Eviction Process in Wyoming

If you are being evicted in the state of Wyoming, you may not know how to proceed. Learning about the eviction process in Wyoming can help you understand your rights and options under the law. After reading this guide, you will understand the steps involved in the eviction process in Wyoming and how long each step will take.

Getting Notice

Before initiating the eviction process in Wyoming courts, your landlord is required to give you proper legal notice according to Wyoming state statutes. You must be served with the notice by the sheriff's office, an officer of the court, or a private process server.

If you are being evicted due to failing to pay rent (the most common reason for the eviction process in Wyoming) you can only be given notice after you are four days late in your payment. Once the notice is given, you will have three additional days to either pay the late rent amount or vacate the property. If you pay the late rent amount and all applicable late charges, your tenancy will be reinstated and the eviction process will stop.

Wyoming also specifies the same three-day period for breaches of your lease. If you have breached your lease in any way (for instance, by keeping an unauthorized pet), your landlord can give you a three-day notice to cure the breach or vacate.

Court Filings and Hearings

If you have not adequately fixed the problem your landlord notified you about with a three-day notice, after three days have passed, your landlord can continue the eviction process in Wyoming courts. Your landlord will file a complaint with your local courthouse to initiate the eviction suit.

Once your landlord files the complaint, you will be served with a copy of both the complaint (which details why you are being evicted) and the summons (which notifies you that legal proceedings have begun in your name and tells you when your court date is).

You are not required to attend the hearing, but if you fail to appear, your landlord will win the eviction suit by default and the eviction process in Wyoming will continue. If you can prove that your landlord discriminated or retaliated against you, or that he was in violation of your lease or gave you improper notice, you may be able to win the eviction suit and even be awarded damages. Talk to a lawyer familiar with the eviction process in Wyoming to understand your legal rights more fully.

Writ of Restitution

If your landlord wins the hearing, or if you do not make an appearance, a court order that tells you when you must vacate your property will be issued. If you do not vacate by the time specified in the court's order, your landlord will ask the court for a writ of restitution.

Writs of restitution allow the sheriff to come into your home and forcibly evict you. If you refuse to leave the premises, you can be arrested for trespassing, and if you still have belongings on the property, the sheriff's office is allowed to seize them to recoup part of the costs of evicting you.