Appealing Judgement of Credit Card Debt I paid off 10 years ago

[Gage321]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Hampshire

I just received notice that a judgement has been filed against me for a credit card debt from 2005 but never received notice of any court date for this suit. I'm sure I paid this debt off & it was filed by a collections agency who bought it from another collections agency from a bank that no longer exists.

I checked NH laws & there is no requirement that they make sure I received the notices of the court hearing before the judgement & there is no statue of limitations on this in NH.

How do I appeal this to defend myself? I know I need to submit in writing an appeal to the court but not sure how to do that in the "official proper way."

Also, the debt was from when I lived in Massachusetts where I know there is a statute of limitations of ten years, which have passed. Is moving back to Massachusetts a viable option to get protected by their laws AFTER a judgement has already been entered in New Hampshire?

They say they are seizing my bank accounts, that have very little in them. My car is owned by the bank & I rent so not much else to seize but afraid they'll also garnish wages.

Thanks for your time.

 

[adjusterjack]

Here's a few things you should know.

The statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit in MA is 6 years. However, SOLs are tolled (stop running) when a person leaves the state and the time out of state is not counted and the creditor could sue you when they find you.

(OK, for you purists out there, there are exceptions to that rule, but we don't have enough details yet to go into it.)

Judgments are enforceable in both MA and NH for 20 years.

So, assuming you were sued somewhere between 2005 and 2011 (within the 6 year limit) the judgment has a long, long time left to run, regardless of whether you were sued in MA or NH. You wrote that the judgment was filed in NH but that doesn't necessarily mean that you were sued in NH. A judgment from MA could have been domesticated in NH.

Moving back to MA won't help you.

Moving on, there is the matter of notice. Process service laws in both states are similar in that you must be served a summons and complaint. Unfortunately, there are ways that you can be legally served without being handed the papers.

I suggest you determine the location of the court in which you got sued and obtain a complete copy of the case file so you can see what happened.

When you find the "affidavit of service" come back for further discussion as there may be a way to get the judgment set aside if service was faulty.

Meantime, "saying" that they are seizing your bank accounts is meaningless because they will need a court order for that and you'll know it's happening because your bank will freeze your account.

And, yes, there is a risk of wage garnishment while all this is in progress.