A real estate agent put us in touch with the homeowner. We were hired by the homeowner. She signed agreed via email to the estimate on 01/11/2022. We invoiced her on 01/27/2022. Her house is listed for sale. She has said many times she will pay and she does not. She then gave us a check and asked us to hold it (about 7 days) until Feb 14th for deposit. She placed the incorrect year on the check and the bank would not accept it. We then had to get another check. We deposited that check as she asked on Feb 14th. The chek was returned for insufficient funds. She has not paid us one cent for the work that she says is an amazing job. She is now saying she will pay is on March 1st. I need to make sure we get paid. We are a small family-owned business. Can I add any extra expenses fighting for our money to the 9,500.00 she owes us? Such as filing a lien, hiring an attorney if needed, and even hiring a debt collector? I would really like to go after her for worthless check writing or fraud if that is possible. We have many text messages from her, and her real estate agent. I do not believe she has any intention to pay us. She has used our kindness as a weakness.