Attorney Fee Agreement

[jefferino]

I have 10 credit cards. Will there be 1 judgment or 10 judgments?

The reason I ask is because my Attorney Fee Agreement, under the heading State Court Satisfactions, "specifically excludes"

Satisfaction of Judgment due to Filing Bankruptcy.

If I desire this service, there will be an additional fee of $200 per judgment plus a filing fee of $5 per judgment.

What is it and why might I need it?

[dumpinmydebt]

I really do not understand what you are asking.

You receive a judgment from being sued. Are you or have you been sued by all 10 creditors?

[tobee43]

you may have 10 creditors....

how many summons have you rec'd....have you gone to court....???

your missing something here for certain.

the way it works is...if 1 or even all 10 have judgments against you...first you had to be served a summons...second....the court had to decide in their favor...and then it would indicate that the judgments would be granted.....


if you now have 10 judgments...each will cost you separately (atty fees) to get removed after and only after the discharge of your bk...so first you need to understand whether you actually have judgments already against you.

[jefferino]

No sorry. I am entering my 3rd month of non-payment and retained an attorney just today. I have forms to fill out and then we will meet again.

I haven't been sued by any creditor yet. I will though, won't I? Eventually? I assumed that they will automatically sue me and get a judgment against me?

If and when they do sue me and get the judgment, will I need that "Satisfaction of Judgment due to Filing Bankruptcy."

[ccsjoe]

jefferino, calm down. Eventually yes, you will get sued and they will get a judgement against you. Now, the question is, when are going to be filing? I presume soon since you retained your attorney. You are barely entring your third month of non-payment. Before they sue you, they have to deem the account non-collectable and transfer to their legal. They will then make multiple attempts to contact/settle/collect. Before suing. I would say that if you will be filing within the next 2 or 3 months you have nothing to worry about regarding judgements.

Now, as for your attorney agreement, if you have ten cards, and all ten sue and all 10 get judgements against you then that is 10 judgements total.

[df04527]

A follow-on question regarding this --- do all judgements prior to BK (and are included in BK) have to have a motion to vacate to get them removed? And is that why the extra cost? A satisfaction of judgement isn't enough to get it removed?

Thanks and I don't mean to derail the post.

[tcreegan]

Hi all,

jefferino, the fee agreement basically says your lawyer isn't going to represent you in state court. Some BK attorneys have this in the fee, some don't. Check w/ some other attorneys and see if they do. You should shop around for an attorney anyway.

That said, dealing with judgement suits in state court is not very hard to do. If they sue you before you file BK, you can stall the case until you file the BK, then get the case dismissed. You have plenty of time jefferino, many months.

df04527, the BK court (federal) will not mess with a state court unless something extraordinary is going on. If the judgement has already been won (the case is over, you lost) then to get it off your legal record, you have to file a motion to vacate the judgement in the same court the judgement was filed in. Once you have the vacate in hand, you go to the credit reporting bureaus and get it off your credit report. None of this is very hard to do, probably not worth paying an attorney until you try it yourself.

Judgements are a pain, but fairly easy to deal with. Getting them off your credit report is a huge score boost for those of you who are trying to get back into some credit debt.

Tom in Colo

[tobee43]

A follow-on question regarding this --- do all judgements prior to BK (and are included in BK) have to have a motion to vacate to get them removed? And is that why the extra cost? A satisfaction of judgement isn't enough to get it removed?

Thanks and I don't mean to derail the post.

yes....each one requires a separate motion....and atty's do not include those motions in the price of filing your bankruptcy. i had a friend that had three to be vacated and was charged $600 per.

no...they are not actually satisfied...they are discharged from the bk...that is why you need the motion to vacate and get them actually removed from your record. it's a matter of "paperwork". and a "bird" in the hand is always what i say. you get a copy of the order itself so if the judgment comes up again you have the order right at your finger tips to prove it's been vacated.

[jefferino]

Cool! Thank you everyone. The picture is getting clearer. Nerves I guess? I just want to make sure that I understand the process thoroughly so that all of my t's are crossed and i's are dotted. My attorney said that my case was fairly straightforward and that I need'nt worry. I was looking at some of those forms anyway and it didn't look to difficult. I'll do it myself should the need arise.

Again, thanks!

[df04527]

Yes thanks on the info about removing the judgements and the vacate process.