Step by step guide - Changing the Statement of Claim

You need one form:

• Form 3B- Statement of Claim.

You can get copies of the form from:

• ​​the Local Court or
  
• the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules (UCPR) website.  

You can also complete and file this form online using the NSW Online Registry. 

You can fill out your form:

• by completing it on your computer
  
• by printing the form and completing it in blue or black pen, or
  
• online using the NSW Online Registry.
  

You need to fill out the same information and details that you had filed in the original Statement of Claim.

You then need to:

• add ‘amended’ to the title
  
• mark up any changes you are making to the Statement of Claim
  
• remove any details or error made, by striking through the text
  
• add any details, or any new defendant by typing the text and underlining the changes
  
• keep the same paragraph numbering throughout the amended Statement of Claim, as the original Statement of Claim which was filed- if you need to add any additional paragraphs, you should use the same numbering as the previous paragraph and mark the paragraph with the letter “A” and continuing with the alphabet, until you no longer need to identify a new paragraph.

If you want to remove any defendants, you need to get the consent of that party to remove them from the proceedings.

Instructions:  Instructions - Amended Statement of Claim - debt

Sample: Sample amended Statement of Claim - debt

The next step is to file the form at your nearest Local Court. 

You can file the form:

• by taking it to the court, or
  
• by post.
  

You can also complete and file these forms online using the NSW Online Registry. 

If you are filing the form in person or via post, you will need to file the original amended Statement of Claim plus one copy. The Court will keep the original and will give you back the stamped copy. You will then need to make one copy for each of the defendants and a copy for yourself. 

You should send your form to the Courts postal address, not the street address. You can find the Courts postal address on the Court locations, listing and sitting arrangements page on the Local Court of NSW website.

If you are nearly out of time to file an amended Statement of Claim in time, it is a good idea to file your amended Statement of Claim in person or online to avoid the possibility of your form getting lost in the post.

There is no filing fee to file an amended Statement of Claim. 

The Court will ‘seal’ the form

The court staff will stamp, date and put a file number on the amended Statement of Claim form and the copy. A document with a court stamp is called a ‘sealed copy’.

The Court will keep the original and return the sealed copy to you. 

Once you have filed the amended Statement of Claim, it needs to be served on all the defendants. ‘Serving’ the amended Statement of Claim form means giving or sending a sealed copy of the form to the defendant.

The same rules of service apply to serving an amended statement of claim properly, as with serving the original Statement of Claim. 

The defendant’s response

After you have served the defendant/s with the amended Statement of Claim, the defendant may either:

• pay the debt in full
  
• apply to the court to pay by instalments
  
• file a defence
  
• file an amended defence, if they’ve previously filed a defence
  
• send a letter asking you for further and better particulars (more information)
  
• try to negotiate with you
  
• do nothing. 
  

Defendant’s time to respond to amended Statement of Claim:

The defendant’s time to respond to an amended Statement of Claim depends on how the you have amended your claim, and what the defendant has done previously. 

If you have filed your amended Statement of Claim within 28 days of filing your claim, then the defendant has a certain time to respond to the amended claim:

• if the defendant had already filed a defence (before getting the amended claim), the defendant can file an amended defence within 14 days of being served with the amended Statement of Claim
  
• if the defendant has not filed a defence before getting the amended claim, then they have 28 days from the date they were served to respond to the amended Statement of Claim.
  

If the defendant has filed a defence or an amended defence, the court will send you a copy of the defence and a notice of when to go to court. For more information, see  The defendant’s response .

If the defendant has not filed a defence within 28 days and you have not received anything from the court or heard from the defendant, you may apply to the court for an order giving you judgment. This is called ‘default judgment’.  For more information, see Step by step guide - Applying for default judgment.

If the court gave you permission to amend your Statement of Claim, and permission for the defendant to file their amended defence, then the defendant needs to file their amended defence by the date the court has given.

If these dates have not been complied with, you should get legal advice.