i have a judgement and the people that have the judgement against me is calling nonstop trying to collect, my question is.....can they find my bank account info and freeze my account? does anyone know how that works?
1> YES, they can if tehy find it. 2> MOVE your bank account to a different bank immediately - preferably one far away rom where you live and work, IMMEDIATELY or you will find out first hand how it works. A while ago I posted a thread "Making Yourself Judgement proof". I suggest you search for it and read it.
Re: can they freeze my bank account thanks for your input...........i will move my account tomorrow or withdraw all the money; except a few dollars. do you think i should set up the $50 a month payments that they want or should i just say hell with it and wait until it comes off?
That depends upon your states laws. Not all states allow this so I suggest you check into it before freaking out.
Best place to go is to call your courthouse and ask them the law. You didn't say what state you are in so I can't quote the laws where you are. The only sites I have are these ones: http://www.carreonandassociates.com/collectionlaws.htm http://www.megalaw.com/top/tax.php I know in Florida you can levy a bank account or seize assets to cover a judgement. I was awarded one and found this out by asking how I could collect on it. Best bet is to pay it cause it can be on your record for 20 yrs + and just renewed by the plaintiff. Plus every year it earns interest and you'll owe that too!
why not just pay it? that would be the easiest way to prevent them from freezing your assets. (and they can lien your house, garnish your paychecks, take your tax refunds, etc.)
They already have a lien - that came with the judgement. They can garnish the paycheck. They cannot take the tax refund unless it is a defaulted Federally insured student loan.
Re: can they freeze my bank account i could pay it "but" it is still going to have that big impact on my credit isnt it? oh yeah and i live in virginia! thanks for your help so far.
**They already have a lien - that came with the judgement. Not necessarily. It has to be physically done thru specific channels via the courts. A judgement is just that a judgement. Collecting on it is a whole other different story. They have to find property to put the lien on after they get the judgement. **They can garnish the paycheck. Only if the OP's particular state allows it and in some states if you are the main breadwinner you can be exempt **They cannot take the tax refund unless it is a defaulted Federally insured student loan. True or if you owe the IRS back taxes
Re: can they freeze my bank account I found some info here: http://www.cowleslaw.com/resources/book/COLLECTION OF JUDGMENTS.htm Specifically if you scroll down on the page regarding garnishments: a. Virginia Rule. Account is deemed to be owed fifty-fifty (50-50), unless evidence can be presented by either party that this is not the case. If the Judgment Debtor is the only wage earner in the family and is the only one depositing funds to the account then the Creditor should be able to seize all of the funds in the account. So my assumption (I'm not an attorney by any means) of the above is that if you have a joint account and can show someone else is depositing at least 1/2th the money into that account then it can't be garnished. Try going to www.google.com and searching on Virginia collection laws or Virginia collection of judgements, etc.... More info I found is this: http://www.lawhelp.org/VA/StateChan...852/ichannelid/64/faction/viewAll/bAllState/0 and click on attachments and levies I wish you luck!
Re: Re: can they freeze my bank account? They don't have to find property to put a lien on it. Property records are recorded in teh Grantor/Grantee book in teh County Recorder's Office by name. All they need is the name of the debtor and a judgement against that debtor and as soon as teh judgement is recordedc there is a lien against all real estate owned by that debtor in that county. True, but few states have that restriction. Virginia does not. Triue, but the IRS doesn't have to sue you to file a tax lien. True or if you owe the IRS back taxes [/B][/QUOTE]
Re: Re: can they freeze my bank account? In florida that just isn't true! I had a judgement against a guy who hit my car and had no insurance and ignored the damages. I won, and after I won I had to search the records myself, place the lien myself and do it in order to seize property I had to do a writ and file it. Unfortunately in my case the defendant had no assets. And also here in Florida you can file a form thru the courts to demand disclosure of bank information. I do not know how other states make the defendants disclose that information. It just was not automatic here. Plus the fact it goes on your credit report is also NOT automatic here. It has to be placed on credit by the person it was granted to. I was not able to do that being a person and not a company. So, I found out that I could suspend his license for non payment and within 3 weeks (after demanding payment for 2 yrs!) I got my money plus interest. And as I said previously procedures are different depending upon the STATE. Some states allow garnishment and some don't depending upon circumstances. The best thing the OP can do is to call his local courthouse and ask.
Need to be careful - state laws vary tremendously on the issues of judgments. In TX, they cannot garnish your wages or tax refunds for a civil judgment, they cannot put a lien per se on your house, they can only file an abstract of judgment in the county in which you own property. <-----sitting back waiting for LB's remarks about TX -------->
Re: Re: Re: can they freeze my bank account? His driver's license is an asset. And Florida's financial responsibility laws would allow you to have the DHSMV suspend it until you got paid (only in a case where he was driving or one of his cars caused the damages).
I can't remember the poster's name, but someone from FL in the past year DID have a person's driver's license suspended. Funny how he found some assets. You might try searching a few ways and see if you can find the saga on here.
Re: Re: Re: can they freeze my bank account? No, his DL is not an asset. It is the thought he was driving without insurance that got me mad. So I contacted an attorney who couldn't help me collect the judgement to get my car fixed but he referred me to Tallahassee to have his license suspended. I had to send in a copy of the judgement and the information and they suspended his license and registration due to the fact. He also is now required to file a financial responsibility form (SR22) for the next 2 yrs which means his insurance rates are probably pretty high. It is required to have insurance in the state of Florida (PIP mandatory). Therefore the state finds anyone driving without insurance shouldn't have a license. At least if you have a judgement, the person who hit you is responsible one way or the other. And suspending his license sure got his attention! Considering I tried for 2 yrs to collect the money and within 3 wks of suspending his license he contacted ME! And the original judgement was 710 but with interest for 2 1/2 yrs it was up to 900.00 that he owed me. It is just a good leverage tool here to collect on auto accident judgements from people who drive without insurance and decide to hit you and not pay. His insurance had lapsed because he didn't think he had to pay every 30 days!
Re: Re: Re: Re: can they freeze my bank account? I did the same thing once to collect damages to my car after it was hit by an uninsured driver who wouldn't pay up. After he missed a coulpe of payments. I never went to court or got a judgment I simply wrote the guy a letter telling him if he didn't pay the balance he owed me i would have the sate revoke his drivers license if I didn't have the money within 2 weeks.In less than 2 weeks the full balance was in my mail box.
Re: Re: Re: Re: can they freeze my bank account? The only way to suspend his license here was to mail the capital the certified judgement. They wouldn't do it without that. So I guess you could say that you would suspend his license but following thru on it here was impossible without the certified judgement.
