Being Served and Not Working!

[spearmint]

I heard banging on my front door tonight and by the time I got to the door, whoever it was had gone. I am pretty sure I am being served by a creditor. I've been expecting it. I am petrified because I am not working so I can't pay them and I can't afford an attorney. Need advice on how to deal with this. My nerves are shot.

[One Half Full]

Don't ignore it.

[keepsmiling]

STAND TALL. Don't be petrified. They can't put you in jail or do much of anything to you.
Just answer the summons when it comes. Tell us when you get it and the pros here will guide you through.

Sometime down the road you'll file bk and void any judgments. Meanwhile, remember to breathe. YOUR survival and that of your family comes first. The creditors come in a very very very very very very very very very very VERY.... distant second. Did I say VERY lol? Make that umpteenth. Don't give them an ounce of your life's blood until you have yourself in order.

Breathe, meditate, walk, laugh, do whatever you have to do to keep hanging in there. Vent here as much as you like. Take back the power.

[AngelinaCat]

Yes, please refer to the above advice, and DO NOT panic. Be calm, take deep breaths--the earth is NOT going to open up under you and swallow you. (I had that feeling also. I learned the hard way that this does not happen.) The sun still rises the next day, and so on.

You deal with the situation when it happens. If and when you are served, let us know, and we will 'walk you through' the process of what you need to do next.

{{{{Sending you calming thoughts for tonight.....}}}}

[One Half Full]

The sheriff who served me as very nice and professional. They get irate when you try to avoid them, like doing things like making them come more than once, slam doors in their faces, close the curtains and hide even though they know you are there. They will be nice, calm, and polite if you are. In a sense, you receive an invitation to a hearing. You are supposed to go, but it is a free country. I was stupid and did not go because I was too embarrassed to even ask what to do. Believe me, I have cried buckets of tears due to shame and fear. Four months later they sued me for a huge amount that I do not feel I actually spent. What I should have done is to answer their letters, telling them to prove it, give me actual documents. I thought I owed 4000, they sued me for 10000. Nothing like this will ever happen to me again. Listen to these people they have experience, and if you are unemployed and have no where to turn, contact the free lawyers (legal aid) from your state. They help you an awful lot, but they also motivate you and keep your priorities straight.

Remember-- there is Free legal aid for people who make below a certain income. Also read the NOLO book they have a free download of on this site in a sticky somewhere. (Hopefully you have read it already) Get to know what you are dealing with and you might feel less fear.

As they said in the great Frank Herbert Novel "Dune" -- Fear is the mind-killer... and it is true, the only thing you have to fear is fear itself. Since I have been unemployed and under employed during this whole fiasco, no one has really expected me to pay anything--

[sbatman]

My attitude, which worked well for us, was "Why make it easy for them?". We weren't jerks, we just managed to avoid service by having a gate limiting access to the front door, and keeping the car in the garage. So, finally, they had to serve us by publication. We avoided service from the mortgage company, and two credit cards. The benefit was that it put off getting legal proceedings going until we were ready to file. We had one judgement that was set aside as it was finalized after our filing Chapter 7. If we had made ourselves available, we would have had numerous judgements or we would have had to file the BK before we were ready.

An important caveat, though: you have to watch the site of the local courts as they list all their actions.

As an aside, one of those photo-enforcement cameras "got" me. They mailed the citation to my home. The thing is, it's not legally a citation unless it it served to you personally. I just happened to not get served for that one, and in 120 days, it "went away".

There are always holes in the law, you just have to find them. And there is nothing wrong with following the law as it is already written.

[dina13]

Spearmint, relax. Even if they sue you, what's the wost case scenario? If you don't have income, and little or no assets, then you have nothing to lose. If you go to court - so what? Even if the judge rules against you, they can't squeeze blood out of a stone, so don't worry.

When we stopped paying our minimums on all credit cards, they started calling us and writing us like crazy. I would get buckets of mail every day. I didn't know much about bk option then, but I was looking for a way to have a peace of mind, so I decided to ignore all letters and calls unless we actually get served. I was just taking it one day at a time, and decided not to think of it another second until an action on my part is required.

You won't believe how much better and more at ease I started to feel. I just went on with my life, and threw it out of my mind. It took them a year and a half to serve us. And after I got summons, then I took action, answered it, and immediately explored all our options. Bk was the smartest move at that point, so we went that route.

I'm telling you my story just to show you that being sued is not the end of the world. If you really have nothing to lose, then you have an advantage over them, as there is nothing they can do.

[disabledbut]

My advice is to not answer the door. You have NO job so they can't go there and they can't do a thing until you are served. My wife's lover did that for 8 MONTHS and there was NOT A THING we could do about it. They can even see you inside and unless they talk to you it's NO GOOD. Wave at them, tell them to kiss your whatever but, DON'T LET THEM SERVE YOU until you are ready, willing and able. Cost them money each time BTW...

[kilowatt]

If you don't have the money to file for bankruptcy find an attorney that will take payments for bankruptcy lawyer fees. He will file the paperwork and that will put the creditors on hold. If you don't have the money you can always file by yourself (per se). Find a book on how to do it.