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creditor judgement writ of execution?

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Guitarantula

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Tennessee.

Hi folks. I have a two judgements against me so far over credit cards. Same debt buyer, two different lawyers, one for each card. There will probably be more as these debts get closer to being put off my credit, since they have been unpaid for several years. As far as i know, i am judgement proof. I am on Social security disability. My home is a 1994 Mobile home worth abot $4000, which completely fits under the $5000 dollar Tennessee Homestead exemption. I am a single parent with two kids and my ex owes me probably over 12 thousand in back child support. I have no other money coming in other than my SSI. I had my checks switched to paper checks that now come to my mail box. I own no land, and all my belongings take up 2,300 dollars of my 4000 dollar Tennesee personal property exemption. Really, there's nothing they can take from me. My vehicle has a proper lean on it from a bank and it is in bad shape and not worth hardly much more than the loan I have on it.

My question is about procedures. I filed my exemptions properly with the court within ten days of the judgement court dates. I have the papers in my possession with the court clerk stamp on them.

I get the feeling that this Lawyer firm in Nashville (about two and a half hours drive), is going to probably get a writ of execution against me and I will wake up and have the police at my door, asking my 12 year old daughter to step aside while they search through our dressers for valuables. This would cause serious emotional damage to my already hurt children who had their mother walk out on them. Last night, I read about a debters exam. Would the lawyers first make me sit for one of these exams under oath and list everything I own? Would they need to do this first, before bringing a sherrif to my door to take things that are not on the exemption papers, (which amounts to probably 50 bucks worth of property after they sell it at an auction) Most everything I own only takes up 2,200 of the 4 thousand exemption. I just get the feeling the lawyers will do this just to harrass me and embarrass me. This would devastate my kids. What are the lawyers required to do first. I read some Tennessee law and it said, "writ of execution against "CERTIAN" properties, like they have to specify what items they know about, such as cars and bank accounts. Can they simply show up at my door with no prior notice and force their way in and start going through our drawers, closets? Or would they be required first to force me to some type of exam and such? I simply don't want my kids being forced to see police rummaging through our personal belongings. As I said, I have my exemption papers in my home and with the court stamp where I filed for each judgement that was obtained on me. This was in General sessions court, ;ike the others will probably be in the future.

Thanks for any help.
 


if you owe $5k and possibly more, would you consider filing chapter 7 and get all these debts erased? it seems that there is nothing they can take but at least then you would only have the BK and not a bunch of judgments and they would be powerless to get anything and your worries might be over. you could then rebuild your credit in a couple of years and start over. just a suggestion.
 

Guitarantula

Junior Member
if you owe $5k and possibly more, would you consider filing chapter 7 and get all these debts erased? it seems that there is nothing they can take but at least then you would only have the BK and not a bunch of judgments and they would be powerless to get anything and your worries might be over. you could then rebuild your credit in a couple of years and start over. just a suggestion.
Thanks for the responses. My debt for all my cards is over 5.000, but I don't think any individual card is that high, but possibly Capitol one is over 5,000. I haven't heard from them in a couple years, but I am sure I will. It is Midland Funding LLC that has filed these two judgements, one for Aspire Visa, and one for Emerge Mastercard. Aspire was charging me 31 percent interest. I was paying a $55 dollar payment and $40 of it was going for interest. Nice folks. A divorce is what ended up causing all this, and my own stupidity, but I will never want another credit card again, that's for sure.

Yes, a No asset BK will be done in the future, but the best price I could find for a lawyer was $900 bucks, and I just don't have it. I will try to borrow it next year from my Mother if she can afford it. I even told the Lawyers for Midland my situation before they even filed the Emerge judgment. I warned them that I am as judgment proof as can be, and told them I was ashamed to have to admit such a thing. My entire home fits under the homestead exemption, and that $5000 is meant for equity in a home. They acted shocked when I told them my entire home fits on it. I thought about filing Pro Se, and even saw software on the internet to help, and I am even pretty good with a computer, even writing out the judges child support order when I was awarded child support. This is still a possibility, but it's scary and I really want to wait and have a lawyer do it.

The main thing that worries me is that they will emotionally scar my kids by simply just showing up out of the blue with no warning and forcing their way in to my home to rummage through my closet and drawers. One thing, at least when I do file BK the creditors will be easy to find since they will all have judgments against me. It is miserable going through this and thinking they may show up and come in my home. I can see them hauling my old couch out the door while my daughter is crying. I just want to know what their procedure would need to be. If there is a writ of execution on personal property in the home, will I be served with this first and given some kind of warning they are coming, so I can sweep the floor and send my kids to my Mom's so they won't see this nightmare?
 

Chien

Senior Member
OP - I understand what you are asking and tried to do the research for you.

My reading of your stautes says that your exemption of $4,000 for personal property necessitates filing Notice of the claim of the property that you intend to exempt with the Clerk of the Court. Have you done that? Notice of that exemption can be filed anytime after judgment and before execution per Tennessee Code Annotated sect. 26-2-114.

If the Notice of exemption is on file, there should be minimal risk of someone knocking on doors and going through drawers, as there is a penalty for wrongful attachment in contravention of the claim. At the very least, it would be prudent to summon you into court for an inquiry under oath as to what other property there might be.

NOTICE
TO THE DEFENDANT OR DEFENDANTS:
Tennessee law provides a four thousand dollar ($4,000) personal property
exemption from execution or seizure to satisfy a judgment. If a
judgment should be entered against you in this action and you wish to
claim property as exempt, you must file a written list, under oath, of the
items you wish to claim as exempt with the clerk of the court. The list
may be filed at any time and may be changed by you thereafter as
necessary; however, unless it is filed before the judgment becomes final,
it will not be effective as to any execution or garnishment issued prior to
the filing of the list. Certain items are automatically exempt by law and
do not need to be listed; these include items of necessary wearing
apparel for yourself and your family, and trunks or other receptacles
necessary to contain such apparel, family portraits, the family Bible, and
school books. Should any of these items be seized, you would have the
right to recover them. If you do not understand this exemption right or
how to exercise it, you may wish to seek the counsel of a lawyer

I think that should ease your mind unless and until you have considerably more personal property that would exceed the $4,000.
 
Last edited:

Chien

Senior Member
I don't know if they can come and go through your personal belongings, but if I were you, I'd hide my dog!!!!!
Funny lady. Hang around. God knows the levity is needed.
 

Guitarantula

Junior Member
Thanks so much for the help. Yes, I filed my exemptions within the ten days before the judgments were final. I had to do this for each judgment and I had to take it into the court clerk. I can update them anytime I want to, and they don't even charge me anything to file them, it's free. They gave me a copy back and said to keep it in my possession. The papers have the court stamp on them and were filed on the docket numbers. I went and seen Legal Aid and found a ton of state info and found out what had to be done. I was impressed with the legal aid system here in Tennessee. When I was talking to the lawyer for Emerge, before they filed, the woman I was talking to said I should follow the law. I should pay my debt. i told her I wished that I could. She said we will use the law against you. I got mad and said, "you know what, the people of Tennessee also have another law. They say that if my life has crumbled down so that I am under $4000 dollars worth of personal property, and my home or it's equity is under $5000 dollars, then they will also draw a line on my side of the legal realm to protect people like me that have their lives in this situation. I told her that yeah, the law says I owe, and the law says they can do this and do that, but there is also law on the other end of the spectrum. There are laws that they can't cross either that the people of a state put in place to at least draw a line which creditors can't go beyond. It felt good to say that to her and she just sat quiet on the phone , like she didn't know what to say. She had been spouting on how they were going to use the laws on their end to make me live in hell, and it was nice to tell her that the people of my state also put some laws on this end too, and that they wouldn't let folks be put down all the way, and left with no place to live, no personal property. I told them that it was their right to file the judgment, and my right to claim my exemptions and to file a no asset BK next year when I could somehow borrow the money. She then tried to lie to me and told me that they could take my SSI. I laughed at her on the phone. I told her I have known forever that they can't do that, and that they couldn't take my Child support (if I had any). Then she said there were two kinds of judgements, and there was one where the court would force me to pay everything in 30 days. I laughed again and said I know that there is one judgement in the state of Tennessee. I told her I had been to legal Aid, and that I knew exactly what to do and had done it on the first judgment.

I wonder if their lawyers will check the docket files to see if I have filed my exemptions? Surely they will do that to see if it would be worth the effort to come here with the sheriff and then have to auction stuff off. They would lose money, that's for sure. The only things I didn't put on the exemption papers were my old RCA TV, a hunk of junk that needs to go in the dump anyway, rickety old kitchen table. Even an old car that they might get a couple hundred out of. I gave it to my 16 year-old son but it's still in my name. I can add it to the exemption papers and update them any time i want for free, so I may add it since my son wants it as his first car. I still have 1,400 dollars of space on my $4000 exemption, so I can update and add stuff if i need to.

Thanks so much for the reply, and sorry I rambled on so much. It's late and I am tired.




OP - I understand what you are asking and tried to do the research for you.

My reading of your stautes says that your exemption of $4,000 for personal property necessitates filing Notice of the claim of the property that you intend to exempt with the Clerk of the Court. Have you done that? Notice of that exemption can be filed anytime after judgment and before execution per Tennessee Code Annotated sect. 26-2-114.

If the Notice of exemption is on file, there should be minimal risk of someone knocking on doors and going through drawers, as there is a penalty for wrongful attachment in contrvention of the claim. At the very least, it would be prudent to summon you into court for an inquiry under oath as to what other property there might be.

NOTICE
TO THE DEFENDANT OR DEFENDANTS:
Tennessee law provides a four thousand dollar ($4,000) personal property
exemption from execution or seizure to satisfy a judgment. If a
judgment should be entered against you in this action and you wish to
claim property as exempt, you must file a written list, under oath, of the
items you wish to claim as exempt with the clerk of the court. The list
may be filed at any time and may be changed by you thereafter as
necessary; however, unless it is filed before the judgment becomes final,
it will not be effective as to any execution or garnishment issued prior to
the filing of the list. Certain items are automatically exempt by law and
do not need to be listed; these include items of necessary wearing
apparel for yourself and your family, and trunks or other receptacles
necessary to contain such apparel, family portraits, the family Bible, and
school books. Should any of these items be seized, you would have the
right to recover them. If you do not understand this exemption right or
how to exercise it, you may wish to seek the counsel of a lawyer

I think that should ease your mind unless and until you have considerably more personal property that would exceed the $4,000.
 

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