Legal Aid Lawyer advises: "do not show up at the court

Father Looking for Help -

Welcome!

The way I see this situation is this: I think perhaps the attorney is thinking that if you/your son don't show up for the court date, a default judgement will be entered, and when the creditor attempts to find a way to garnish wages or obtain payment from your son, they will find that he has nothing to garnish or seize.

This judgement will badly affect his credit...I'm not sure if you're worried about that fact.

The one thing I would be careful of is if you have been named his guardian (in charge of all of his financial affairs), I'm not sure how a judgement would work in that situation.

I would definitely contact the attorney and ask them WHY they are recommending you not show up for the court date and allow a default judgement to be placed.

I'm sure another of our members will come along with more helpful information soon!

SueBee is right, check and see why he advised you not to show up for court. Also, have you answered the summons to the Court? I would do this, and explain what you explained here. I have almost the exact situation- my son, at about 26 years did they same thing. He is now on disabilty with a variety of mental illness, and lives with us. I quit paying his debts before he got on disability, and told them all that he was mentally ill, would never work, and owned nothing. My suggestion is, have his social worker, and, or Dr., get him on disability asap, this will relieve you of financial burdens. AS far as the court thing, at least answer the summons, and get another opinion as to why not to show up in court. There are also hardship cases, where all of the persons financial, and living expenses are taken into accout. Good Luck..Keep us posted..Karen

I personally think that you should show up to court and explain to the judge the situation. Perhaps the judge will show some leniency towards this debt and work out some sort of payment arrangements if that is at all possible. I would also question about being his guardian, are you going to be the individual responsible for paying all of his medical and other bills. Has he currently applied for social security disability? Is there any possible way that he will be able to work in the future?

ladybug

Thank you for the replies:
I do not have gaurdianship, lawyer would not talk to me or my wife.
His explanation, was: Do not show up at the court hearing. A Default Judgement will go into effect. A letter/form will come to the house (to be filled out) in order to determine what valuables he owns (NOTHING). Once the creditor sees this, things will be dropped.

Question: How do you answer the summons without showing up ?
Just write up a letter and send it to the Judge/Court ?

He has apply for DISABILITY.
I'm not in charge or have guardianship over him.
At the moment work is the last thing. Main thing now is getting better with medication and time.
Worrying, we beleive is what got him him to where he is today. He does not need any added stress from creditors.

Usually, when you get a summons, it will have a date on it from which you are to respond to it. You can write the letter, or respond on behalf of your son, and explainwhat he is going through. You are right, when they have these problems, stress makes it so much worse. I am the Representative Payee of my son, not his guardian. I pay his bills, need, etc., out of his check, nothing more. A little hope for you here- My son has improved so much after some time on the meds, psychotherapy, etc. He has severe OCD, and in the beginning couldn't get out of his room, organized things all night long, and on and on. Now he is able to go out and eat with us, go to the movies, etc., although that is only on of his problems, so there is hope for him and for you!!..KArene :D

Is your son's problem mental or medical?

If it is mental you might get his doctor to state his diminished capacity. That would make him unable to be able to effectively represent himself in court. Thus postpone the legal action.

If he doesn't have a power of attorney then he needs to get one. Someone should be representing him on this as well as other needs if he is incapable.

I think I understand where the attorney is coming from. I'd file a written answer wit the court though. In it, explain your son's condition, his assets are zero, and he is mentally unable to fend for himself. The plantiffs might drop the case on seeing that they're spending a lot of money on a law suit for nothing.

FYI is right. Get a power of attorney. This is very easy, and doesn't cost very much. Lawyers generally use templates and just fill in the details, then you have your son sign it in front of a notary.