Today I received a summons to appear in court for a " Warrant in Debt" by a third party collections agency. My name is totally misspelled on the warrant( doubt that will matter much). They sent copies of statements showing my making payments. I had prepared to file BK last year when my cancer ( the genesis of my problems ) relapsed and I was placed in hospice. I thought my money troubles were over! HA! I cancelled my BK and received my money back. Nice of the attorney. Turns out I went into spontaneous remission and was released and can work part-time again.I am still disabled and unable to repay this debt. Is it time to contact the attorney again?
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From a great (in my opinion) website:
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU GET A WARRANT IN DEBT
You have some tough decisions. If the debt is something that you owe—and that you can afford to pay—you should pay it off. (No, they do not have to accept payment arrangements; by warrant-in-debt time you are way too late for that.)
If you don’t owe it—or are not sure—you should go to court, ask for a trial, and try to find a lawyer who will help with that kind of thing. (If you Google “Virginia debt defense lawyer,” one Manassas law firm comes up. Many lawyers who do this kind of work are members of the National Association of Consumer Advocates, )
When you go on your first court day, and you tell the judge you want a trial, you should also ask for a “bill of particulars.” The bill of particulars is their writing proving that you do owe the money. That will give you some idea about how strong or weak their evidence is. If you then get a lawyer to help you, he will really want to study their bill of particulars.
If you owe the money but can’t pay, then it’s probably time to talk to a bankruptcy lawyer. You can find out more about bankruptcy law in Virginia at my website. I’m Virginia bankruptcy lawyer Robert Weed.
IF I LOSE IN COURT CAN I STILL FILE BANKRUPTCY?
You can still file bankruptcy on most debts even after your trial on the warrant in debt. (You can’t file bankruptcy and discharge a debt for fraud–for example if they say proved you lied on your credit report, or stole the money.)
There are a couple reasons why its better to file the bankruptcy before. One is, after bankruptcy your credit report will still show that you had a judgment against you. That will make it a little harder to get back to good credit.
Second, the judgment may become a lien on your real estate. (Less likley if you own the real estate as husband and wife.) The bankruptcy may not be able to get the judgment off. It depends.
Third, if you wait until after your court date and you get garnished, you may not be able to get that money back. You sometimes can if you see a bankruptcy lawyer and file your bankruptcy fast enough.
So, if you are thinking about bankruptcy when you get a warrant in debt, its better to talk to a lawyer quickly.
Hope this is helpful. Good luck.
Congrats on beating the Big C - sucks you have to deal with money issues, now, though.~~ Filed Over Median Income Chapter 7: 12/17/2010 ~~ 341 Held: 1/12/2011 ~~ Discharged: 03/16/2011 ~~Not an attorney - just an opinionated woman. -
I have been to court in VA and the Judges are very pro-se friendly. There has been a real push to prevent Collection Agency abuse so the Judges(in my opinion) are debtor friendly in that they really make the creditor prove its case. I would show up. If no attorney for the other side is there ask for a dismissal. If the attorney does show ask for a trial. A trial will be set for a later date.Comment
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