Judgment --- what should I do?

[dpickrn]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post in or not. The company I used to rent from obtained a defaut judgement against me. I have filed for Chapter 7 bankrutcy (I'm in my 60 day post 341 meeting wait period) and wondered how the court will note this or what the bankruptcy will do for that. The judgment was rendered just a few days prior to my Chapter 7 being filed. The original creditor was included in the bankruptcy. My attorney did manage to correct my filing and has the judgement listed under Suits and Administrative Proceedings, Executions, Garnishments and Attachments under the Statement of Affairs portion of my bankruptcy paperwork also. But, there is no other mention of it in the bankruptcy paperwork. I got the information to him regarding the judgment just a day before he filed everything. Does this cover me or will I still need to do more? I notified the court of my filing status. I just checked their online access and the last entry on their docket was :

07/20/2007 ANSWER OF GARNISHMENT FILED NO MONEY PAID INTO COURT EMPLOYEE HAS FILED CHAPTER 7 BANKRUPTCY 0.00 0.00

I'm not sure what this means for me. I just hope it isn't more bad news...


Will I need to try to have the judgment vacated? Did I only have 2 weeks from the date of the judgement to do this? If I can have this vacated or file an objection, will it be removed from all the credit reports that it is showing up on? It's even showing up on strange obscure ones like Teletrack.

[BKOnce]

Amendments should be OK

[familyof7]

How do you vacate a judgement?

[lrprn]

How do you vacate a judgement?

If the judgment was done in default (you weren't there to represent your side in court), after your bankruptcy case closes, you or your lawyer files a Notice of Motion to Vacate with the court.

If you file this motion yourself, then do talk to the court clerk first to be sure you understand the rules about filing this motion in your state. From what I understand, until the judgment is overturned by the court, it remains in place even though it was included in your bankruptcy.

[SinkingFast]

Hi DP! and Welcome to the Forum!

I moved your thread here as you'll likely get better responses to your questions.

Since you included the debt in BK,............. If everything goes OK and your BK is Discharged,........... The Creditor cannot collect on the Judgement that was rendered prior to your filing.

You are right about getting the Judgement vacated after Discharge. This may be something your attny can handle for you, for a fee. Or it may be something you can do yourself.

You might wanna swing by the Court House and chat with a Clerk. See what you'll need to do. It may be as simple as fill out a form, attach your Creditor's Matrix and your Discharge, maybe pay a small fee.

[guzzie]

hello....i'm going to have a judgement avoided ......the bk stopped it cold but i don't want it
affecting my life at all......I paid my atty an extra $150.00 to do this for me.....good luck...guzzie

[treehugger1]

Good move! From what I've read there are generally "two" steps in the process. You want to "avoid" (I think that's the term) to make sure the judgment is not attached to any liens, and then the judgment can be vacated. At least that is my understanding. In my area, I see fees of $135 - $160 for this. It appears you have a good attorney who knows what to do and how to do it. Maybe others with more of a legal background can add more here in terms of the terminology.

[dpickrn]

[dpickrn]

It Worked!!!!

09/21/2007 NOTICE OF COURT ORDER ISSUED NOTICE OF COURT ORDER ISSUED Sent on: 09/21/2007 14:48:18 0.00 0.00

09/21/2007 ENTRY FILED- DEFENDANT HAS BEEN DISCHARGED IN BANKRUPTCY COURT. THIS CASE IS DISMISSED W/PREJUDICE JUDGE BRANDT 0.00 0.00

09/13/2007 DISCHARGE OF DEBTOR FILED 0.00 0.00

09/12/2007 CASE ASSIGNED TO JUDGE 0.00 0.00

09/11/2007 CASE REOPENED 0.00 0.00

09/10/2007 MTN TO DISMISS AND/ OR SET ASIDE JMT 0.00 0.00