Can they Seize property?

[tobefree]

Can an unsecured creditor who has a judgment filed against you seize your property? or just simply place a lien against it? does the value of your assets come into play v/s the value of debt owed?

Thanks for any advice-this forum has been a tremendous help. I'd be lost without it.

[junker]

they usually look for the easy and obvious, ie, bank accts, paid for cars, etc, but YES, in most states they can seize NON EXEMPT property..they filed a abstract judgment on me.. and technically could have forced the sale of my house... had there been a high equity especially if it was paid for...but i have high exemptions now... depending on what state you are in..and the value of your car they COULD take it...or boats, motorcycles, etc....you should read more of the older threads and you can see more about the collectors...if you are going down the judgment road....you NEED to learn how to protect your assets....BEFORE..you get a judgment.....

[tobefree]

Thanks for the info-Im not to sure they would want a $1500 car, $3000 motorcycle , or a piece of vacant land valued at approd $6000-but who knows??? (we owe 10K to them)
I guess if they could take it all they could....??

guess i will be doing some more research on this and finding out my options....I appreciate the response.

thanks

[tobefree]

BTW i am in florida

[junker]

when i lived in florida, the exemption for a car was only 1000, i had a truck worth 2500, and the bk lawyer i talked to said they COULD take it...but as you probaly know in florida....they cant take your house....at least they couldnt when i lived there, although they can file a lien...and it would have to be paid when you sold the house...i dont remember what other things are exempt there...when you get sued, be sure to contact a legal aid attorney there...as they were a great help to me...and got one lawsuit dismissed....in northern florida..its the good ole boy network..and the judges are automatically in favor of creditors...

[HHM]

Can they take assets, short answer, YES.

Will they take assets, it depends. As in bankruptcy, exemptions also apply to regular collection with one exception; in the collection scenario, the exemptions are not self-executing; meaning, collectors can grab your car, but if the vehicle is exempt, you need to go into court and claim the exemption.
As was previously mentioned, your run of the mill consumer collection law firms are not interested in taking personal property, they are more interested in cash (wage garnishment, bank account levy), financial assets. e.g. stocks, and then easily sellable real estate. If you have vacant land with no mortgage on it, that is something they would probably go after as there is no superior lien that must be paid and they can simply dump it on the market and get some money pretty quick.

[tobefree]

Junker, yes its still the same -$1000 exempt for vehicles so they wouldnt get much from my car that to satisfy the $10K-i dont think it would be worth their time. They cant touch wages as that is exempt, and also the same for checking accounts, house is safe, but i do have a 1/2 acre lot-i guess they could put a lein on and i could get removed when i file-but that will be months away i guess thats why i am worried about my property and vehicles since they cant touch the house, wages, or checking account--thats all that is left....i assume also they could keep seizing until their $10K is satisfied? UGH! Florida SUCKS! I think i need to look into getting legal aid since my BK is a while off...Thanks SOO Much!

[frogger]

Yes and no. The creditor can have the asset seized, however the creditor just can't go and take it. It must be properly seized by law enforcement, process must be followed, and the property must be auctioned.

[tobefree]

This is why i LOVE this forum-I get so much insight-I think since the vacant land is adjacent to my home i will have the lots strapped together -that way they will both be protected by homestead. I never wanted to do this because i always wanted to have something i could sell if i ever lost my home-that way i could sell and have some $$ to start over with-but these properties arent selling in my area -so this may be my best bet to "protect" it.

[GoingDown]

Thanks for the info-Im not to sure they would want a $1500 car, $3000 motorcycle , or a piece of vacant land valued at approd $6000-but who knows??? (we owe 10K to them)
I guess if they could take it all they could....??

guess i will be doing some more research on this and finding out my options....I appreciate the response.

thanks

Think about how much it costs to hire someone to go take your car or motorcycle. They don't work for free. They have to insure it, transport it, store it, then pay someone to auction it. With vacant land they would need an attorney. All that costs money.
How much will they get for it at auction? What about your exemption amount? They would have to get enough money at auction to pay your exemption amount, pay all the people involved in the transaction, etc.

That's why this is very rarely ever done.

They want to make money, not lose money.

[Jackdog]

They can garnish wages in Florida. Just depends on whether you're head of household or how much you make if you're not head of household.
Head of household is 100% exempt. If you're not head of household any amount up to $500 is exempt.

Can anyone else explain exactly what head of household means. I'm not married no children but my boyfriend does live here. He contributes about the same amount as me to expenses but I'm the one filing not him and house is in my name only (and I'm keeping it)

Never mind I just searched head of household no wonder I had no idea what it was I have no children or dependents

[tobefree]

we are exempt from garnishment as is our bank account (which has $2 in it BTW) LOL
My husband is the only one working and he makes approx $400 a week and is head of household-we have 2 children-we are way below the poverty level since he lost his construction job in october- I checked our credit reports last week and saw that neither citifinancial or chase who is pursuing judgement never once checked to see if we were "sue-worthy"-just a thought--why would they waste their time without researching who they were coming after-or do they not just care anymore?? (most likely the latter) lol

[junker]

it might be that the judgment is good for 10 years at least... and down the road you might want something, like a house or refinance a house, or a new car, all of which will mean the judgment has to be paid to get these loans...also, they mostly use young renta lawyers,just out of law school, to file the suit..it costs 255 bucks to file a case ..and if they win, when i went, the judge awards them 500 bucks lawyer fees. which is tacked on to what you owe them...and they sue like a 100 people at a time. thats how many were there on my court day...and most.90,% did not deny the debt, and judgment was entered...so if they can get 60 or so of those to pay..they are ahead of the game....also.the legal aid attorney that represented me was in the hall way during court, giving advice to anyone that wanted it...

[GoingDown]

It depends...

Sometimes they do their homework to find out if you are working and have wages which could be garnished and whether you have assets before they make the decision about whether or not to sue you.

Sometimes they just sue people without looking into it, much like a shotgun approach and they hope that some of them will end up paying them.

I noticed a lot of hard pulls on my credit report when junk debt buyers were buying my accounts. I think they were trying decide whether or not to sue me at that point. It has been years since then, and 99% of them did not bother to sue me.

[GoingDown]

it might be that the judgment is good for 10 years at least... and down the road you might want something, like a house or refinance a house, or a new car, all of which will mean the judgment has to be paid to get these loans...also, they mostly use young renta lawyers,just out of law school, to file the suit..it costs 255 bucks to file a case ..and if they win, when i went, the judge awards them 500 bucks lawyer fees. which is tacked on to what you owe them...and they sue like a 100 people at a time. thats how many were there on my court day...and most.90,% did not deny the debt, and judgment was entered...so if they can get 60 or so of those to pay..they are ahead of the game....also.the legal aid attorney that represented me was in the hall way during court, giving advice to anyone that wanted it...

Judgments are only good in Arizona for 5 years. They can renew the judgment after that, but from my friend's experience, they usually don't bother renewing a judgment after 5 years if they don't get anything in the first 5 years.

And having a judgment against me did not stop me from buying a car.