Am I judgement proof???

[rooster0330]

I received a summons the other day for AMEX, the card was/is in my name my husband is an authorized user, he is not named in the complaint. I am a stay at home mom, the cars are solely in his name, the house is both our names, and bank account both our names.

My question is, obviously they have no wages to garnish, (can they garnish my husbands)

can they go after, the house, bank accounts that are in both our names?

Thanks in advance.

[frogger]

can they go after, the house, bank accounts that are in both our names?

Thanks in advance.

Yes they can go after joint assets.

And..... you are not judgment proof. No one is judgment proof, however some people are "collection" proof. It appears that you are neither.

[GoingDown]

"Judgment Proof" is the old way of saying it, and pretty much everyone knows what that means, but yes, technically, "collection proof" is more accurate.

The reason people started using the term "Judgment Proof" is because, while yes it is true that a creditor may get a judgment against you, the judgment would be worthless if you had no assets to take, no wages to garnish, nothing to lose.

The house and the checking account are not judgment proof because they are in both of your names. Once they get a judgment, they can put a lien on the house, and they can garnish or take the money in the checking account.

If you live in a community property state, and if they know you are married, they might attempt to come after assets and wages that are only in your husband's name as well.

The first thing I would do is close that joint checking account immediately. Any money you have in there will not be safe once they get a judgment.

[AngelinaCatHub]

All above are correct. No one is Judgment proof as perhaps in the future, you will the lottery, or some other windfall. they own your soul. This is why I am so against Judgments when a person states, well all they can get is a judgment and I have nothing. Yes, now you have, but in five years maybe not.

Attempt to avoid. Best I can say. 'Hub

[frogger]

The reason people started using the term "Judgment Proof" is because, while yes it is true that a creditor may get a judgment against you, the judgment would be worthless if you had no assets to take, no wages to garnish, nothing to lose.

I understand the thought process behind your statement, but I respectfully must disagree.

Words mean something, and when people are coming here, they are worried, stressed, and burdened beyond belief. I don't want to give the advice to someone that they are "judgment proof" and the next thing you know, they have a judgment against them.

While the judgment may or may not be collectable today, tomorrow could be a new day. People change, just as their situations do. After all, The Donald was broke at one time too..... wouldn't you have wanted to own a judgment against him?

Judgments show up on public records, are on credit reports, normally stop people from borrowing money until they are paid, and are generally a p.i.t.a.

I don't have any against me, and I sure don't want any......

[merime]

Get the money out of your name!! Before you got to court close all accounts with your name on them. Have him change banks. Its a royal pain , but if you want to keep what he has thats what you need to do. As far as the house, there is not really much you can do. Getting a quit deed , raises eyebrows fast. I was in the exact same situation. cars in husbands name. My situation was a strained marrige, but the rules as far as debt still apply. Remarkably, my husband still has excellent credit. As soon as I had no bank accounts in my name , the calls even got slower. Please check state laws as things do differ. Two things to remember. 1. A judgement is serious, but NOT the end of the world and 2. Don't just think about today, 5 yrs down the road you will need to live too> Good luck!!!

[IBroke]

Judgments show up on public records, are on credit reports, normally stop people from borrowing money until they are paid, and are generally a p.i.t.a.

I don't have any against me, and I sure don't want any......

Oh yeah - and it's even a p.i.t.a. to have a void judgment vacated. Getting rid of a judgment - even after BK - is still more difficult than getting one..

[GoingDown]

I understand the thought process behind your statement, but I respectfully must disagree.

Words mean something, and when people are coming here, they are worried, stressed, and burdened beyond belief. I don't want to give the advice to someone that they are "judgment proof" and the next thing you know, they have a judgment against them.

While the judgment may or may not be collectable today, tomorrow could be a new day. People change, just as their situations do. After all, The Donald was broke at one time too..... wouldn't you have wanted to own a judgment against him?

Judgments show up on public records, are on credit reports, normally stop people from borrowing money until they are paid, and are generally a p.i.t.a.

I don't have any against me, and I sure don't want any......

I understand what you are saying, but I also think that people are far too afraid of judgments, and some of the people on here are responsible for making people terrified of getting a judgment against them, and that raises their stress levels unnecessarily, too.

I have a judgment against me. I have taken steps to make myself "Judgment Proof" as we used to call it, or "Collection Proof" as you now call it, and so far, for years after the judgment, I HAVE NOT YET PAID ONE CENT OF THE JUDGMENT AGAINST ME.

I have no assets to lose. No wages to garnish. No checking account to seize. No house to put a lien on.

A judgment against me is as worthless as the piece of paper it is printed on.

They will never get anything from me.

For those people who have something to lose, or who are worried about getting wages garnished from a job they want to keep, I suggest filing bankruptcy as soon as you can to avoid a judgment.

But some of these people are on Social Security Disability, etc., they aren't worried about a judgment keeping them from being like Donald Trump someday. They just want to survive financially, and some of them -- for whatever reason -- don't want to file bankruptcy right now. For them, the best option is to make themselves as "Collection Proof" or whatever you want to call it, as possible. There is a good chance that they will eventually end up with a judgment against them at some point. If they have no assets that the judgment creditor can put a lien on, they can sit back and wait out the creditor until they are good and ready to file bankruptcy, and the judgment will then be completely worthless. The underlying debt will be discharged, and then they can go back to court and have the judgment vacated.

But all this argument over "Judgment Proof" vs. "Collection Proof" is ridiculous. Go Google "Judgment Proof" and you will come up with a lot of hits. It's what we used to call it. If they read the methods of Judgment Proofing, they will find that it very clearly means how to protect yourself from the after effects of a judgment, NOT some method of preventing a judgment from happening.

[GoingDown]

This is from a debt collector attorney's own website:

"The Forwarding Fee Contract is a premium service if you have multiple cases to be forwarded to litigating. For an upfront fee, you will be able to forward a certain number of cases to litigation over a period of time. For example: if you forwarded fifteen cases for $3,000 over a two year span, you will only be paying $200 per case that is forwarded. The entire process is handled by [censored], [censored] & Associates and you will not have to worry about surprise fees or paperwork.


....

"By executing this forwarding fee contract extension, I acknowledge that no promises, guarantees, or warranties are expressed or implied. No representations have been made to me that conflict with the disclosure that bad debt can under no circumstances be guaranteed and that there is always a risk that despite the best practices, a debtor may never repay his obligation to you."

They acknowledge that some people are simply uncollectible. They used to refer to these people as judgment proof. Believe me, one of these debt collectors would know very quickly what was meant by the old term "Judgment Proof."

People get so terrified of lawsuits and judgments, but what they need to realize is that at certain point, if they can't collect the debt, these debt collectors move on to other debtors who can pay them. Otherwise they would go out of business. Judgments are not as scary as so many people are making them out to be. They are not the end of the world. And the good news is if at some later time you decide to file bankruptcy, you can include the old judgment in your filing and get rid of it. In states like Arizona, there is a 5 year time limit to judgments-- if a judgment is not renewed during the 45 days before the 5 year time limit expires-- then the judgment becomes worthless. From what I have noticed, after 5 years of being unable to collect a judgment, the judgment holder seems to lose interest in it, and forgets to renew it.

[lindsay2181]

i have a question about being "judgement proof/collection proof" now. if a creditor is aware you have no assets, why would they bother wasting their time/money to go after you? i just received notice this morning that a creditor was granted a judgement against me....not a whole lot of money, a little over $3k + fees, but just the same, i don't have it. nor do i have any wages to garnish, bank account to freeze, automobile, or anything of value (besides my 3 lovely children of course . haven't they don't their research? don't they know they aren't going to find anything here? just wondering.

[frogger]

No, most of the time they don't know. They may have done a few preliminary checks, but pretty much rely on the "spray and pray" method of court cases and judgments. Once they get a judgment against you, another division in the agency may look to find assets. And then again, they may not.

[Freddy03]

i have a question about being "judgement proof/collection proof" now. if a creditor is aware you have no assets, why would they bother wasting their time/money to go after you? i just received notice this morning that a creditor was granted a judgement against me....not a whole lot of money, a little over $3k + fees, but just the same, i don't have it. nor do i have any wages to garnish, bank account to freeze, automobile, or anything of value (besides my 3 lovely children of course . haven't they don't their research? don't they know they aren't going to find anything here? just wondering.

Because in Louisiana judgments are good for 10 years or more. So you may be "judgment or collection proof" now but who knows a few years from now.

[catleg]

The best thing would be if you debts are individual , but your house is titled 'tenancy by the entireties.'
I am not sure if the typical real estate lawyer understands the signifigance of this, vs JTWROS.
TBE means that individual's debts cannot be collected (i.e. place a lien against) vs property held by a husband and wife titled as tenancy by the entireties.
As for the joint bank accounts, they are fair game, close em.

[CCC]

I'm wondering about the judgement situation too but I'm in California...currently Googling a bunch of stuff.

[pstallone]

What about a Sheriffs levy on your home furnishings??