Hi All!! I just found out yesterday that a huge default judgement was entered against my husband in 1990. We filed bk in 1991 and did not include it because we did not know about it. There were also "certificates of judgement" filed (from the same judgement) in 3 counties in 1994. This is from a business my husband was involved in with his family. They were sued for breach of contract, because the business went under. Can this judgement be cleared because we filed bk in 1991? Also, a friend told me that this person may have been able to claim this on their taxes as a bad debt, which would release my husband. How can I find this out? Thanks!!!!
Well, first things first . . . The first thing to determine is whether your husband was properly served. If not you could get the judgment thrown out. If you were, how could you not have known about it? I don't know enough about bankruptcy law to know the answer to this. I recommend you ask the lawyer that did your Bk? . I don't think this is true. AFAIK, writing off a debt only means that they would have to report is as income if they collected, not that your husband is released.
Squawk, It shows he was served with paperwork, then later it says the plaintiff's attorney was notified that the summons to my husband was unclaimed. We knew there was a lawsuit because it involved a family business, but it was a corporation, his parents hired an attorney, and they said everything was settled. We were not notified there was a judgement against my husband. And I don't understand how there could be. I can't find the attorney who did our bankruptcy, but I did find the attorney for this case out in Colorado. He said he would look at it online and try to figure out what happened.
Something's very weird here. If the family business was a corporation, and the corporation was sued, there shouldn't be a judgment against your husband unless he personally guaranteed some obligation of the corporation or something else very peculiar went on. Have you gone to take a look at the court file for the underlying suit? If so, how big is it? Do you have copies of any of the papers? What state did all of this happen in?
I have not gone to look at the file, I just found out about it two days ago and it is 100 miles away. We probably never had the papers, because my inlaws hired an attorey and told us it was all taken care of. I spoke with my mother in law yesterday, and she says it was all taken care of and that is all she knows. She no longer has any paperwork because it was so long ago. It does not seem right to us either. I am trying to contact the original attorney. This is really scary because of the amount!!
It happened in Ohio. I am aftaid to buy a house because of these judgements. If she can get them in three counties, I guess she can get them anywhere in the state.
