Vacate a Default Judgment

[DesdemonaB]

Hi All

I have been working on cleaning up my reports and I have been reading up on vacating a default judgment based on the judgment is/was satisfied by my CH7 discharge in March. After 2 days of Googlin’ and Bingin’ I am more confused then when I started, so here are my questions.

There are two judgments, both consumer credit (CC) I do not own any property so there was nothing to place a lien against so:

Will vacating the judgments benefit me – other then the ability to dispute them on my credit report?

And will I “have” to hire a lawyer? My state laws MCR 2.612 – Relief from Judgment or Order fall under the State of MI Court of Appeals not civil and that scares me.

I also have to file within 1 year of default judgments dates so that would July and August of this year so if it’s worth it I need to get my ducks in a row pretty quick.

Thanks in advance, I have been reading posts here but I wasn’t sure if they fit for me as there is no lien against anything, and that in changing of lien and judgment just added to my confusion.

Oh and I know this is post-discharge but I was sure where to put the post so sorry if it's in the wrong place.

[free2breathe]

I'm certainly no expert on this, but I think that as long as the judgment exists, any future property you obtain which a lien could be placed on might be in jeopardy. If it were me, I'd probably be looking to have the judgments vacated just to wipe the slate completely clean. I'm sure someone with experience or more knowledge will eventually chime in though.

[AngelinaCatHub]

A Judgment can be a nasty thing. This link may help you, and I would advise you to make a motion to the bk Court to vacate that Judgment as the debt was discharged. This is a link regarding law and in Michigan.

http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33826&page=1

'Hub

[DesdemonaB]

I think I put this in the wrong forum – I think I should have posted in rebuilding credit post discharge but all sticky for judgments are listed here under collections.

I am discharged March 2011 both judgments were included in the BK and listed on all forms. Currently they are only listed on one credit report EX; they disappeared off of TU and EQ after the discharge. On EX they are listed as zero balance discharged in bankruptcy. My hope was to have them vacated then dispute them as inaccurate so they could be removed leaving my BK as my only public record.

Hub’ I found that link and found the law but it under the State of Michigan and it Appeal Court and I am having a bit of trouble locating the correct Motion to Vacate Form, since my case is not closed yet due to the fact I am an asset case should I request a vacate via the BK courts?

Also – for free2breathe I believe (I’m not a lawyer) but the only way future property can in danger is if the judgment wasn’t satisfy, all garnishments from the judgments were released and it would take a request from the OC/CA to the court to place a lien. If the OC/CA did that after the BK well they would be breaking all kind of laws.

I am just wondering if it’s worth it. I am so confused.

[BKAttyMI]

The court that handled these cases should have been notified in your bankruptcy filing by your attorney. As soon as they are notified, they usually send a case closing or something of the like out pretty quickly to stop any further court proceedings. I see your case was filed recently, it will take time for this to reflect on your credit report. I think you're rushing by trying to "clean" this up now before your bankruptcy case is even closed.

Technically, if there was a default judgment, that judgment itself is discharged in the bankruptcy, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen in the first place per your reports. The fact that it happened at all is what future lenders want to know.

[treehugger1]

Try calling the clerk of the court where the judgment was filed. Often times the clerks can tell you about process without giving legal advice. And, sometimes there are two issues that must be resolved; vacating the judgment, and removing the lien. When you are ready to address these, you probably want to follow through on both. Each state has slightly different procedures, regardless of the BK court system.

[DesdemonaB]

The court that handled these cases should have been notified in your bankruptcy filing by your attorney. As soon as they are notified, they usually send a case closing or something of the like out pretty quickly to stop any further court proceedings. I see your case was filed recently, it will take time for this to reflect on your credit report. I think you're rushing by trying to "clean" this up now before your bankruptcy case is even closed.

Technically, if there was a default judgment, that judgment itself is discharged in the bankruptcy, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen in the first place per your reports. The fact that it happened at all is what future lenders want to know.

Hi BKAttyMI
I am discharged and all garnishments (wages) stopped. There is no lien on anything (wages, bank account, state tax return, or property) right now. I own NO property.

I will have to disagree with you regarding cleaning up reports before a close. Right now the focus is to make sure everything is reporting correctly, don't forget other aspects of our lifes are effected by credit scores. Car Insurance, utilities, banking, employment while I know that my scores will not shoot up overnight - but I would like to try to start my "refreshed" life on a stronger footing then the old. I want to be able to lower my current car insurance every 6 months because I have higher scores.

My goal is be able to purchase a home in the summer of 2013 not build up consumer debt (CC). I did not BK any property, I will (GOD willing) have been at my job 13 years, have 5 years of perfect rental payment history and have over 20K for a down payment. Right now the goal is to create a foundation by having a clean credit report to make this happen and if that means tackling a judgment then I will try to tackle it.

[catleg]

The motion to vacate judgment goes to the court that issued the judgment in the first place.
Treehugger is right, call the court clerk and ask for the procedure to follow.
See if there is a free law clinic available, or go to a law library and ask for a book with sample motions.
Remember a motion always is seeking an order from the judge to do something,
so you will be looking for a motion for order to vacate judgment.

[BKAttyMI]

I understand what you're trying to do, but remember that it does take awhile for the credit bureaus to update. I usually recommend waiting 60 days to see an update on your credit reports to my clients.

I'm still a little confused with what you want from the court via the judgments, the judgments happened, you didn't pay bills, the plaintiffs received a judgment against you, yes, that will appear on your credit report. Those judgments were "discharged" in your bankruptcy case, but that does not change the fact that they happened in the first place, and yes, those will show up for future lenders to see.

In Michigan, I don't see orders to "Vacate Judgments" because of a bankruptcy case, I see Stays to stop proceedings because of the bankruptcy case. The judgments aren't vacated, they've already happened, but they are "discharged" and you are not responsible to pay them because of the bankruptcy case. This is confusing, hope that makes sense, read this over a few times if it seems jumbled. If you want to argue that the judgments are somehow "vacated" because of the bankruptcy case, I don't know how successful you'll be.

[AngelinaCatHub]

I believe vacated would mean that some error occurred to make it "not a legal document" but if it was a true successful Judgment, it will always exist, but will be nullified by the "stop order" as a Judgment in existence but nullified. Isn't that what you mean BKAttyMI? 'Hub

[BKAttyMI]

Yes, that's what I mean Hub, that's why I'm confused with what the poster is trying to do? Once a judgment has been entered, it's been entered, it can't be vacated unless there was some error or a reason it wasn't valid in the first place. However, in a bankruptcy case, the amount of the judgment award is discharged.

[catleg]

How would a title searcher know that the judgment is no longer a lien against real property?

I do agree that the thread is a little confusing and I'm not sure how vacating a judgment will change the credit report.

I'm surprised the judgments were removed; as BKAttyMI said, it happened, it's on record.

Normally judgment satisfied is just as bad as judgment (unsatisfied).

Best bet may be to dispute in writing, but I wouldn't be optimistic.

just let old age take care of it.

[tobee43]

The motion to vacate judgment goes to the court that issued the judgment in the first place.
Treehugger is right, call the court clerk and ask for the procedure to follow.
See if there is a free law clinic available, or go to a law library and ask for a book with sample motions.
Remember a motion always is seeking an order from the judge to do something,
so you will be looking for a motion for order to vacate judgment.

exactly, if you had an atty, he or she should have advised you that AFTER the close of your case you can file the motion to vacate the judgement. you can do it yourself, however, it sometimes is a bit tricky. we had to have two removed and went to an atty to make certain it was done correctly, however, still had to make certain the order, once it was approved was recorded correctly to reflect it was a "done deal".

some atty's charge a pretty penny to file, so if the creditors are within immediate reach of you, i would attempt to file the motion myself. as mentioned...call the bk court clerk, many times they help a pro se'er tho the motion to some degree, or at the least help you find the correct path.

best of luck to you!

[GoingDown]

The motion to vacate judgment goes to the court that issued the judgment in the first place.
Treehugger is right, call the court clerk and ask for the procedure to follow.
See if there is a free law clinic available, or go to a law library and ask for a book with sample motions.
Remember a motion always is seeking an order from the judge to do something,
so you will be looking for a motion for order to vacate judgment.

This is true. One of my relatives had a default judgment from a credit card debt vacated after the debt was discharged in a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, and the "motion for order to vacate judgment" had to be filed in the same exact court that originally granted the judgment, not the appeals court.

She had a paralegal (much cheaper than an attorney) print out the form for her, and then told her what to do to file the form with the court, and then she went down to the courthouse and filed it. And it worked.

[ryan]

I had a judgment vacated last year. It says on the judges vacate order that the judgment was issued in error (which in fact it was)....however, on the courts website, if you look up my name, it still shows as a judgment. I've been told to stop credit bureaus from reporting it, I'll need to provide them with a copy of the Vacate Order.