely unusual — a court employee obligated to help you paper your own lawsuit — and it's part of why the docket works for self-represented filers at all.
But the help has a hard boundary. The clerk fills in forms; the clerk cannot tell you whom to sue (the person? the LLC? both?), what the claim is worth once interest and contract charges are computed, which theory to swear to, or what evidence will actually carry the day. Every one of those choices is locked in at filing, and several of them — wrong entity, stale address, wrong amount — are the classic ways plaintiffs lose months or whole cases.
In person or by mail — not online
Section 1754 allows filing in person or by mail. What it doesn't allow — and this surprises people every week — is e-filing: OSCN's own e-filing user guide states flatly that new small claims cases cannot be e-filed. (Documents can be e-filed into a case that already exists, but the case itself starts on paper.) In Tulsa County that means the Court Clerk's office, Room 200 at 500 S. Denver Ave., or an envelope — details on the court page. Ignore the websites claiming Oklahoma small claims can be filed online in all 77 counties; they are wrong.
The §1764 fee structure
Section 1764 sets a two-tier structure keyed to the claim amount. At current Tulsa County amounts:
| Claim amount | Filing cost | Structure from |
|---|---|---|
| $5,000 or less | $58 | 12 O.S. §1764 (small-claims tier) |
| $5,000.01 – $10,000 | $225.39 — the standard civil filing level applies above $5,000 | §1764 / Title 28 |
| Counterclaim or setoff | $20 (Tulsa County) | 28 O.S. §152.1 |
Service costs stack on top — $10 for the clerk's certified mailing per defendant, or a licensed private process server's fee (varies, usually around $75) — and a licensed server's fee is taxed as costs, meaning the losing defendant ultimately pays it (§§1764, 1765). Apart from what §1764 and §1772 authorize, the clerk may collect no other fee for small claims services.
Tulsa County amounts as of August 2026; the clerk's office at 918-596-5420 can confirm today's figures.
Attorney-fee statutes reach the docket
Section 1764 closes with a sentence that quietly changes the economics of hiring counsel: any statute providing for an award of attorney fees applies in the small claims division when an attorney appears — before judgment, after judgment, or at a hearing on disclosure of assets.
That means 12 O.S. §936 — prevailing-party fees on open accounts, notes, bills, negotiable instruments, contracts for goods, and claims for labor or services — works on this docket exactly as it does upstairs, subject to the §1751(C) caps in uncontested cases. For most commercial creditors, the practical translation is: on good paper, the debtor funds a meaningful share of your lawyer.
Next in the Act: service of process — and the deadlines that dismiss cases. For the hands-on version of this step, see filing, in the process guide.