Kansas Demand Letter
This letter applies Kansas's 14-day first-class-mail bad-check demand statute, the Consumer Protection Act's reach over first-party creditors, and Kansas's small claims, interest, and limitations rules.
Find out where you stand in Kansas
What is this demand about?
DocDraft provides document preparation, not legal advice.
Introduction
Kansas's general consumer protection law, the Kansas Consumer Protection Act, does not require you to send a written demand before suing a supplier for damages: K.S.A. 50-634(a)-(g) conditions a KCPA damages action on nothing but the underlying violation, and the only notice that section mentions is notice of a filed action to the attorney general, not a pre-suit demand. If your claim instead involves a dishonored check, Kansas takes the opposite approach: K.S.A. 60-2610(b) requires a written demand sent by first class mail, stating the exact amount owed and a due date for payment and warning of triple damages, at least 14 days before you may sue for the statute's civil penalty, which is whichever is greater of three times the check amount, not exceeding the check amount by more than $500, or a flat $100, on top of the check amount, a service charge capped at $30, interest, court costs, and attorney fees (K.S.A. 60-2610(a)); K.S.A. 60-2611 separately shifts attorney fees to the prevailing party on that same 14-day demand. The KCPA's reach cuts the other way for the letter itself: its supplier definition includes a creditor who merely enforces its own consumer transactions (K.S.A. 50-624(l)), so a demand letter that willfully exaggerates or omits a material fact, or falsely states what a consumer owes, can itself become a deceptive act under K.S.A. 50-626(b), exposing the sender to a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation under K.S.A. 50-636(a). Kansas also has no general statute making a demand letter a condition to recovering attorney fees on an ordinary unpaid invoice, account, or contract claim, so the American rule governs those claims absent a fee clause in the agreement. If your claim is for a security deposit or a final paycheck, use DocDraft's security deposit demand letter or final paycheck demand letter pages, which are built around those specific statutes. This page builds an ordinary demand letter into Kansas law, with attorney review available before you send it.
Key Things to Know
- 1
Kansas's Consumer Protection Act does not require a pre-suit demand letter before you sue for damages, but if your claim involves a dishonored check, K.S.A. 60-2610(b) makes a written demand sent by first class mail at least 14 days before you file suit a condition of recovering the statute's added damages, service charge, interest, costs, and fees.
- 2
Kansas's Consumer Protection Act defines supplier broadly enough to include a creditor who merely enforces its own consumer transactions (K.S.A. 50-624(l)), so a first-party demand letter that willfully exaggerates or omits a material fact, or falsely states what a consumer owes, can itself violate the Act's deceptive-act prohibitions (K.S.A. 50-626(b)) and expose the sender to a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation (K.S.A. 50-636(a)).
- 3
A Kansas bad-check demand must state the exact amount owed and a due date for payment, and must warn that triple damages, the check amount, the service charge, accrued interest, and collection costs including attorney fees may be incurred if the debt is not paid within 14 days (K.S.A. 60-2610(b)).
- 4
Kansas caps the bad-check civil penalty at whichever is greater of three times the check amount, not exceeding the check amount by more than $500, or a flat $100, on top of the check amount, a service charge capped at $30, interest, court costs, and attorney fees (K.S.A. 60-2610(a)); K.S.A. 60-2611 separately shifts attorney fees to the prevailing party on that same 14-day demand.
- 5
Kansas has no general statute making a demand letter a condition to recovering attorney fees on an ordinary unpaid invoice, account, or contract claim; the American rule governs those claims absent a fee clause in the agreement.
- 6
Mind Kansas's statute of limitations: five years to sue on a written contract (K.S.A. 60-511(1)), three years on an oral contract or other obligation not in writing (K.S.A. 60-512(1)), likely including an account not evidenced by a signed writing, since Kansas has no separate open-account statute, and two years for injury to personal property (K.S.A. 60-513(a)(2)).
- 7
Interest on money owed accrues under K.S.A. 16-201(a) at 10 percent per year when no other rate is agreed, running from the date the amount became due, not from the date of a demand letter; Kansas's small claims procedure hears claims up to $10,000, exclusive of interest, costs, and any K.S.A. 60-2610 check damages, and bars attorneys from appearing before judgment (K.S.A. 61-2707(a)).
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Demand Letter in Kansas, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Demand Letter guide walks through them.
Open the Demand Letter guideCustomize your Demand Letter Template with DocDraft
Kansas Requirements for Demand Letter
No KCPA Pre-Suit Notice Requirement
Kansas's Consumer Protection Act does not require a consumer to send a written demand before suing a supplier for damages: K.S.A. 50-634(a)-(g) conditions a KCPA action on nothing but the underlying violation, and the only notice it requires is notice of a filed action to the attorney general, not a pre-suit demand.
KCPA Reaches First-Party Debt Collectors
K.S.A. 50-624(l) defines supplier to include a creditor who, in the ordinary course of business, enforces its own consumer transactions, so a first-party demand letter for a consumer debt is subject to the KCPA's deceptive-act prohibitions in K.S.A. 50-626(b) and unconscionable-act prohibitions in K.S.A. 50-627(a)-(b).
Misstating a Debt Risks KCPA Liability
Falsely stating what a consumer transaction involves in the way of rights, remedies, or obligations, or willfully exaggerating or omitting a material fact, violates K.S.A. 50-626(b)(2), (3), and (8), exposing the sender to a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation under K.S.A. 50-636(a).
Bad-Check 14-Day First-Class-Mail Demand
K.S.A. 60-2610(b) conditions recovery of the statute's civil penalty, service charge, interest, court costs, and attorney fees on a written demand sent by first class mail, stating the exact amount owed and a due date for payment, sent at least 14 days before filing suit.
Bad-Check Penalty Is Capped, Not a Flat Multiplier
K.S.A. 60-2610(a) awards whichever is greater of three times the check amount, not exceeding the check amount by more than $500, or a flat $100, on top of the check amount, a service charge capped at $30, interest, court costs, and reasonable attorney fees.
Bad-Check Attorney-Fee Shifting Statute
K.S.A. 60-2611 separately shifts attorney fees, as taxed costs, to the prevailing party in a check-collection suit, conditioned on the same 14-day first-class-mail demand required by K.S.A. 60-2610(b).
No General Attorney-Fee Presentment Statute
Kansas has no general statute conditioning attorney fees on presenting a demand for an ordinary unpaid invoice, account, or contract claim; absent a fee clause in the agreement, the American rule governs those claims.
Statute of Limitations by Claim Type
Kansas gives five years to sue on a written contract (K.S.A. 60-511(1)), three years on an oral contract or other obligation not in writing (K.S.A. 60-512(1)), likely including an account not evidenced by a signed writing, since Kansas has no separate open-account statute, and two years for injury to personal property (K.S.A. 60-513(a)(2)).
Small Claims Limit Bars Attorneys Before Judgment
Kansas's small claims procedure of the district court hears claims up to $10,000, exclusive of interest, costs, and any K.S.A. 60-2610 dishonored-check damages (K.S.A. 61-2703(a)), and bars a party from being represented by an attorney before judgment, though a party may appear through a non-attorney representative (K.S.A. 61-2707(a)).