How do I find out if there’s a judgment against me when I receive lawsuit papers?
How do I find out if there’s a judgment against me when I receive collection lawsuit papers?
So you’ve been sued by a debt collector in Alabama, you’ve been served the lawsuit papers, but you’re wondering how you’ll know if there’s already a judgment against you.
“Is there a judgment automatically against me once I’ve been served?”
“Have I waited too long to respond?”
Let’s talk about a couple of things before we get to this.
First, you have a certain amount of time to answer the collection lawsuit.
If you’ve been sued in Small Claims or District court, you have 14 days to answer/respond to the lawsuit.
If you’ve been sued in Circuit Court, then you have 30 days to respond.
So if you’re still within those deadlines, then there shouldn’t be a judgment against you.
You can still check with the court, or get in touch with our firm (1-205-879-2447), and see if there is a judgment against you.
The key is to take action as soon as you know about your lawsuit.
File a response as soon as possible.
Whether you do it on your own, or you call a lawyer that knows what they’re doing, it’s crucial to face your case head-on.
Now, you may be reading this article and you’ve realized that you’re past the response deadline. You may be wondering, “What can I do?”
Unfortunately, if you don’t answer within the time limits, a default judgment will usually be entered against you.
However, a default judgment isn’t always entered.
We’ve had clients who were served 6-9 months ago, and they call us about their lawsuit. We look up their case and discover that they don’t have a default judgment against them.
So then we file an answer immediately to avoid getting a default judgment.
Whatever your situation is, give your local courthouse (or even us) a call and find out where you stand in your collection lawsuit.
I cannot emphasize the importance of taking immediate action enough when you’re dealing with a debt collection lawsuit.
File that answer as soon as possible.
If you’re outside of the time limit, but you don’t have a default judgment against you yet, file that answer and respond to the lawsuit ASAP.
There’s a small window of time where you can undo a judgment if you’ve been properly served, but you have to act quickly.
It’s critical to your success in your collection lawsuit.
So if you’ve got a lawsuit sitting on your kitchen table and you haven’t looked at it in a while, pick it up and figure out what you need to do with it.
Hope this is helpful to you!
If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with us.
We would be glad to help in any way we can.
You can reach us by phone at 1-205-879-2447, or you can fill out a contact form and we will get in touch with you quickly.
We look forward to chatting with you!
Thanks for reading, and have a great day.