Vacating Judgment - my steps (MN)

[JessMN]

I asked my lawyer about vacating my judgment now that my bk is closed and he said it was easy and I could do it myself and save his fees. So I thought I would share how it goes for me.

Today (9/6/11) I called the clerk of court and asked them to send me a certified copy of my discharge - cost me all of $9.50. She is putting it in today's mail.

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Here are the instructions on the form I have to send to the bk court once I have my certified discharge copy:

548.181 DISCHARGE OF JUDGMENTS AGAINST BANKRUPTCY DEBTORS

Subd. 1. Application for discharge.

A judgment debtor who has received a discharge under United States Code, title 11, or an interested party, upon paying a filing fee of $5 for each judgment, may apply to the court administrator of any court for the discharge of all judgments entered in that court against the judgment debtor that were ordered discharged by the bankruptcy discharge.

Subd. 2. Application Requirements; Service

An application under subdivision 1 must identify each judgment to be discharged, must be accompanied by a certified copy of the judgment debtor’s bankruptcy discharge or a certificate by the clerk of the United States bankruptcy court of the discharge, must state the time the judgment creditor has to object as specified in subdivision 3 and the grounds for objection as specified in subdivision 4, must be served at the expense of the applicant on each judgment creditor in the manner provided for the service of a summons in a civil action, and must be accompanied by an affidavit of service.

Subd. 3. Objection to Discharge

The court administrator, without further notice or hearing, shall discharge each judgment except a judgment in favor of a judgment creditor who has filed an objection to discharge of the judgment within 20 days after service of the application on the judgment creditor. An objection to discharge of a judgment must be served on the judgment debtor in the same manner as an answer in a civil action.

Subd. 3a. Certification of Discharge

Upon receipt of a filing fee of $5, the court administrator shall certify to the judgment debtor or other interested party the judgments against a person that have been discharged by the administrator.

Subd. 4. Court Order

If a judgment creditor objects to the discharge of a judgment, on motion of the judgment debtor, the judgment creditor, or other interested party, the court shall order the judgment discharged except to the extent that: (1) the debt represented by the judgment was not discharged by the bankruptcy discharge; or (2) the judgment was an enforceable lien on real property when the bankruptcy discharge was entered. If the judgment was an enforceable lien on some, but not all, real property of the judgment debtor, the discharge shall only be entered as to real property not subject to an enforceable lien.
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Why do they have to put everything in legal-ese???? From what I gather, next I have to fill out the motion to vacate form and pay $5 and "An application...must be served at the expense of the applicant on each judgment creditor in the manner provided for the service of a summons in a civil action, and must be accompanied by an affidavit of service." So I guess that means I send a copy of the request to the creditor??? I'll call the court and verify. But then it sounds like the creditor can object within 20 days and if they don't then the judgement is vacated.....

[JessMN]

Well I got my certified copy of the discharge in the mail yesterday so now I guess I have to serve "at the expense of the applicant on each judgment creditor in the manner provided for the service of a summons in a civil action,"

I called the civil court to ask what they needed for an affidavit of service. They said they couldn't tell me So they referred me to a self help line who told me which form I needed. I have to have a trusted friend or family member actually mail out the copy of the request to the creditor and then fill out the Affidavit of Service and have it notarized. Then I mail a copy of the Affidavit, the application form and the certified discharge plus the filing fee ($5) to the court. If no objections happen in 20 days then they vacate. How cool is that?

[disconapper]

WOW, great information that you have shared, you've done a lot of leg work for yourself but I'm sure it will pay off for you! This post will be really helpful to others as well!

[IamOld]

AWESOME info!!!!

[JessMN]

Thanks, I was hoping that others may find this useful since it was such a headache for me to figure out! And I didn't want to pay my lawyer $500 and hour to do it lol

[JessMN]

Update: I've been waiting patiently (?!?) for my judgement to be vacated and finally called the clerk of court. Since the creditor was served on 9/9, the 20 days to object have definitely passed. Turns out they don't automatically send out anything notifying of the vacancy - I can request a certificate for $5 if I want (rolling eyes)... But the point is that it was vacated on 10/14. One black mark on my credit reports taken care of (assuming it gets reported correctly and I don't have to make them fix it!)

[JessMN]

One last update - my credit score jumped 23 points in a week (creditkarma.com) when the judgement was removed!

[JessMN]

Another update - the judgment was removed from EQ and EX but not TU so I disputed online saying it had been vacated -and they just sent me an update...they show it as being in my BK, but have NOT removed it! Grrr....I am sending them a letter based on one I found on another board telling them to remove the darn thing as there is no record of a judgement and I have proof of that (vacating removed the judgement so it is no longer on record I guess, at least the paperwork I got from the court says I have no judgments), so we will see how that goes!

[JessMN]

And now TU sent me a letter telling me they need the actual court papers in order to update (rolling my eyes again) According to the court clerk, that will cost me $14 and I need to send a written request for a "certified copy of the order to vacate". And why didn't they tell me that in the first place? I thought that's what I had ordered earlier, but I guess I ordered a certified copy of the judgement search. Sheesh.

[tobee43]

And now TU sent me a letter telling me they need the actual court papers in order to update (rolling my eyes again) According to the court clerk, that will cost me $14 and I need to send a written request for a "certified copy of the order to vacate". And why didn't they tell me that in the first place? I thought that's what I had ordered earlier, but I guess I ordered a certified copy of the judgement search. Sheesh.

a vital part of the process to file the signed order with the court and have the order recorded.

you did an excellent job as i have mentioned before, but for me, even as a paralegal i wouldn't attempt it LOL!!! i wanted to make certain that someone else was responsible for all the possible mess ups if they happened. also, the recording process is not something i was use to. before any credit reporting agency is notified everything must be in perfect 'legal" order.

i rec'd a copies of both my signed orders to vacate and put them in my computer just in case it ever came up again. didn't you receive a copy when the judge passed the motion and signed it?

it's really not the exercise of filing the motion itself, it is the follow through they forget to tell you about.

[JessMN]

a vital part of the process to file the signed order with the court and have the order recorded.

Really? First I have heard of that - what does recording the order do?

i rec'd a copies of both my signed orders to vacate and put them in my computer just in case it ever came up again. didn't you receive a copy when the judge passed the motion and signed it?

it's really not the exercise of filing the motion itself, it is the follow through they forget to tell you about.

No, I didn't receive anything when it was finished, that's why I had to call and ask if it had been vacated and then pay to get a copy of the judgement search. I don't know if MN is different, but I didn't have to file anything to get the judgement vacated other than the motion to vacate - if you do a search on the court website it shows I have no active judgments (I can search inactive judgments and find it though) and both EX and EQ removed the judgments - I didn't even have to ask.

[LadyInTheRed]

I don't think you need to record the order vacating the judgment unless the judgment was recorded.

[tobee43]

I don't think you need to record the order vacating the judgment unless the judgment was recorded.

if the order is not recorded by the county, it will not be picked up as vacated.

one would think any valid judgement would be recorded??? otherwise how could it hold up in court? i mean, actually to be served a summons (suits, including docket numbers for reference etc.), for court which ends up becoming a judgement is recorded in courts and stays there until there until there is proved that there is a signed order by the judge vacating the order.

wow...that's a mouthful and a half!!

[tobee43]

Really? First I have heard of that - what does recording the order do?

it notifies the world that the judgement was been ordered vacated by the courts



No, I didn't receive anything when it was finished, that's why I had to call and ask if it had been vacated and then pay to get a copy of the judgement search. I don't know if MN is different, but I didn't have to file anything to get the judgement vacated other than the motion to vacate - if you do a search on the court website it shows I have no active judgments (I can search inactive judgments and find it though) and both EX and EQ removed the judgments - I didn't even have to ask.

you should have rec'd a signed order by the judge with a copy of which judgement was vacated and the date the judge signed it. i understand it's not active, but they will not take it off your credit report until it's recorded as vacated by the county. honest, we went through this with ours, i had to back to the atty and he had to get it recorded. it finally dropped off, but not without a fight on our behalf to get him to complete his job.

[JessMN]

you should have rec'd a signed order by the judge with a copy of which judgement was vacated and the date the judge signed it. i understand it's not active, but they will not take it off your credit report until it's recorded as vacated by the county. honest, we went through this with ours, i had to back to the atty and he had to get it recorded. it finally dropped off, but not without a fight on our behalf to get him to complete his job.

OK, well then why did EX and EQ (and Innovis!) take it off their reports (I didn't send them anything)? This is where I am confused. TU is the only one I'm having an issue with.