I loaned a friend money a while ago and they haven't made any attempt to pay. The only thing I have that's current is their cell. If I file will the courts track him down? He says he'said working on it when we do text. I don't want to ask directly because it will become more difficult to serve him.

Do you have a signed IOU?

No but I have all of the text messages. I've also sent a letter of demand via certified mail, which he received. I put the amounts and dates, all of which were acknowledged.

Check your small claims court in your location. They can certainly advise you of their policy and procedure to file a claim. If your certified letters got to him, chances are he will be reached somehow through the US postal service.

Ask the courts or a clerk in the court.*

*I assume this is a small claims matter, correct me if I'm wrong.

And with that, no the court does not "track" them down, You will need to provide a valid address for him to be served,

The new tenant at his old apt had the landlord forward that letter. I guess I'll just have, worst case I may need to look into a PI to find him. I'm going to see a lawyer as well to see what my other options are. Thanks for the help

Consulting a lawyer never hurts but there is much you can browse and get some insights. Such as this sight

5 Ways to Serve Court Papers - wikiHow

Or NOLO.com. Be aware that getting a judgement, and collecting are two different processes. Laws vary by state.

You are probibly going to find the work and expense this is going to take is likely to equal or exceed the amount you are out by violating the most important thing... you don't loan money to people you can't afford to never get back.

This is one of the reasons we have the saying, no good deed goes unpunished.

But I hope you do manage to get it back in the end. Serving them is only part of it..getting the judgement is maybe the easiest part, you will have your work cut out for you actually collecting however, and that will be the hardest part of all.

You can send a letter return receipt which will show the address the mail was delivered to. However, that won't work if they remailed it. You can ask the court to issue a summons to the old landlord to reveal the forwarding address.

But you are going to have do the leg work. The courts won't do it for you.