I think we've just been summoned...

[momofmany]

I was going outside to hang my laundry on the line and a man approached and said he had a package(I believe that's what he called it) for XX(my husband's name). It was an unsealed envelope. He asked me what my name was and I said my first name. He said ok, and left. So the envelope is addressed to my husband and has our address on it(handwritten).

There are 4 pages. They are copies of a copy of a copy...etc. It's very hard to read, but I can make out that it's from who we had our vehicle through(We voluntarily had it repossessed last October(as in a year ago now). At the top of the letter it says the state of XX(our state) county of XX(our county). It says district court tenth judicial distric. Case type: contract. Then it says the name of the loan co. vs. my husband's name. And then it says Summons.
It says he is summoned and required to serve upon the attorney an ansawer to the complaint which is served upon him w/in 20 days after the service of this summons, exclusive of the day of such service. If he fails to do so, judment by default will be taken against him for the relief demanded in the complaint.

Then it goes on to say all sorts of info. One thing it says is from time to time, plaintiff made and rendered to defendant accurate invoices and/or statements of account of the transactions between said parties. Said invoices and/or statements of account were received by defendant, accepted and retained by said defendant without objection being made to any item therof within a reasonable period of time. (which they occasionally sent us a letter telling how much was due...but nothing we had to sign for, how do they actually know we "received, accepted and retained" them??)

So I assume this does mean he's been summoned...does this mean that in 20 days he'll have a judgement against him and they can try to garnish his wages that day??

We are going to be filing bk...we've just put it off since nothing was super pressing until now. My husband usually gets around $1,000 bonus at the end of Nov. from his work and we are slightly behind on our mortgage and we planned to be all caught up using the bonus check. And then we were going to file...do we need to file bk before the 20 days are up?? Can we delay this at all by asking to have a legible copy of this sent to us?(it's extremely hard to read because it's been copied so many times).

We don't have any real assets, but my husband does have a job, and that money does go into our bank account. Do we need to go to all cash now??? I thought at one time I heard that in the state of MN they can't garnish your wages or account if you're on Medical Assistance...our children are on Medical Assistance, but we aren't...would that still count??

Thanks in advance for your responses. Sara

[BK2008]

You have 20 days to respond to the petition. If you don't respond, they WILL have a judgement, so make sure you do that. A judge has to sign off for a garnishment (if it's allowed in your state).

Once you file BK, all garnishment or collection actions must cease.
Any amounts you owe would be part of your BK estate, so assuming you are going 7, they would ultimately be wiped out (since this is for the balance on a vehicle that you repo's, then it would be unsecured debt.

[AngelinaCatHub]

Yes Sara, you are being sued. You have some choices, but one you don not have is not responding. He or your lawyer MUST be there and on time. The copies are not an issue as some misspellings are not, if you can make it out, you have no reason to object for poor copies. You can stall by saying not guilty or whatever, and stall them and when you do go bk, then the automatic stay comes upon you. This is good.

If you wish to pay them, that is an option but it does not sound like you are in that condition. I have no Idea what MN laws are. Wage garnishment is in some states and not others.

I wish you well and if you are going to bk anyway, now is the time to prepare as you can only stall for so long. You defiantly DO NOT want to have a Judgment. I hope I’ve helped. ‘Hub

[StartingOver08]

Look up the RCP (Rules of Civil Procedure) for your area. They may or may not be online. You can respond to this summons which will delay any action the attorney can take as they will have to respond to your response. You can actually delay the suit by responding TIMELY. For additional help go to www.creditinfocenter.com and check the forum area under "Is there a Lawyer in the House?" You will get a short, simple lesson on how to respond to a summons. This should give you enough time to get the bonus at the end of Nov and file at your original time line.

Or, if you have already retained your attorney - talk to your attorney see if he will file a response to delay this lawsuit until you get filed

[GoingDown]

You have to file a written answer to the lawsuit, which will buy you enough time (usually at least 30 days, or even more) to get that bonus before they get a judgment. Go down to the court indicated in your summons and ask them for the correct forms to file a written answer. Sometimes you get lucky and they are helpful. If not, go to a paralegal in your area and ask them to prepare a written answer to the lawsuit. It will cost a little, but not nearly as much as a lawyer. Then go to court and file it with them and then hire a process server to serve the written answer on the plaintiff's attorney.

Once you're ready to file bankruptcy, take copies of the official bankruptcy court papers and file them with the court, which will dismiss the lawsuit. Make sure to include the plaintiff and the plaintiff's attorney in your creditor matrix when you file BK, so they will be notified officially by the bankruptcy court. That will stop them dead in their tracks, and you won't have to worry about being garnished.

A word of advice... do NOT speak to the plaintiff or the plaintiff's attorney about any of this. They are NOT on your side and will do NOTHING to help you. I've heard of cases where the plaintiff's attorney would tell the debtor that they would drop the case against them since they were filing bankruptcy, and that the debtor didn't have to do anything about it, and then one month later, the debtor found out that they lied to them and that they now have a default judgment against them. So DON'T listen to anything the plaintiff's attorney says about this.

[momofmany]

Talked to the court clerk today...

I went in to the local Courthouse today with the summons to ask if it was an actual summons(being that the paperwork had no court file #)...She looked at it and said it's basically a pre-summons...or something like that. It has NOT been filed with the court system. She said it's a very early stage process to try to get it resolved before involving the court. But if we do not respond, that they can get a default judgement.

So now my question is, we have to respond to this Attorney(but not to the court system, I specifically asked if we needed to include them in the response and if we needed to use a court issued form, and she said no). What are we supposed to say? We will probably be filing bk early Dec. I'm not sure if we should say we are filing bk to the Attorney? I was originally planning that we would file for an extension to give us time to get a lawyer and get the bonus, but it doesn't seem like we need to file for an extension as this isn't official with the court system. So you smart people, what would you recommend we respond to the Attorney with. I am planning on mailing them the response and sending it signature confirmed so I can prove they got it...but just need to know the response that would be suitable for our situation.

Thanks so much!! Sara

[AngelinaCatHub]

I again agree with BigBoy2U. As he said, at this time, you are not sued but they are attempting to make it easier for both parties and save some money. If you do respond now, you acknowledge that you know this situation exists. As BB2U said, wait for the real summons to appear, and the paperwork will have a Court Preamble reading something like this: “You are being sued, you must respond by XXX or you may incurred a default judgment against you, etc. etc.” Then the Complaint will be after the Preamble. THEN you MUST respond by that date in the paperwork.

[fltoo]

I agree with Bigboy in that I would not respond to the suit. They will get a judgment by default eventually. If they do, you have time to close your bank accounts and deal with the wage garnishment allowed by your state.

[Tbornetun]

I am in Minnesota also, in the 10th district. So as for garnishments, bank account seizures, etc. they CAN do all of that if they obtain the judgement. You stated that your kids are on MA, you can file a hardship form and none of the above things will happen.
For right now, give the info to your BK attorney, they should be able to contact the creditor and tell them you are filing BK in a few weeks to an attempt to obtain a judgment would be worthless.
Don't stress too much about it, once they get the judgment, they have to also have the judge grant a motion to allow them to garnish, etc. then you must be notified that they intend to do this. With that notification should be the hardship form. By the time any of this happens, you will have already filed.