Facing th moment of truth. How much time do I have?

[music12]

i asked because if your banks still had your US address, that address could be used to "prove" that you did get the summons at that old address. it's good that your address is not in the US.

problem is, of course, that nobody would bother to check the address where they served the summons against the bank account address.

is the bank account in your name or in a name of a business? if you are using it for a business, the business name should be on it, and if it's in your personal name, right now would be a good time to close it and open a new one in the business name. then they can't levy on that for your personal debts (unless they are business debts, in which case they would have sued the business).

[kpapt]

Today I inquired with the Circuit Court clerk and she said the status is "defendant not found" so she said as of this point is it is considered "not served". Wonder what happens next.

@music, the bank account is "doing business as" so it has both my name and my business name. Its a sole proprietorship thing so I guess they can sue my business account.

[music12]

you are in excellent shape: someone in the system was honest enough to acknowledge that they do not have your current address (this was most likely the process server, who showed up at the old address and found that someone else lives there).

that means they will not be entering a default judgment against you because without service of process there cannot be a default. without a judgment they cannot garnish your accounts either.

if you are doing business in the US, then you are supposed to have someone assigned for service of process. i think if you do not assign anyone but have business here, they are entitled to serve the secretary of state or something like that. i don't know anything about suing a sole proprietorship as a substitute for suing the actual person.

[whipster1]

Today I inquired with the Circuit Court clerk and she said the status is "defendant not found" so she said as of this point is it is considered "not served". Wonder what happens next.

@music, the bank account is "doing business as" so it has both my name and my business name. Its a sole proprietorship thing so I guess they can sue my business account.

They will apply to the court for service by publication. They will run an ad in the paper under the legal notices section...Then you will be technically served.

[music12]

They will apply to the court for service by publication. They will run an ad in the paper under the legal notices section...Then you will be technically served.

any idea how likely they are to do that?

[kpapt]

Thanks Music.

They will apply to the court for service by publication. They will run an ad in the paper under the legal notices section...Then you will be technically served.

@whipster, do you have an idea approximately how long that process takes before the judgement was issued? weeks? months? Thanks.

[music12]

look at rules 8.01-316 and 8.01-317 at:

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+TOC08001000008000000000000

looks like they have to file an affidavit asking for service by publication, then run a notice in the paper giving you 50 days from when they were allowed to serve by publication. i don't know how long after that they get a default. i think it means you have at least 2 months if they act quickly (they might not, especially if the cost of publication is significant compared to the debt; i forget if you said how much it is for).

[kpapt]

Thanks for the link Music. You are awesome

[music12]

Thanks for the link Music. You are awesome

thanks, i try

[kpapt]

Here is the update: The creditor that tried to sue me 4 months ago could not serve me because I don't live in the US. The status in circuit court all these months was "defendant not found" . I just called today and I was told something like "schedule of conference" or some kind of conference is coming up on Nov 19th. Anybody know what this conference thing is? The statute of limitations on all my cards kick in at the end of December 2009 so I am hoping nobody gets a judgement before that so that I can avoid filing bankruptcy. Thank you.

[music12]

the problem is, the moment they filed anything in court prior to the statute of limitations, the timing doesn't really matter any more. the statute tells them they can't file the complaint after a certain date, but if they filed the complaint before the statute passed, they can get a judgment at any time. the statute no longer protects you. plus, i think if they can show you were out of the state at any point, that itself can stop the statute from running.

[kpapt]

Thanks Music once again. Do you anything about this Conference thing though? I couldn't really understand what exactly she was saying but certainly it is some S word and then Conference at the end. Trying to google but am a bit lost.

[music12]

my best guess is a "scheduling conference". that would usually be to set up a trial date or dates for discovery or whatever, except that obviously they know they have not found you. or, they might have "served" you by publication in a newspaper, and now they are moving forward. if that's the case, they would get a judgment by default, possibly even on the 19th. you could (anonymously) ask the clerk whether service has been effected. (but be careful, even anonymously, they might just assume the caller is the defendant - who else would care, after all??)

[kpapt]

I called again today. The status as of today is still "Not served, defendant not found". Music, you are right , it is called "Scheduling Conference" and it is on Nov 19th. The case was filed in June and they tried to Serve on July 4th and it has already been 4 months. Don't you think they would have already served by newspaper by now and the status would have been updated to "served" if that was the case? Any idea what happens if the Judge determines I was not served during the Scheduling Conference? Thank you.

[music12]

they can't try to serve on july 4th, it's a national holiday. even had they found you on july 4th, it would have no effect and they'd have to serve you again. if they try to tell the judge that they tried to serve you on july 4th, he should laugh them out of the room... i'm guessing that's a typo.

serving by newspaper costs money and takes time. maybe they didn't get to it. or maybe they did but the clerk has not updated the status. might be worth asking the clerk in general whether they ever schedule conferences when the deft had not been served (you don't have to give your docket number for this question, you could pretend to be a plaintiff...)

if a judge determines that you have not been served, he can do nothing but tell them to serve you. no service means no due process, and without due process there can be no judgment.