Summary Judgement on my Credit
Date: Thu, 01/31/2008 - 10:44
Several years ago my husband was laid off. We got behind on everything and when he went back to work he took a $400.00 per week cut in pay. We were only able to catch up on our house and vehicles. There were several credit cards and with all the fees they added on it did not even resemble the original amount owed. One of the credit cards has sued me and placed a judgement on my credit. This week I received a letter from an attorney's office saying that I had to show up and bring copies of my deeds to property, titles to vehicles, tax returns for 5 years, and bank statements for 5 years, also life insurance, investment accounts, 401k accounts, check book and saving accounts. I live in Texas and don't know the laws. I haven't made a payment since the end of 2002.
hi, mommapj-- First, welcome to the forums! Second, did yo
hi, mommapj--
First, welcome to the forums!
Second, did you know about the lawsuit before now? Were you served a summons and everything or did you just find out about it after the fact?
I am not very familiar with Texas laws, but many of us are and no doubt someone else will drop in before too long that knows more than I do there. But I am curious about the suit itself. If you did not know about it until after it was done, please let us know.
Judgement
Hi Skydiver,
Thanks for the welcome. Yes I did know about the suit, I sent a written response to the court, I did not go. I couldn't afford an attorney. My husband is without a job again, having been laid off from a construction job in December.
summary judgment on my credit
mommapj i am also in texas and just recently had a default judgment-did not get summoned properly but didn't know about this case until it was over with-thru a court here. i am still learning and have learned alot about all this collection stuff. i didn't know about my case until it happened so i am pretty much screwed as i cannot afford legal help either.
but....be careful of what info you give to ANYONE over the phone. are you sure this lawyer that sent you the letter is definitely associated with this case?
and if you are summoned to court...sounds like a writ of execution...shouldn't the court be summoning you since you have a judgment already, if i am understanding you correctly?
someone that knows these things for sure will help you soon i am sure. they are great here!
check out this site as it has sooo much info for texas residents and what is legally exempt from creditors in situations such as these, can't put a link here so just copy and paste and put in your browser search bar...lawdog.com/states/tx/judm.htm .
also i would definitely give a call asap to the court clerk that this case went through, to find out if this is all proper..lawyer contacting you this way about what you should bring to court, etc. make sure what the lawyer is asking you to bring to court also is correct as they might be "nosing" into your business to help make their workload lighter...to see what assets you have. court might require 5 yrs etc. just to make sure.
Thanks Sugahplm, The lawyer is a firm located in Dallas, they w
Thanks Sugahplm,
The lawyer is a firm located in Dallas, they were the firm who brought the suit. They want me to bring the info to their office, not to court. They have given me 30 days to comply and use law 186 as basis for this request.
summary judgment on my credit
i am also in the dallas area.
what is law 186? and i for sure think they are trying to get you to give them a lot of personal info that isn't theirs. in texas basically, if you don't have a bunch of assets other than the basics for living, the only thing they can do is garnish/levy/seize your bank accts. and some wages possibly but youll have to read about that to see if it applies to you.
please read that page/link i provided for you..scroll way down for all (alot) exemptions texas allows.
from my understanding, you would have to have some kind of judgment from the court against you then per my countys court clerks office, the people who sued you would also have to FILE a writ of execution with the court to obtain any personal info about you and your financial status. someone with legal knowledge here might know more, but this is what my county court clerk told me. they can only file this writ no sooner than 30 days after the judgment was signed by the judge. and i've found this to be stated on other texas sites on the web.
so i would hold off on this and definitely check with the court to see if all this is being handled legally and if this lawyer (debt collector) has filed anything against you regarding this case.
i was sued by so called attorneys who are just debt collector scum. they never summoned me...i never had time to go to court or to appeal. now i can't do anything.
sky... what can a person do in my position..appeal date is past now, no money for attorney, did not get summoned at all. court says palisades had someone summon me on my birthday no less...think i would remember that!
thanks
I will check the website you gave me, thank you. I don't have a
I will check the website you gave me, thank you. I don't have a clue what law 186 is. I read on another website the the statue of limitations on debt in TX is 4 years from the last transaction with the original creditor. If that is so they should not have been able to get a judgement against me. I think that when you are part of the lower end of the middle class it is almost impossible to get help, you make too much $ (what?)for legal aid and there is no way you can budget a lawyer into your already stressed finances.