Judgement?

[StEt0417]

Has anyone received a judgement from a creditor? Capitol One has been sending me notices saying that if I dont pay they will sue me and get a judgement. We also have other credit cards, that we just stopped paying on.

We are going to file BK, but we are trying to decide when is the best time.
Once you file BK is it hard to get the judgement off? What exactly happens when you get a judgement? Do they put a lien in the house, collect wages, garnish bank account?

[tobee43]

StEt..even if capitol one does get a judgment, once your bk is discharged you file a motion to vacate the judgment and you are good to go.

you creditor once a judgment is issued can yes, but a lien on your house, or worse actually, seize your checking account. (just make certain you keep as LITTLE in the bank as possible now), but most likely you will file before any of that.

just make certain it's listed on the petition and you will have no problem. also florida they cannot attach wages so you should be fine with that. also, most likely because you are filing soon, you can even find ways to stall...like even going to court etc.

but you should be just fine.

[AngelinaCat]

Has anyone received a judgement from a creditor? Capitol One has been sending me notices saying that if I dont pay they will sue me and get a judgement. We also have other credit cards, that we just stopped paying on.

We are going to file BK, but we are trying to decide when is the best time.
Once you file BK is it hard to get the judgement off? What exactly happens when you get a judgement? Do they put a lien in the house, collect wages, garnish bank account?

Here is usually what happens: [Actually this is what happened with us]

1. You get a number of threatening letters and telephone calls. This may continue for several months before the creditor goes further.

2. You get a notice (subpoena) served on you that XYZ creditor has filed suit against you for XXXXX amount of dollars. You usually have twenty days to respond. This can be as little as 15 to 30, depending on the district. There will be a court date in that notice.

3. You may file a written response to the court that you neither admit nor deny this debt. In any case you will want to APPEAR in person on the date. At that time you can state the you neither admit nor deny this debt. If you do not appear, then the Plaintiff (Creditor) will get a default judgment against you. That happened within 30 days. Then the creditor can do whatever next he wants to.

4. When you appear in court and give your plea (I neither admit or deny this debt), the judge will set a date for Arbitration. That is where you and your attorney, if you use one, and the creditor's attorney meet to set up a payment plan. Depending on your district, that can buy you some time. In our district, Arbitration only happens one day each month. So the judge set the date.

It so happened, that the date set was for a date that we were going to be out of town and could not re-schedule. We spoke up and said so. The judge then set the date for the following month. That bought us 60 days, and by then we had filed our BK.

[That ends our first-hand knowledge of the process.] But all in all, we had about 3-4 months from the time of the first threatening letters to filing.

My best wishes to you.


You really want to avoid a judgment if at all possible. Yes, the underlying debt can be discharged in the BK as ours was, but the judgment sticks. You have to make a motion to the court to have it vacated and that is time and money that you probably don't have, since you are considering BK.

[tobee43]

Here is usually what happens: [Actually this is what happened with us]

1. You get a number of threatening letters and telephone calls. This may continue for several months before the creditor goes further.

2. You get a notice (subpoena) served on you that XYZ creditor has filed suit against you for XXXXX amount of dollars. You usually have twenty days to respond. This can be as little as 15 to 30, depending on the district. There will be a court date in that notice.

3. You may file a written response to the court that you neither admit nor deny this debt. In any case you will want to APPEAR in person on the date. At that time you can state the you neither admit nor deny this debt. If you do not appear, then the Plaintiff (Creditor) will get a default judgment against you. That happened within 30 days. Then the creditor can do whatever next he wants to.

4. When you appear in court and give your plea (I neither admit or deny this debt), the judge will set a date for Arbitration. That is where you and your attorney, if you use one, and the creditor's attorney meet to set up a payment plan. Depending on your district, that can buy you some time. In our district, Arbitration only happens one day each month. So the judge set the date.

It so happened, that the date set was for a date that we were going to be out of town and could not re-schedule. We spoke up and said so. The judge then set the date for the following month. That bought us 60 days, and by then we had filed our BK.

[That ends our first-hand knowledge of the process.] But all in all, we had about 3-4 months from the time of the first threatening letters to filing.

My best wishes to you.


You really want to avoid a judgment if at all possible. Yes, the underlying debt can be discharged in the BK as ours was, but the judgment sticks. You have to make a motion to the court to have it vacated and that is time and money that you probably don't have, since you are considering BK.

you know angeliacat, it NEVER ceases to amaze me about our "new" home state...

one district it can be 15 days....and another is 30 days....oh my..it's like enough for even the toughest of nails to take!!

it was STATE wide where we came from...30 days period....but here in florida even the means tests not only change from district to district, but from county to county within those districts!

yes, each of those judgment can cost...i know in nj one friend had a few and each cost her $600 to have vacated..that's a lot of money to have to come up with right after one has been discharged.

[StEt0417]

We recently got a letter from our pest control saying they put a lien on the house for $150 and it will be removed once we pay. Can I add that in with BK?

[tobee43]

yes you can.

[ryan]

Once you file BK is it hard to get the judgement off? What exactly happens when you get a judgement? Do they put a lien in the house, collect wages, garnish bank account?

Its not hard to get it removed, but will cost filing fees and time. If you use a lawyer, then his/her fee as well. They can attach liens, levy bank accts, if they can find them, and garnish wages, if allowed by your state. All can be problems.

I'd agree with AngelinaCat, if you can, try and avoid the judgment. It's just one more thing to do deal with on top of everything else!

[free2breathe]

Careful here, a judgment can be set aside, but a judgment lien is a different ball of wax. See 11 USC 522 (c) and (f)

*in reference to $150 lien on house due to pest control.

[tobee43]

Careful here, a judgment can be set aside, but a judgment lien is a different ball of wax. See 11 USC 522 (c) and (f)

*in reference to $150 lien on house due to pest control.

the lien can still be removed here....even if it is a judgment lien ...as long as the basis of lien is not from the student loans, taxes etc...but the pest control co. is a goner! LOL!! shoooo fly! op just needs to do the motion to vacate after the discharge of the bk.

[Toby629]

Crap One is not kidding. We just filed yesterday Chapter 7. The only CC that filed a civil suit was Crap One, I was able to write a letter to the court to get a delay in the judgement that was originally scheduled for August 2010. It bought us time so we could file BK, did not want a judgement rendered against us as it is more involved to get it dealt with even after Bk.

[CCsSuck]

also florida they cannot attach wages so you should be fine with that.

Yes, they most certainly can! You might want to look into Florida State Statute 222.11. Florida follows the federal garnishment guidellines (up to 25% of your wages if you make more than a certain amount -- I think its currently set at 30x the minimum wage). The only exception to this that the state provides is if you qualify as head of family, in which case you would need to agree to any garnishment in writing beforehand...

[tobee43]

Yes, they most certainly can! You might want to look into Florida State Statute 222.11. Florida follows the federal garnishment guidellines (up to 25% of your wages if you make more than a certain amount -- I think its currently set at 30x the minimum wage). The only exception to this that the state provides is if you qualify as head of family, in which case you would need to agree to any garnishment in writing beforehand...

yeah...i hear you loud and clear...now just to boot you...not in this county...but then again we could exempt ei....no wage garnishes here...so i need to stand corrected...

HEAD of households...i always assume and you know what they say about assuming...but i mostly assume it's the head of the household wanted to file bk...where as if the other spouse was the head of the household, the husband or wife's salary could have the 25% limitation.

AND of course everyone is married! right?

[AngelinaCat]

you know angeliacat, it NEVER ceases to amaze me about our "new" home state...

one district it can be 15 days....and another is 30 days....oh my..it's like enough for even the toughest of nails to take!!

it was STATE wide where we came from...30 days period....but here in florida even the means tests not only change from district to district, but from county to county within those districts!

yes, each of those judgment can cost...i know in nj one friend had a few and each cost her $600 to have vacated..that's a lot of money to have to come up with right after one has been discharged.

tobee43, I was not talking about Florida, I was talking about the United States as a whole. And we are talking about Civil Court, not Federal Bankruptcy Court.

Every state and district is a little bit different. Each State's laws are formed by that State's Statutes. Then the local laws and rules are promulgated from those State Statutes. This discussion is about a Civil process in someone's State. Bankruptcy is a Federal Court issue and is a separate issue.

Please do not just throw out comments to 'get your numbers up', as it is confusing to the posters trying to get accurate information.

If you wish to make a comment, please make sure that you have experienced it 'first hand', or have done thorough research into the matter.

Thank you.

[clevelandmom]

Hi StEt,

One way you can buy yourself an extra 30 days is to NOT go pick up the certified letter when it's sent to you. It will tell you which municipal court you received a "letter" from, and you can go online to check the court's docket to see what the lawsuit is about. I have been sued TWICE - the first one I actually went and picked up right away, but I learned my lesson. Where I live (in Ohio), the AC (anti-christ) that sued me finally got good service on me after 2 months. After I received service, I had 28 days to answer, which I did not, and then the ac filed a Motion for Default Judgment. To give you an idea of the timeline, they sued me in early July, and just this past week they were finally going to get a garnishment against me, but I played the game of chicken with them and won because I filed BK on Monday. They did get a Judgment Lien, and put it against my house - which I have to take off before I am discharged and it will cost me $250.00. My husband got laid off and we had to wait a few months to dilute his income - that's why we waited to file. Best of luck to you - it sounds like you have PLENTY of time before you have to worry about them getting a judgment against you.

[AngelinaCat]

Hi clevelandmom. That is a very good suggestion, because the Civil Court has to have proof that the subpoena has been properly served. It varies from state to state, district to district, etc.

Some courts require a signature that you have received the document. For others, sending to a postal address will do, which does not make a lot of sense because people will and do dodge service.

It depends upon what your local Civil Court requires. To the OP: Please go to your local courthouse Monday morning and get a copy of what your Civil Court Local Rules are. Or if you can download them onto your computer, that is even better. You may not have to pay the 'Public Records' fee.

Good luck to you!

Edit to add: In our case, the subpoena was mailed to us via our P O Box.