How to not pay a judgment when one is passed against you? There are ways you can avoid paying a civil judgement. A judgement is received by anyone when there is an issue with the collection of money. Often it is said that if you get a judgement, the creditor sucks money out of you through any means. But there is nothing to worry about. You can avoid paying a civil judgement in various ways.
There are many misconceptions about being convicted with a judgement. Many people misguide you regarding how to not pay a judgement. Majority of the people believe that there is no way out of it. Once you get a judgement, you are bound to pay it. But if you are proved guilty over wrong judgement then there are a few ways to avoid paying a civil judgement.
Know-How To Not Pay A Judgement
A judgement is a legal document issued by the court declaring the creditor has won the case and is eligible for a specific amount of money from you. It is said that if you get a judgement passed against you, it is very tough to get your way out of it. But if you are accused wrongly then you can know how to not pay a judgement. You can avoid paying a civil judgement in these ways. Read along to know more.
- Try to Vacate a Judgement
Trying to Vacate a Judgement is when you appeal the court to put aside the judgement. Trying to vacate a judgement is a way of how to not pay a judgement. By doing so, you can get the judgement delayed. By agreeing to vacate a judgement, the judge can fetch you some more time. This will delay the creditor from collecting the money you owe them as the judgement will become legally invalid or void.
This way you can gather the necessary amount or required proof of you being innocent. The creditor would not be able to take any immediate actions against you if you take this way of how to not pay a judgement. One should note that a judgement can only be vacated if the judgement is a default judgement. A default judgement is a declaration issued by the court if any of the parties in the case fail to present themselves in the court on the day of the hearing.
If you fail to answer a summons or if you ignore the case even after getting a deadline from the court, the judge will pass a judgement against you and the creditor will then be entitled to collection of debt from you even if it is not accurate. This is when you can try to vacate a judgement passed by the court. It is necessary to know that a notice to vacate a judgement can only be filed within an acceptable timeframe. The deadline generally is 30 days from the date, the court passed a judgement against you.
You are required to give a valid reason for your absence on the day of the hearing. You should have proper answers ready for questions like whether or not you were aware of the complaint, were you not aware of the ongoing case against you? Is the debt yours? Was the summons not delivered to you? Were you not served properly? Was there a medical reason or emergency due to which you could not attend the hearing? Questions like these are mandatory to be answered. The answers to these questions can affect your case. Hence, it is suggested that you should hire a lawyer who can prepare you for questions like these.
- File a Claim of Exemption:
Often it happens that when you are not able to get the debt cleared on time, the creditor may seize your car, money, furniture, property, and other valuables. You might have seen such scenes in numerous movies where the hero or heroine gets very poor because all their valuables are taken up by the creditors in return of the debt taken. In reality, this doesn’t happen the way portrayed in the movies. You can find ways to how to not pay a judgement if one is levied on you.
A creditor indeed can seize your property and valuables in return of the money you owe to him, but there are some property and valuables along with specific funds that the creditor can not tale away from you. What we know as exempt is different for different state laws. You can file a claim of exemption to avoid getting some of your property, valuables and funds from falling in the hands of your creditor.
However, there are a few common exemptions that you can claim. Some of them are social security benefits, retirement benefits, unemployment benefits, disability benefits, veteran’s benefits, life insurance benefits, child support, and spousal payments. You can file a case of exemption and get a way of how to not pay a judgement. If you want these benefits to be considered as exemptions then these benefits are required to be directly deposited by the relevant agency to your account. In case if you have transferred the money yourself from or to another bank or a separate bank account, you would be required to prove that the money came from these benefits only.
Must Read: Grounds For Harassment Lawsuit
There are some other kinds of exemptions that you can file a claim for. They can be a way of how to not pay a judgement. Out of many ways of how to not pay a judgement, homestead and property exemption, and wage garnishment exemption are good ways. You can file a claim for exempt within 10 days of getting the mail of the judgement.
Filing a case of exemption can save some of your valuables, funds, and property from being seized by the creditor. When you file an exemption claim, the creditor won’t be able to inaccurately seize all your items earned by you with intense hard work. It also saves you the painstaking problem of recovering your money or property from the creditor.
How To Avoid Paying A Civil Judgement
A civil judgement is a decision taken against a defendant in court. It refers to a non-criminal matter which is legal and often requires the defendant to pay for the damages incurred. These damages incurred are most of the time monetary. However, you can avoid paying a civil judgement. How to avoid paying a civil judgement includes various ways and methods, out of all of them a few are mentioned here.
- File For Bankruptcy to Discharge the Debt:
If your debt is beyond the capacity of being paid, there is a way of avoiding paying a civil judgement that will apparently be levied on you for not paying the debts on time. Last year i.e. in 2019, there were approximately as many as 7,72,000 cases registered of bankruptcy. Filing for bankruptcy is a huge step but in extreme conditions, this is the only way of how to not pay a judgement. Filing for bankruptcy can be deemed as the ultimate step to avoid paying a civil judgement.
Consumer debts are easily dismissed through declaring bankruptcy. So, if you are looking for a way to avoid paying a civil judgement for a credit card, or payday loans, declaring yourself bankrupt is your way to roll. However, there are some debts you can not avoid paying. You are compulsorily required to pay these kinds of debts. The loans that can not be dismissed by filing for bankruptcy are child support, criminal penalties, student loans, restitution and fines, and debts incurred from a fraud.
- Make Settlements with the Judgement Creditor:
Making a settlement or negotiating with the judgement creditor might not get you to avoid paying a civil judgement entirely but it surely will help you by lowering the judgement amount for you. When you were entitled to pay a huge sum of your hard-earned funds to the creditor earlier, now after negotiating with the creditor the sum could be lowered and probably you would not have to pay that big a sum of money to them.
Must Read: How To Close A Chase Checking Account?
Generally, most of the creditors agree to lower the judgement amount. It is your excellent negotiation skills that probably might not get you a way of how to not pay a judgement but it can most probably help you lower the amount you got to pay back. While negotiating your offer, you should start by asking your creditor to lower 15-20% of your debt. Creditors often can negotiate and come down to lowering your debt to 50%.
If you can not get your creditor to negotiate the debt amount or the judgement amount, the only way to avoid paying a civil judgment is to file for bankruptcy. These are some ways you can avoid paying a civil judgment. You can try applying them to get out of paying the enormous amount of debt on your head.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you get around a Judgement?
If you don’t want to get around judgment then use statutory immunities, protected investments, or else bargain with the creditor, or file a case of bank default.
Can you Negotiate after a Judgement?
Yes, of course. It never ate of being negotiated Judgement. It is often long, time-consuming and a headache for judgment creditors.
How long does a Judgement last in Alabama?
No matter whether you sell your real property or not Judgement in Alabama stays attached for 10 years to your original Property.
How Much do Debt Collectors settle for?
Debt collector usually asks for 10 to 50% of your ownership for settlement Purposes.
Conclusion
How to not pay a judgment is one of the most asked questions in the world. Everyone wishes to avoid paying a civil judgment. These ways of not pay a judgement might surely help you to avoid paying a civil judgement. For more information, you can contact your lawyer. Lawyers often have a few more ways of how to not pay a judgement up their sleeves. You would only be benefitted more if you hire a lawyer to look at your case.