You didn’t reply to a lawsuit and a default judgment has been entered against you and in favor of your creditor. Now what?
A default judgment is a judgment in favor of a party (in your case, the creditor) when the other party has not submitted an answer to the pleadings or has not shown up in court when required. Sometimes, this occurs when the defaulting party doesn’t even know a lawsuit has been filed against him or her. After a default judgment, a creditor may be able to garnish wages or even take a debtor’s property in order to collect on a debt.
If this has happened to you, there are a few potential solutions. First, you can ask the court to set aside the default judgment if there is a legally sufficient reason for doing so. To move for a new trial and set aside the default judgment, you must show that the default was not intentional/was accidental. Note: This does not include simple negligence.
If you are unable to set aside the default judgment, you may also be able to file bankruptcy to dismiss the judgment against you as well as address the other financial burdens you face. Oftentimes, people will not respond to a lawsuit because they have “had enough” of creditor harassment and do not understand that a lawsuit is the final step in collecting on a debt. What many of these people also don’t know is that bankruptcy stops creditor harassment.
In fact, bankruptcy may not only stop creditor harassment but, depending on your situation, it may even give you a financial clean slate so that you will never hear from those creditors again.
Therefore, whether you are facing a default judgment or lawsuit by your creditors or you want to explore the options for financial relief, speak with an experienced bankruptcy lawyer. You can rise above this debt.