collections agencys can not put you in jail -but

Brenda this is my understanding. They can get a judgement against you in court. If you dont pay the judgement I think that you can go to jail. I might be wrong but thats what I have been told. She needs to show up in court. KYSIDE38

I still don't understand all the legal stuff out there ,but I have heard that you don't show up for court you can be arrested and I guess that goes for anyone taking you to court for debt.
My daughter has one job where no taxes are taken out and just got another where they will not do garnishment ,she said all her bill collecters can wait ,they have waited 3 years,she sends all her mail back with does not live here ,some of them look like court papers.What am I suppose to do if a sheriff knocks on the door to put her under arrest for not showing up in court because a collection agency or bill collector took her there.

The only way you can go to jail is if you have a judgement against you, and you are refusing to make amends to the situation. If a creditor takes you to court, and the judge rules in favor of the plantiff, then you'd start getting 25% taken out of every paycheck. It's a garnishment. Just like child support, if you move/quit/new job/etc, and don't fulfill the requirements of the judgement, then you could possible be arrested for voilating the judges orders.

Let her know that if she doesn't show up in court, more than likely it is only downhill from here with the debt. If she can't pay it, then the least she can do to let them know she cares is show up in court. Like everyone else said, if she doesn't, then the judge will probably rule in their favor.

Maybe she should go to jail for a few days.... Theres no excuse for this behavior really. Shes only going to make matters worse for herself. Better to fix it now than end up not being able to own anything or even get a phone line...

How did she get a job where she doesnt have to pay taxes?

I don't think you can go to jail for defaulting on a civil judgement. The laws for those such things are completely different than criminal court. The creditors can put liens on your property for failing to pay a judgement, garnish wages, and eventually if you get another job garnish that check.

She got a cleaning job ,cleaning all goverment building downtowm jacksonville fl they do not take out taxes or should I say the company doesnt take out taxes.The second job she just got is with a staffing agencey making 13 an hour and they do not garnish.First of all I can not believe she got the job with her credit and as far as having anything she doesn't care.She bought a 5,000 dollar car and paid cash for it,she said she can live in those extended stay motels and pay weekly with out a credit check.She has 11 credit cards that have a lot of debt on them she hasn't paid on since 2003,we're talking 4000 and some even more than that.Bottom line is if the courts send a sheriff out to my door what in the world am I suppose to do,she does live with me but she sends all her mail back no such person and she won't answer the phone or talk to any of the collectors and her lastest bill which I can not figure out how she got a cell phone 4 months back she ran up and they cut her off,not a pay as you go but a regular montly contract cell phone she has bad credit for 3 years and an eviction on her credit so go figure.

The sheriff may come to serve a summons for her, but to put her in jail for defaulted judgements? I doubt it. I can't remember which state you are in, but defaulting on a judgement isn't criminal and the creditors can put liens on property, garnish taxes, levy accounts to collect on the debts. Years ago I had a judgement which I defaulted on and they put a lien on the house, when I sold the house they got the payment. You should probably seek legal advice from an attorney, consultations are free and you can call and ask that question with a bankruptcy attorney regarding defaulting on civil judgements.

I wonder if the government office is aware they are contracting with a cleaning company that is paying employees "under the table", thus avoiding paying state and federal payroll taxes??

I know that's not quite on topic, but it really jumped out at me.

The government contracts out with companies for whatever it is they need. They are not responsible for tracking how the companies do their payroll, they are only responsible for securing the services needed and issuing payment.

I am not sure about the laws here in florida myself.
The only thing that she ownes is her car no payments she borrowed some money from us and from her ex and saved a litte bought a car straight out not from a dealership.
she doesn't have a home,land,401k,no savings ,no checking,the reason is because she owes a bank,she has nothing for them to put a lien on.I figure the collection agencyes are not going to do anything because for 3 years they have been calling ,sending mail and they have done nothing but threaten so she thinks she can go on and not pay her bills.

If she would just talk with her creditors, then I am sure that they would work out a pmt plan with her. If she is buying new things and paying CASH for them, then why can't she pay at least $20 a month on SOME of her bills. Even if she can't pay on all of them, at least get started with one or two.

I see brenda. The cleaning job is probaly not related to the govt building.
I hope shes ok.... she might get herself in some real trouble financially in the long run..
What about filing bankrupt? I dont know much about it but it seems shes in quite alot of debt. If shes young enough it might just be the same as starting to pay the bills and having her credit totalled anyways. Once she realizes she needs credit she might be cleared right? Clean record by that time maybe?
It will prpbably catch up to her and shell wake up.... just takes time.

as far as i know of, when you don't show up in court, they list you as a failure to appear and put a bench warrant out for your arrest. your daughter needs to develop a different attitude towards the situation. just b/c she hasn't been taken to jail doesn't mean that the debt isn't still messing her up. She'll never be able to prosper in life owing all of that money.

Brenda, as Mikey said, they won't arrest her for not showing up, they will just issue a judgement against her. Now if she doesn't pay taxes, have a bank account, or make the judgement payments, they can arrest her for failure to comply. If a sheriff comes to your door, you will have to be honest if he asks if she lives there. This all could take some time. They will have to go through the paperwork and everything to find out she doesn't have a taxable job,account, etc..Good Luck..Karen

The cleaning company is probably calling its employees independent contractors, which means they can legally get out of not withholding. However, the IRS has tests to determine if a person really is an employee or a contractor, meaning that they are in business for themselves. If the company fails these tests, meaning these people are indeed employees, that means the IRS can go after the company for not paying payroll taxes AND the employee for not paying them. Does the cleaning company give its workers a form 1099 at the end of the year? If they do, this form is sent to the IRS like a W2 is, which means that it can still go after Brenda's daughter for taxes. Along with paying her usual portion of taxes that would normally be withheld, she will also have to pay the employer's portion on FICA and Medicare, since she is considered to be self-employed.
So what I am saying is, to quote the old song, you can run, but you can't hide. It would be better for her if she came to grips with it now, since no sane person wants to be in trouble with the IRS.

Her job that does not take out taxes did not have her fill out any type of paper work ,she gets a pay check from the company and has them cashed at a place called we cash checks any kind of checks and they take out 3% to cash her check.She has no checking account because when she did have one she bounced so many checks that the bank closed her account and she still owes the bank that has been 2 years ago.Bottom line she owes credit cards,car loans ,she has an eviction ,she owes cell phone company,bow flex and she sold the bow flex for 240.00 dollars and still owes 1900 on it.She has so many debts it is unreal,she stopped paying on everything she called me one day and said she is not going to pay on any of her credit cards again because she can not get ahead,so now the collection agency calls every weekend and a new one colonial finace is calling,I can not get her to talk to them and sometimes I would like for them to put her in jail so she will know that this is not a joke.

You cannot go to jail for being a debtor or owing somebody money. There are certain situations where someone can be arrested, but not specifically for the debt; it is more for violating a court order / contempt of court.

A judgment is just a courts finding of the facts. In a money judgment, someone sues another person for X amount of dollars. If a judgment is entered, it is simply the court saying "we agree that defendant owes the plaintiff X dollars."

A judgment by itself does not compel the defendant to pay. What comes next is the enforcement of the judgment.

All states have different laws regarding post-judgment enforcement/collection. In Illinois, a judgment creditor can file a Citation to Discover Assets. The creditor can use a Citation to call the debtor in and ask questions: where do you work, how much money do you make, where are your bank accounts, what property do you own, etc ? If they don't show up to the Citation hearing, then there is another hearing set to Show Cause why they didn't show up the first time. If they don't show up the second time, the judge can issue a body writ and send out a warrant for the debtor's arrest. ... the following notice is required so that debtor's cant claim they didn't know:
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