You would have to sue the tenant in small claims court for the lost rent.You would have to mitigate your damages by turning over and re-renting the unit as soon as possible. 

I know I can go to the local court houses (some of them the information is online) and look at the records and sort which ones have real estate and do all of that myself.

Click on your desired county and it will give you the property appraiser/assessor, clerk of courts/register of deeds, and tax collector information, along with phone numbers and even websites.http://publicrecords.netronline.comIn regards to your answer, the majority of the recorders do not charge for their services, however some do.  

And i intend to take him to court for the remaining months rent and there will likely be a couple hundred in damages from the condition they are treating the property and utility bills.

The ball was always dropped and in Listing spark's court.

Most landlords do that out of fear the tenant will damage the property, unlikely in this case.The husband is responsible for the rent as long as they live there so make sure you let him know you will take him to court for payment.

She even took my mother to court with several "receipts" saying she paid rent! 

I've personally been to court in VB for them.

The referees in civil court try to set up payment plans and encourage landlord and tenant to settle in conference prior to court hearing.You usually get a hearing date within a week or two after filing ($364 or so per case).

Ours will not allow the tenant to pay extra, everything is declared and goes through the HA.This is over and above the portion they have to pay.The big problem is that if the tenant is found paying more, then both the tenant and landlord are removed from the program and blacklisted.