civil summons for debt collection

So even though I am currently "living in Kentucky" they cannot sue me here. I am not a legal resident in Kentucky and am only here due to my military spouse. I have a driver's license and do my taxes with the state of Texas as my legal residence. Thank you for that. I was just so confused do to the different state laws involved and wasn't sure if they even had the right to sue me here.

I would check with a military advocate (they should have some kind of legal assistance for military spouses on the base) before you rely on my advice. Military families are slightly different and I'm not sure know that I know a little more about your situation.

Well according to the state of Kentucky, military who are stationed here are not considered legal residents unless they choose to change any and all identifying documents, i.e. driver's licenses, tax documents... to the state of kentucky so I'm pretty confident that this personal jurisdiction is correct.

The federal government says that a person is a citizen of the state they reside in with the intent to remain so that's the basic rule for PJ everywhere. The way they look at intent to remain is driver's licenses, tax documents, etc. I know how the government applies the definition to most groups, but I wasn't sure and didn't want to give you bad advice.
You still might be able to see if the base offers free or low cost legal assistance for military families. I read somewhere online that some bases do. That would help you a lot since you're trying to defend a case in Texas while you're physically in Kentucky.

guys, hang on a minute here.

First off, we need to make sure that any information that is given out here is correct information. Recently, there has been a flood of incorrect advice being given to others. There is a provision in the FDCPA--the federal law that governs debt collection--that states that a third-party debt collector can only sue you in one of two places...they must sue you either in the county and state where you reside currently, or in the location where the alleged debt originated. Simply put, if you opened this account in Kentucky, then they are within their rights to sue you there.

Now, if you did not open it there, then you have a legitimate cause for dismissal, well, you actually have two legitimate causes for dismissal. This is very important--you must answer the summons within the 20 days or they will automatically win a judgment against you. There are two ways you could go about this.

1--admit to the debt, but then state as an affirmative defense that this case is being heard in an improper venue. State that your legal state of residence is not Kentucky, but Texas, and as such, the plaintiff has no legitimate reason to bring suit against you in Kentucky. Cite the FDCPA as your grounds for invoking this affirmative defense. At the same time, you could also state the affirmative defense of "expired statute of limitations". Inform the court that in your legal state of residence, the statute of limitations is 4 years from date of original delinquency, and further state to the court that the date of last payment on this account was May 2006. You should at that time provide proof of the last payment, if possible.

CAUTION--that plan is ONLY advisable if you were a legal resident of Texas(or another state with a 4 year SOL on this type of debt) when this debt was originated. If you were a legal resident of a state with a longer statute of limitations when the debt was originated, you will have just provided this debt collector with the complete plan to still sue you in that state.

OR, you could...
2--deny the debt in your answer and fight them. If they provided an affidavit as proof, they most likely dont have proof of anything to begin with. The affidavit that they provided is not admissable in a court of law--it is hearsay.

If youre looking for the faster way out of this, the first option would probably be better. However, like I said, it will only work according to the details I posted. If you have any questions just post em up and we'll do our best to answer them.

I also need to mention this--in order to use the defense of expired SOL, you need to be able to show that they waited until after 4 years from the DOFD to file their complaint. What is the date on which they actually filed the lawsuit with the court? That is the date that matters. If they filed it in June, then as long as you can show when you made the last payment, you should be good.

Hey Skydivr! Been a while!
I agree with everything you say and why should I not! The only little thing, I would not admit to the debt and claim improper venue as that would restart the SOL in case there was a future case in proper venue!

Admitting to a debt and claiming improper venue would not restart the SOL. SOLs start counting from the first time you miss a payment. What would restart the SOL is making a payment agreement and defaulting on that.

That is not what my attorney advised me! He said that the minute you admit that you owe the money the SOL restarts! He is a Florida Attorney specializing in both Florida and Federal consumer law!

That is weird, because that is not how Federal SOLs and the SOLs of any state I am familiar with works. It is possible that Florida has some slightly different laws.

I have and will probably most likely always be a legal resident of Texas. The only ties I have to the state of Kentucky is that I live here due to military, nothing else. This debt occured in Texas years ago. They do have an affidavit attached from some woman stating she is a legal specialist and has access to account records for Midland Credit management, inc. who is the servicer of the account and she is based in the state of Minnesota. It looks like they previously filed this paperwork before but they never got served to me because they had the wrong address. It was a temporary address I had for 3 months here in Kentucky before I moved back to Texas and am now back in Kentucky. Does this mean that the paperwork is considered filed on that date? or the date that I actually got served with the summons? The affadavit is dated March 12 2010 and the complaint is dated April 29, 2010 with an old address on it. But either way, I'm not a resident in kentucky anyway.

frog--

keep in mind that each state has its own SOL laws, so its very possible that Florida might do that while others do not. For example, I do believe that there is one state that has a law which makes a debt completely uncollectable by any means once it passes the SOL. Generally speaking, I always heard that making a payment or a written promise to pay is what resets the SOL, not admitting the debt is yours. That goes completely against the entire meaning of having an SOL in the first place.

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yeah that's what I'm thinking I'll do. I wasn't sure because the dates were off but i guess the date they filed doesn't matter just because they couldn't deliver it to me Lol but it's wierd that they would find me here because I haven't been here long and my address in Texas has been the same for years yet they never served me there. And this account isn't even on my credit report this year, I checked it just a month ago.

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