To collect on a debt or enforce a contract, someone has to sue--there is no other mechanism for doing so. The question is, whether it's worth it. If I am reading your question correctly, your mother is owed $175, which means that getting a lawyer is economically out of the question--the lawyer would cost far more than you could collect. That means, to try to recover, your mother would need to act as her own lawyer in small claims court. She'd incur some costs and filing fees--probably around $30 - $50, plus her time--have a chance of not winning (no lawsuit is ever 100% certain), and even if she won, might not be able to collect if the other person has no money. If the amount in question is really only $175, unless you can convince him to pay at least part of it voluntarily, it's probably not worth doing anything about.