How much information does one have to have for small claims court?

So, your brother is mentally ill and mom has been protecting him for many years. Might it occur to you to tell mom, if she is still competent, that she needs to set up a trust or something for him?

You can only be a doormat if you lie down (a great Ann Landers bon mot). It sounds like you've been mom's doormat for a long time. I'd stop right about now.

You can try small claims court, but please also get locks changed.

Charge him and he'll pay with what money?

And if I recall, mom keeps asking you to reconcile with him, because "you'll need him someday"?

Small claims requirements vary from state to state, so check what your home state requires. You may need to have a minimum grievance amount and a receipt that you (or your mom) have already paid. There are fees and then even if brother doesn't show up in court, he has to have some sort of bank account for them to garnish wages. If he has no money, you've chased around for nothing. I'm a small business owner and small claims court is practically worthless, IMO. Just sell his stuff as is like BarbBrooklyn suggested. When my in-laws had to vacate their foreclosed home we just had a name-your-price sale and told people the proceeds were going to pay for a nursing home for my inlaws. No prices on anything, everything as-is. I think people tended to overpay. Cash only, nothing under $1 were the only rules (so that you didn't need to make small change). Good luck!

Why would YOU have to pay? It's your mother's house; it's her bill to pay.

Is the house going to be sold? Then you do an "as is" sale and let the realtor or the new owner deal with your brothers junk.