How do I find out if I have a judgement against me???

[LDL]

Okay, I filed BK7 4 yrs ago and it was disharged the end of '09. At the same time my home was also discharged, but the bank didn't foreclose on it until the spring of 2010. I got advice from my state's legal aid which made me believe that I might be able to negotiate some 'cash for keys' and so that's what I attempted to do to no avail, so the bank filed for eviction and as I was trying to fight my bank, I lost the case and moved out the fall of 2010.

I remember being told that I could be held liable for attorney fees, etc., but I left my former house in turnkey shape when I moved out and left the state without any forwarding information. I had no money, home, etc., and figured that they would catch up with me one day and maybe then I'd have the monies to pay a judgement against me for the eviction/attorney/court fees.

Fast forward 3 yrs and I'm finally working again and wondering if JDB/collections will be seizing money from my bank account one day when I least expect it. I hate to go looking for trouble, but neither do I want trouble looking for me. What I'd like to know is the judgement amount and then try to negotiate it down before I find money just missing from my account one day.

All of this is new to me. Until I filed BK7 4 yrs ago, I had 30 yrs of great credit, 25 yrs as a homeowner and no problems with any of my creditors. Not being able to sell my home for almost 3 yrs and losing close to $200K of equity while the market was in freefall hurt me alot. But now I am finally getting my life turned around financially and I am wanting to get this potential monkey off of my back.

How do I go about finding out if the Judge gave the bank a judgement against me and who might have bought it? What steps should I take to protect myself with my paid off car, money in the bank and potentially in the future, buying another home? I'm guessing that the judgement might have been $5K, but really I have no idea.

[LadyInTheRed]

First of all, if the bank applied for a judgment for their costs to evict you, you should have received notice of their petition.

Depending on what county you are in, your court's website may have online access where you can look up your case and see what orders have been entered. If not, go to the court clerk's office and look at the case file.

ETA: If you tell me what county the eviction case was in, I may be able to steer you in the right direction.

[OHBOY]

I frequently go online and check my local court records online just to get an update and make sure that a court proceeding or judgement did not 'sneak by' me.
So, that's what I would suggest to do, namely check the court records.

[GoingDown]

Yes, this is how easy it is to do a court search on yourself...

Superior Court:

http://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/docket/CivilCourtCases/caseSearch.asp

Justice Court:

http://justicecourts.maricopa.gov/FindACase/casehistory.aspx

Just find the website for your county.

[LadyInTheRed]

Not all counties provide as much access as others.

[LDL]

Thanks everyone for responding! The court was in Ada County in Idaho. I don't recall finding a way to check their court records, so would appreciate if anyone knows otherwise. I was told that maybe I could find the judgement through the credit agencies, but checked one of them (so far) and didn't come across any judgement.

First of all, if the bank applied for a judgment for their costs to evict you, you should have received notice of their petition.

Depending on what county you are in, your court's website may have online access where you can look up your case and see what orders have been entered. If not, go to the court clerk's office and look at the case file.

ETA: If you tell me what county the eviction case was in, I may be able to steer you in the right direction.

[Pjmax]

http://www.adaweb.net/recsearch/

Try this.

[LDL]

Thank you Pjmax! I just tried that using my name only since I don't have an instrument number and it brought up someone with my same name who recently purchased a home only.

Hmmmm? I'd like to think that maybe I escaped judgement somehow. That would be really great! Unfortunately it would be nice to know one way or the other and to take care of it before some jerk comes calling or freezes my bank account, etc.

http://www.adaweb.net/recsearch/

Try this.

[GoingDown]

Try this one and see if it works for you...

https://www.idcourts.us/repository/partySearch.do

[LDL]

Thank you GoingDown! I didn't find it there either. So now my question is - If a judgement is good for 10 yrs, and a JDB comes after me in the future, how would I ever know what the correct amount was prior to any added fees since I can't find a judgement in the court websites???

Try this one and see if it works for you...

https://www.idcourts.us/repository/partySearch.do