Do I have to pay cpurt fees in Texas if I am being sued over a debt from 5 years ago, I have had officers at my door to serve court papers. I cannot afford a lawyer, I did not go to court, the same officer cam eback and said that I need to pay "alot" of court fees.
Please advise, what is going to happen next am I going to be forced to pay these fines, and what about my debt can I be jailed or my money taken by force?
2007-05-28 18:41:25 · 5 answers · asked by mission_gosling 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Credit
Not sure about Texas, but you will not go to jail. I don't think they could garnish your wages in Texas either.
I belive they can lien your house, but it won't force forecloseure.
Your credit will be trashed for 7 years though.
2007-05-28 18:46:00 · answer #1 · answered by Zzyzx 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Statute of Limitations(the time that they have to legally sue you) is 4 years in Texas, asuming you are talking about a Credit Card Debt. So first you need to verify that your debt is actually 5 years old.
You need to find out the date of the last delinqency. Basically the first month you went delinquent on the account. If this date is more than 4 years from the date that they filed, they can no longer sue you because the SOL has run out. Now if during this time you made any payments on the account the SOL was reset to that new time.
The next step to do is file your answer to the court. In your answer if the SOL has expired put that in. Require that they provide you with proof of the date of delinqency. They will then have to prove to the judge that the SOL had not expired. But what ever you do, do not miss the court date. If you do they will enter in a judgement by default and you will owe the money. You might consider to talk to a lawyer, most will provide you a free consultation that might give you just enough detail to do this yourself.
You won't be jailed unless it was some serious fraud and if it was you would be in Criminal court not civil court. However, they can attach your bank account until the debit is paid. They are also allowed to charge you for the court fees. So easily adds in several hundred dollars to your debt.
2007-05-28 19:25:37 · answer #2 · answered by OC1999 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You do have to pay the court fees... but you should check with the Texas Clerk of the court in your area. You may be able to represent yourself-Pro Se- If you can depending on how much time has lapsed since the judgment was enter you may be able to file a motion to vacate the judgment. If you can when you go to court on that motion you better have a good excuse for not responding or the judge may deny it. If he grants your motion you get an opportunity to answer to the plaintiffs complaint of why you didn't pay or you may be given an opportunity to make an arrangement with the plaintiff, to pay. If he denies your motion the judgment stands. Either way you still have to pay court cost. I don't know about Texas but in Illinois they can put a brick on your bank acct unless the money in your account is "judgment proof" i.e. SS, SSD, SSI, etc.
2007-05-28 19:03:29 · answer #3 · answered by damron 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i'm afraid you will no longer get a techniques struggling with this in court docket. examine your contract....you comprehend, that sheet of loaded with quite some positive print? In it you will locate some thing like this: "the two you or the credit Union might terminate this contract at any time, yet termination via you or the credit Union won't impact your criminal duty to pay the Account stability plus any finance and different rates you owe under this contract. you're additionally to blame for all transactions made on your Account after termination, until the transactions have been unauthorized." believe me, that's in all and sundry. My question to you is.....why did no longer you question this while they sent you your very final invoice? via ignoring it, you presently upload all those previous due expenditures and rates. As for the "binding arbitration", this is while the two social gathering desires to settle a dispute without going into court docket. a large type of the circumstances, that's used via the CC business business enterprise as an uncomplicated way into debt sequence, without all of that "evidence" nonsense. until this may be a very great quantity of money you're speaking approximately, it is not nicely worth your attempt right here.
2016-11-23 13:20:30 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
you can go to court without a lawyer.
accept the notice and go to court !
pay your bills.
save your money, cut up all your credit cards, pay cash.
2007-05-28 18:48:46 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋