Written response to a civil judgement
Help! I've recently been served with a summons for a judgement and need to provide a "written answer... Chapter 802 of the Wisconsin Statutes... to the Complaint. I absolutely cannot afford an attorney as that I'm a single mother of three, attending college full time, and broke! My case is complicated because I'm basically being sued for something I had no part of. A few months before my divorce my husband at the time received a check in the mail addressed in my name only. It came from HSBC bank for $7000 and it was the type of check that if you signed the back it meant that you agreed to the terms of the loan. My ex to it to Bank One (at the time) and tried to cash it with a rubber stamp endorsement we had for our business at the time. The bank would not take it and told him they need a written signature because of the amount of the check. He went out to the bank parking lot, signed MY signature (in his handwriting), went back into the bank and the bank cashed it for him without any ID (it's a small town.) Needless to say I never had any knowledge of the check and didn't find out about it until 2 months after it was cashed. A couple months after that is when I filed for divorce and in our divorce decree he was to assume full responsibility for that debt because of the nature of the debt. For two years now he made no payment and now they are coming after me for it. Every one I've talked to seems to feel this is a case of forgery and bank fraud but my ex is insisting that he could sign my name to the check because we were married. Is this true for Wisconsin marriage? Now I have to respond to the courts and don't know how and not sure what to do! I