How is a judgement put in place with no serve?

[tammy8]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? North Carolina

A friend just looked at his credit report.

He has a judgement by Midland (which I have read is one of the WORST for shady judgements) and now Ford Motor Credit.

He was NEVER served by either one? His mail went to his former wife's home and she was never served with anything either. From what I understand there were letters sent but no one ever responded.

Is there anything that can be done (these accounts are over 6-7 yrs old)?

 

[Ladynred]

Now that there are actual judgments, the age of the account is irrelevant, even though NC has a relatively short statute of limitations on old debts. The SOL on the judgment is much longer. They can't garnish wages in NC, but they can go after non-exempt property, and they can drain bank accounts.

Your friend needs to go to the courthouse and get a copy of the court papers, it should include a proof of service so you can find out just HOW your friend was supposedly served. Then you'll have to deal with the judgment itself.

 

[randomguy]

I just noticed your post and before I reply let me make it clear that i am not from your city/state

With that being said, some states permit serving someone by posting notice of it in major newspaper for x amount of time. It's usually done when they can't find the person and as such can't serve him.

 

[justalayman]

you need to go to the courts the judgments were awarded and pull the file on the cases. In there, you will find what means of service was used. If the service was valid, there isn't much you can do. If the service was defective, you can file to vacate the judgments due to the defective service.