Summons that doesn't have case number: REAL OR B.S.?????

[DYLAN150]

I have found the WA state court site is pretty accurate. Of course if it's not filed yet, it won't be on there, but run your name each day and let us know.

[DYLAN150]

Treehugger1: I see you have your own facebook account. Nice

http://www.facebook.com/TreeHugger

[treehugger1]

That is correct. In some states (such as WA) the service can occur without a case number, however, once the defendant is served the plaintiff or representative may have as few as 14 days to file with the court or the service is void.

It appears that in this case, the defendant can force the hand of the plaintiff or plaintiff's representative.

Upon written
demand by any other party, the plaintiff instituting the action shall pay
the filing fee and file the summons and complaint within 14 days after
service of the demand or the service shall be void.

I can see why some attorneys would use this, because it does cost to file a lawsuit and defend a lawsuit any many states. It might be wise to see if the defendant is going to be a pushover or not.

There is certainly much more involved here, and I am not anyone's attorney. I'm just full of opinions, experiences, and references.

[treehugger1]

Dylan, haha. One of the best ways to hug a tree is to get it on the ground. In my past, I was not nearly as great as growing trees as I was at cutting them down.

[Resigned2BK]

Not an answer about the Discover card issue but about something else you mentioned.

You don't have much equity in your home do you? Why on earth would you not use the Federal bankruptcy exemptions that would allow you (and a spouse if filing jointly) to each exempt up to $10,825 in assets as long as you don't utilize more than the Federal limit in homestead equity? I am amazed your attorney hasn't mentioned this to you.


In the state of Washington, you may use the Federal bankruptcy exemptions or the state of Washington Bankruptcy Exemptions. Do a Google search for Federal Bankruptcy exemptions (the last update was in 2010 and will be again updated in 2013 so make sure your source is current). Keep all that you are entitled to!

Good luck and I hope this helps you in some little way!!

That's interesting because I swear when I looked up Federal Exemptions, cash and securities couldn't be expempted at all.

Our mortgage is underwater and we're waiting for BofA to decide to foreclose which they don't seem in a rush to do these days. Which is fine by me because we'll get free housing until they finally do make a solid move that way. I do know that we will have to use some wildcard to save both vehicles which I find ridiculous as mine's a 2003 Ford and hubby's is a 2002 Chrysler vehicle, no SUVs, cars are both what could be considered in the low end of mid-range models from those companies. And some wildcard will have to go into saving musical instruments which will spill over the allowables for tools of the trade exemptions.

But don't even get me started on our attorney. He told us that our consultation with him in April was part of his bankruptcy retainer, then I paid $200 to kind of show earnest money towards retainer to buy us time to get the rest together as we knew we weren't planning on filing until end of summer due to a 2 year lease for a shop ending then, then when hubby went to pay $1000 more on the retainer Friday and ask about the summons issue, the atty told him that the $200 I paid him this Spring is just grabbed as a separate fee for the consultation. I mean WTF. We're already a Ch 7, on food stamps, no health insurance for the adults, and now we have to come up with another $200 because this guy won't honor what he told us in the first place. But hubby is dead set on sticking with him despite other issues *I* have regarding that he will charge a bunch extra to go after FDCPA violations, has acted pissy when I ask him questions, etc.. I'm pretty well ticked about it, but given this is to wipe out debt that hubby accumulated through poor business planning and that all personal debt I've accrued is directly caused by having to throw buckets o' cash to keep servicing the business debt for years and years, I feel like I have to just let him figure this out his way. Even though my financial life is ruined too. And these collectors are telling my family about this debt. GRRRR.

Oh, by the way, it's all unfortunately completely legit with this summons and no case number nonsense. This one agency can pretty much do whatever the heck they want according to our atty and it won't matter if we tell them that as we are on food stamps and can't even afford health insurance and won't even have an income if they steal our vehicles through a convoluted BS repo action (because as far as I'm concerning it is straight up stealing as we own both outright for years now). This particular agency employs a lot of dirty tricks near as we can tell from the research and our atty knows of their reputation and has put us on guard. Good grief. So we'll just have to see how this plays, if we have to file in a couple of weeks or can wait it out to the end of Sept like hubby wants to do.

[tobee43]

if you are going to file at the end of the summer. worse case would be they (discover) gets the judgment and after your discharge and close you file an order to vacate the judgment and have it removed.

it will cost you more legal fees, or you can ask the court about doing it pro se...but you can get it removed. i'm still fascinated how anyone can answer a summons with no case number, but nowadays nothing is a surprise.

also, i would still answer the summons to attempt to stall it another few weeks if possible. if luck goes your way, you can stall it enough and then file. if you have your bk docket number you'll be good to go, and discover will be ordered by the bk court to stop all action.

best of luck to you!!

[Resigned2BK]

Thanks Tobee. I figured out another stall tactic though. We haven't ever demanded verification ('cause what is generally the point, we know the amounts we see on collection communications are the amounts owed roughtly) and I'm hoping that if we demand that say a few days before the deadline through certified mail, they will be forced to stop everything until that part of it is done. And we'll demand they obtain it through Discover. Don't know if that could delay a week, 2 weeks, or a month, but it should do something.

Part of what I'm concerned about and makes me royally POed about this particular collection action is that supposedly they can go after things like my IRAs and MY car because I'm on the hook for all his debts in a community property state. Bankruptcy protections won't apply until we file. And between my car's value and my remaining IRAs and another investment I have, if all that is garnished or seized or whatever it's called, it could technically satisfy the quantity these guys say is owed. I felt confident before all this went down that we'd be judgement proof because we have hardly any income and I didn't think a CA could seize a car or retirement account to satisfy an unsecured debt. But apparently between the research DH has done and things the atty said, they really can do all those things which would put us in one heck of a lasting world of hurt for a very very long time. Ugh.

I just want us to file already so we can be done with all of this and restart our financial lives already. It's far less painful to just rip the bandaid quickly than to pull it slowly hair by hair like we've been doing. If it was entirely up to me (like heaven forbid something horrible happened to DH where he could no longer make financial decisions) then I would've done this probably around the start of the year which would have certainly spared me a lot of the psychological torture that these assorted CAs have placed on us.

[tobee43]

Thanks Tobee. I figured out another stall tactic though. We haven't ever demanded verification ('cause what is generally the point, we know the amounts we see on collection communications are the amounts owed roughtly) and I'm hoping that if we demand that say a few days before the deadline through certified mail, they will be forced to stop everything until that part of it is done. And we'll demand they obtain it through Discover. Don't know if that could delay a week, 2 weeks, or a month, but it should do something.

Part of what I'm concerned about and makes me royally POed about this particular collection action is that supposedly they can go after things like my IRAs and MY car because I'm on the hook for all his debts in a community property state. Bankruptcy protections won't apply until we file. And between my car's value and my remaining IRAs and another investment I have, if all that is garnished or seized or whatever it's called, it could technically satisfy the quantity these guys say is owed. I felt confident before all this went down that we'd be judgement proof because we have hardly any income and I didn't think a CA could seize a car or retirement account to satisfy an unsecured debt. But apparently between the research DH has done and things the atty said, they really can do all those things which would put us in one heck of a lasting world of hurt for a very very long time. Ugh.

I just want us to file already so we can be done with all of this and restart our financial lives already. It's far less painful to just rip the bandaid quickly than to pull it slowly hair by hair like we've been doing. If it was entirely up to me (like heaven forbid something horrible happened to DH where he could no longer make financial decisions) then I would've done this probably around the start of the year which would have certainly spared me a lot of the psychological torture that these assorted CAs have placed on us.

great thought! that should stall them a few weeks.

i do understand it's upsetting. but hopefully by the time you get a court date, you'll also have a docket number on bk case and it will stop it all. it's going to take them a bit to put a lien against your car and are you certain your IRA is not protected??? i found that hard to swallow or accept.

i know, as soon as you file it will all be ok. but as difficult as this all is, it will go away...promise!

[treehugger1]

The following is form the NW Justice Project-2007

I'm not sure how current it is in terms of any revisions to WA statutes. At the end it includes a declaration of exemptions to be filed with your answer. Again, I'm no attorney, but the document seems quite useful. It would be nice if there was such a packet for every state.

http://www.lawhelp.org/documents/1387410205EN.pdf?stateabbrev=/WA/

[tobee43]

Here is a bit of help for WA debt lawsuits. I'm not sure how current it is. At the end it includes a declaration of exemptions to be filed with your answer. Again, I'm no attorney, but the document seems quite useful. It would be nice if there was such a packet for every state.

http://www.lawhelp.org/documents/138...ateabbrev=/WA/

wow tree, that is excellent stuff!!!!!!!

that's washington state right???

[treehugger1]

Yes, it is from WA. As mentioned, it probably needs to be updated; exemptions, etc.

[tobee43]

Yes, it is from WA. As mentioned, it probably needs to be updated; exemptions, etc.

still an excellent base line to start with!

[Resigned2BK]

Terrific stuff there at the link, treehugger. Thanks much. Looks like a lot of it does follow similar logic to BK exemptions.