Motion to Vacate Judgment

[IBroke]

I am not familiar with Florida Civil Procedure, but I did a Google search and suggest you read Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.080 which refers to Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.519

Thanks, Lady!

(b) Service; How Made.
(...)
Service by Electronic Mail (“e-mail”). All documents required or permitted to be served on another party must be served by e-mail, unless this rule otherwise provides.
(...)
If a party not represented by an attorney does not designate an e-mail address for service in a proceeding, service on and by that party must be by the means provided in subdivision (b)(2) of this rule.

Sounds, though, that this applies to me:

(2) Service by Other Means. In addition to, and not in lieu of, service by e-mail, service may also be made upon attorneys by any of the means specified in this subdivision (b)(2).
Service on and by all parties who are not represented by an attorney and who do not designate an e-mail address, and on and by all attorneys excused from e-mail service, must be made by delivering a copy of the document or by mailing it to the party or attorney at their last known address or, if no address is known, by leaving it with the clerk of the court. Service by mail is complete upon mailing.

I'd say my serving via CMRRR sounds sufficient. If I can prove that they signed for delivery of my petition, I should be covered. I simply wasn't sure if I needed some kind of certified serving-service. Doesn't seem to be the case..

[tobee43]

lady is very correct here. some judges are just sticklers about it all, while others may give you some leeway. the nature of the petition itself is relatively benign, so hopefully it will fly through.

[LadyInTheRed]

Frankly, I don't know what that means and IMO, obtaining the assistance of the Sheriff's office or a certified process server for a formality in regards to an already discharged judgment is a bit "over the top". Once all parties participate at the hearing, it would also be a silly point from the other party to ask for a denial of my petition because they weren't served "accurately". After all, they made it to the hearing.

I was just wondering because the lady at the court-house first told me that a petition would require "official" serving and a motion would not. She wasn't sure though and asked another lady. When she came back, she simply asked for the 50 bucks and wished me good luck.

The other lady probably told her that she can't tell you what is or isn't required because that would be legal advice.

It's important that you make sure you serve the Petition correctly. I think you are right that if the creditor shows up, an objection based on you not serving them correctly would not likely be successful. But, the creditor very well may not show up, in which case the judge may not vacate the order if you did not perform service properly.

I am not familiar with Florida Civil Procedure, but I did a Google search and suggest you read Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.080 which refers to Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.519

[tobee43]

it's so totally different here in florida. our motion was accepted the atty went to the hearing and it was done.

why it's important is when someone does a real true "search" on you, it will come up. it doesn't matter much about the credit reporting agencies. if you go to buy a home they check all the court records and that is when having this removed really counts to your favor.

i think you should be fine. what a hassle you had to through. sorry but it will be great to have it officially off the record.

[IBroke]

have you re-filed the motion since a year has now past?

UPDATE:

I filed the 55.145-petition TODAY. I finally went ahead and drove to the courthouse and took care of it. Meanwhile, the second CRA already took the judgment off my file and now, only TransUnion is left. I still decided to go ahead and file my petition - also a bit out of curiosity how it's going to play out this time. "Learning by doing", so to speak, since I'll probably have to do the same for my mum once she gets her discharge.

A few weeks ago, I obtained the required certified copy of my BK-discharge. This certification cost me $30. When I filed today, another $50 were due ("reopening-fee") because they closed this case after the denial of my initial motion 2 years ago. After that, I went to the closest USPS-office and mailed out two CMRR-letters to the other parties (Plaintiffs) involved.

I'm really hoping I did everything right this time. Although 55.145 is quite clear about what I have to do, there are still some "unknowns". I'm hoping that the way (CMRR) I "served" the other involved parties will be considered sufficient. 55.145 says "The petition (..) shall be served upon the judgment creditor in the manner prescribed for service of process in a civil action."

Frankly, I don't know what that means and IMO, obtaining the assistance of the Sheriff's office or a certified process server for a formality in regards to an already discharged judgment is a bit "over the top". Once all parties participate at the hearing, it would also be a silly point from the other party to ask for a denial of my petition because they weren't served "accurately". After all, they made it to the hearing.

I was just wondering because the lady at the court-house first told me that a petition would require "official" serving and a motion would not. She wasn't sure though and asked another lady. When she came back, she simply asked for the 50 bucks and wished me good luck.

I'm also not 100% sure what's going to happen next. When I filed the motion, the Plaintiff informed about the hearing date. Will this be any different this time because it is a petition and not a motion?

Well, let's see what happens..

[GoingDown]

Ooops!

They have changed their website!

Here is the new link to the motion to vacate judgment in Maricopa County

http://justicecourts.maricopa.gov/HowTo/Motion_to_Vacate_Judgment_packet.pdf

[GoingDown]

For those who are in Arizona, here is a link to a form used by the courts to vacate a judgment...

http://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/justiceCourts/docs/FD_Motion_to_Vacate_Judgment_packet.pdf

[IBroke]

i wish you the best getting you're canceled or removed or however they do it in florida!

Thanks!

[tobee43]

Oh, no doubt about that..

i wish you the best getting you're canceled or removed or however they do it in florida!

[IBroke]

it is true it does vary from state to state. but truth be said, no matter what state your judgment originated from, you need to get it cleared off the record or it will sit there forever and a day and come back to bite you some what or another. maybe not today or tomorrow, but it certainly does have a way of popping it's ugly head out when one least expects it.

Oh, no doubt about that..

[tobee43]

it is true it does vary from state to state. but truth be said, no matter what state your judgment originated from, you need to get it cleared off the record or it will sit there forever and a day and come back to bite you some what or another. maybe not today or tomorrow, but it certainly does have a way of popping it's ugly head out when one least expects it.

[IBroke]

good info I, so all you need to do then in florida is provide the discharge and have it recorded as the same as the motion to vacate, wow. i'd go for a cancellation of judgment, sounds good to me, it's like null and void then.

Yes, it's not too complicated. First, I have to go to the BK court and get a certified copy of my BK-papers and attach that to my petition. There will be a meeting at court and when the petition is granted, I can record the cancellation. And yes, a cancellation is the same as vacating.

i suppose ours was easier since the our motion was filed in nj since that is where the judgments were recorded, and although, we filed bk in florida.

Yes, that's exactly what I meant. The "key" to success is the federal BK where it really doesn't matter we you filed - but the "lock" depends on the State. Seems that NJ was easier to "unlock".

[tobee43]

good info I, so all you need to do then in florida is provide the discharge and have it recorded as the same as the motion to vacate, wow. i'd go for a cancellation of judgment, sounds good to me, it's like null and void then.

no the internet doesn't provide any details with respect to how one goes about it in florida. i suppose ours was easier since the our motion was filed in nj since that is where the judgments were recorded, and although, we filed bk in florida.

[IBroke]

Soooo, my attorney at justanswer took care of my question:

Me: I had an argument with a different person on a forum who claims to be a lawyer as well, and he made the claim that there is no legal tool in the State of Florida to vacate a judgment after Bankruptcy - based on what I just posted. He claims that judgments will be considered "satisfied" and NOT cancelled/vacated after the court approves the 55.145 petition. I made the argument that it only makes sense that a cancelled judgment should have the same effect as a satisfied one because in both cases, the party who filed has no claim against you any more.

However, it is MY opinion that the correct LEGAL status of this judgment should be "cancelled" because my PETITION was to have the judgment cancelled and discharged - and not to have it "satisfied". So if the petition for cancellation is granted, it should be considered "cancelled" and not "satisfied", correct?

Lawyer: Yes, that is correct. Again, I do not know why one must go through this hurdle in the State of Florida when a Discharge has already been granted by the Bankruptcy Court wiping out the debt. I guess until your State legislature acts to change this law, you would have to live with it. It just does not make any sense.

Me: The next confusing thing in this stupid Florida law is the part that says the order of cancellation may be recorded as satisfaction of judgment. How is that supposed to work? Why would anybody record a satisfaction of a cancelled judgment? Or is the judgment after the application of 55.145 only "satisfied" and not "cancelled" after all?

Lawyer: The Florida Statutes specifically state that "the order of cancellation and discharge shall have the same effect as a satisfaction of judgment, and a certified copy thereof may be recorded in the same manner as a satisfaction of judgment." So, it is really a Cancellation of Judgment and NOT a Satisfaction of Judgment eventhough it may be treated as such. If you are going to be filing the Petition to Cancel Judgment, you might as well go to the last step and record the Cancellation of Judgment.

Hopefully, I could provide some helpful info to other forum-members who are facing the same problem - especially in Florida. The internet doesn't provide any information about this topic. None at all.

[tobee43]

our purpose to vacate the judgment was not to get them off the credit reports, it was to remove them from the recording system of the courts. actually, they never showed up on our credit reports. i was more concerned about a title seach at a later date, although, i'm not certain how it would have looked since we surrendered the property the liens were place against.

we were thinking more on the lines, years down the road if we wanted to purchase another house (which we did) it would should up when they did our searches via the title company and it could present some type of problem. i don't even know if that could have happened, i just wanted them gone. i still don't know if nj would not respect the state that one filed their bk in. that's a bit fuzzy isn't it.