Can you go to jail for oweing money?

Question

I asked this question before, and nobody knew!
If you owe a debt, like you borrowed money from a loan company and could'nt pay it back, for whatever reason, and then they sued you for it, and you had to go to court, can the judge throw you in jail? I watched this movie with "Kathy Bates
staring in it, I forgot the name, but it was about this couple with kids that owed a store lots of money they had been chargeing on a tab, and they could'nt pay it all right back, so they went to jail( this was in the 20's or 30's by the way) and there kids all tooken away, then someone did something about it, and passed a law that you could'nt go to jail for thing's like oweing money anymore, but I heard they can throw you in jail if the debt is large enough. Any clue?

Answer 1

You got sued civil court. All they can do is get a judgment, and take your car, bank accounts, etc. You, personally cannot be placed in jail in a civil case.
If it had been a criminal case with fraud involved, then perhaps. And if your case does not say 'The People vs. You or the City of X' but says the business name, it is a civil case. Take breath and relax. The worst you can do is lose.

Answer 2

You will never be put in jail for a private debt. All they can do is submit it to collections and put a mark on your credit history.

Public debts you can go to jail for. These would be debts to the government, such as failure to pay fines from a criminal or traffic charge, or fail to pay court ordered child support.

Answer 3

I would assume so I don't know for sure but if you borrow money and don't pay it back the that's stealing. But normally they try to work out a payment program because they want their money. It will have to be reasonable of course but I had a friend who owed $7,000 and when they took him to court he told the judge he could only pay $25 a month and the judge accepted this and it worked out for him.

Answer 4

Generally no.
That is called debters prison and is one of the reason we broke away from Britain.

However, in a criminal matter, yes you can go to prison. One is non payment of Child Support. A person is not sent to prison for owing money, it is for defying a court order. Same thing with owing the IRS money. It is not because of the money, its that the law has been broken by 1. Not filing. 2. Lying. 3. Evading.

But you can not be put in prison for not paying your rent, mortgage, credit cards, or any personal or public debt unless you broke the law in doing so.

Peace

Jim

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Answer 5

an excellent style of folk are seeing a a million-2 week postpone whilst evaluating the WMR date to the refund cycle chart. maximum refunds are sent in the previous than the WMR date however the IRS continuously exhibits the final available date. The IRS purely has extra returns interior the 1st 2-3 weeks of e-report than what they might technique so there's a back log. they're going to artwork via it fantastically immediately. It has no longer something to do with the place you filed. Its organic success of the draw concerning whilst the IRS receives on your return yet they DO prioritize via whilst it became filed. Your return is in a huge team with tens of millions of returns submitted interior the window of the 17 to 18th. you would be processed in the past returns submitted on the nineteenth or later, yet interior that team of 17-18 submissions its purely success concerning who receives processed first.

Answer 6

no they cant, the only exception to this is court fines if you fail to pay those then they can put you in jail. They work hard to make arrangments so that does not happen though.

Answer 7

yes and no. we don't have a debtors prison,but they can put you in jail for owing child support or fines. they get by with it by calling it contempt of court.

Answer 8

Court fees, fines and taxes (not paid) will put you in the slammer. You cannot be jailed for being poor or stupid, however.