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Wife being sued for credit card debt

Asked May 10, 2006, 08:42 PM — 4 Answers
Hi, I am not from the US and my mother in law told me that the sheriff put a subpoena on her door (for my wife) even though we don't live there anymore.

My mother in law says that it has to be delivered in person to the right person, is this true? I wouldn't know.

Apparently it is for a $2500 citicard debt although I wouldn't even know as it has been passed from collector to collector. That she hasn't paid on in two years. We were paying them 20 bucks a month online, then they said it wasn't good enough and have been wanting the full amount. We cannot afford that or even go bankrupt. They stopped sending statements or even acknowleging what we were paying...so of course we stopped paying them anything. It has been around 2 years since we heard ANYTHING from them.

What would your advice be?

If she does get served, my feelings say it would be smart to go before a judge and tell them why we can't afford it. I don't work, because of immigration law, that's why she can't afford it. Its not like she is on 20 G a year either.

People have said if you get served just to ignore it..but I don't think that would be smart at all...advice please?

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mr.yet's Avatar
mr.yet Posts: 1,698, Reputation: 915
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#2

May 11, 2006, 04:08 AM
Have your mother-in-law return the subpoena to the Clerk of the Court which issued it. Tell the Clerk of the Court that the person on the subpoena does not live there, and tell her to get a receipt noting return of the subponea.

The court will consider her to be noticed by the posting, it no returned.

Just my opinion, and not legal advice.
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Fr_Chuck Posts: 62,500, Reputation: 33103
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#3

May 11, 2006, 04:59 AM


Depending on the state, If that was your residence, and the last known address they have, and if you lived there or used that as a legal address with it being the address of that relation, many states will deem that good service even if it is returned, since all good faith effort was made to contact you. ( as this post proved you were contacted)

Most likely the court proceding will continue either because they deem this legal service or they deem thatyou are unable to be found and procede on that basis.

Any way you go, if you do not respond, make payment arragements, they will continue until they get a judgement against you.
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#4

May 11, 2006, 05:54 AM


Even though you got conflicting advice, they were both good. Your mother-in-law should definitely try returning the subpeona, but it may not be effective. If its not, the creditor can proceed with getting a judgement against you. Once that is done they could garnish your wife's wages or seize other assests.

So, I would not just ignore it. I would show up at the hearing with proof that you were making good faith payments and the creditor stopped accepting them.
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J_9 Posts: 32,332, Reputation: 23524
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#5

May 11, 2006, 11:08 AM


All answers are pretty good here, but from my point of view, I used to be a legal secretary, in most states that is considered good service, as you have read above because it may be the last known address. DO NOT ignore this. As ScottGem said, go to the hearing on the hearing date. If you do not show up for that hearing date you will be considered in "default" and the court will automatically put a judgment against your wife and garnish her wages. I advise you to find an attorney, there are many out there who work pro bono (for free). Your city may have a program called Legal Services that have attorneys donate their time in cases like this

If you do get an attorney such as this, the court proceedings may drag out long enough so that the credit card company drops the charges. They may even settle for less than the 2500 if an option to "pay in full" is offered.

But by all means, do not ignore this.
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