co-signer legal remedies

I'm in Georgia. My wife co-signed with her nephew (he lives in arizona) for a car. We faxed the co-signed paperwork to him. I'm sure you can figure the rest. He made two payments (late) and the finance company started calling us. We've been making payments for about a year and a half now. We are re-financing our house to get the title from the finance company so that we can can sell the car. Is there any legal remedy for us to get our money from him (garnishing, court system, bullet to the temple) Forget the last one. The total for the car is $18,000. Please tell me there is something we can do!!

[cmorris]

Go to an attorney and sue him.

He may not have money now, but a judgment is good for usually 10 years or more. Then, you can (usually) renew it. So if he will EVER come into any money, you can get yours.

Thanks for the info. I'm going to do just that.

Since he only made 2 payments on that $18,000 car, this really has me p'd off.

1. Would we have to spend money to go to Arizona, or could we take care of it from here with Georgia attorneys?

2. By "coming into money", do you mean like a settlement or award, or is that money from employment?

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by S. Hall

Since he only made 2 payments on that $18,000 car, this really has me p'd off.

1. Would we have to spend money to go to Arizona, or could we take care of it from here with Georgia attorneys?

**A: hire an attorney in Arizona.
*******

2. By "coming into money", do you mean like a settlement or award, or is that money from employment?

**A: winning the Megabucks lottery.

[HomeGuru]

Why can't you sell the car without refinancing your home?

I won't hold my breath for the lottery!

We need to get the title from the finance company to sell the car. We're re-financing to take care of the car and a few other things.

Thanks for the reply. I really like this forum!

[Ladynred]

You can sue him in GA and get the judgment. However once you win it, in order to have any affect on him at all, you'll have to move the judgment to AZ where he lives. According to JetX this is not a difficult or expensive process. Once its domesticated to AZ, you can garnish wages, sieze bank accounts, etc. - if he has either. If he has nothing now, you'll have to keep tabs on him to find out when he DOES have anything you can attach - or if he moves elsewhere.

I was about to dispell the thought of taking legal action against him, but now I think I'll go ahead with it.

Thanks Lady, Guru, and Cmorris