Seeking Guidance - First Tenant Eviction Philadelphia

[Neal A.]

I'm looking for a bit of guidance on what my first Landlord/Tenant eviction case will be like.

We inherited a new tenant when we acquired a property in Philadelphia. The former owner of the building had signed a year contract with them and we ran into issues shortly after. The end result was a couple months late rent, and damages to the property totaling over 500 dollars.

We are very eager to get them out and acquired the help of an attorney but aren't getting the extra bit of hand holding we'd like for our first time around. The attorney scheduled us a court date and we are all set. Admittedly, I don't know what to expect. The attorney double checked that all of our paper work was in order and we had fulfilled all of our obligations (and then some) to the tenant so far.

Are these kind of hearings just a formality?

Anyone have experience on what to expect?