Debt collection procedure gone to court...

There's no reason to be scared; this is just part of a civil process whereby the creditor is 'complaining' to the court that you have breeched a contract. The end result is that a judge would either agree or not agree with their complaint, and worst case scenario is that a judge will tell you that you have to pay them. Even at that, a judge will usually let you work out a payment plan.

Every county/court has different procedures. The summons should tell you what you need to do.

In some cases, you will need to file an answer with the court; basically admitting or denying the plaintiff's allegations. If you don't deny any of the plaintiff's claim, then they can motion for summary judgment without going to trial.

I think most small claims courts nowadays are turning to a pre-trial mediation process. Whereby you would show up on the court date and try to "work it out" with the plaintiff before it goes to trial. This may be what your hearing is.

Can you be a little more specific on what your summons says?? Does it say what you must do before the court date?

DebtCruncher,

Sorry about the other posts, i'm new at this. Just got the summons handed to me by a messenger earlier this evening. Was searching on the internet to find some answers and found this website. So nervous about this whole thing i couldn't eat dinner and my son is now scared that his mommy might go to jail..

OK. About the summons, it says "it is ordered, adjudged, and decreed that i appear at the hearing before a judge in superior court", not a small claims court. Is this something to be concerned with more so than a small claims court? They want me to bring w/ them employment info, list of bank accts, tax return info, property i own.. things like that. Then there's a list of questions titled Debtor Interrogatories. Do you think i have to fill this up before i go the hearing or these are the set of questions they'll ask that they want me to be prepared to answer?

Thanks DebtCruncher for taking the time to ease my mind. I'm a nervous wreck here...

Superior court? Let me ask you some questions here...

1. What type of debt is it?
2. When was the last time that any payment was posted to the account
3. What is the date of delinquency?
4. What state do you live in?
5. Who is the collection agency?
6. In the summons is there a docket number?
7. Who is representing the plaintiff?

If you could kindly answer these questions for me I will try to help you as best as I can.

Each state has its own rules of civil procedure, so I couldn't answer anything about that. I would fill it out before you go to court. It sounds like they've begun the discovery phase. Can you tell us a little more about this debt? No, you're not going to jail. This is a civil action, not criminal.