Att/CA wants payment for 5/2001 juvenile court debt. Do I aks for DV?

[Anonymous]

My daughter got into  trouble for smoking in 05/2001 and now after almost 9 years the AZ Juvenile Court is trying to collect via an attorney.  Is there a different set of rules for the length of time to collect a debt in this situation, since it is a state debt (or I think that it is)? I think I paid it but not sure. What do I do? Ask the attorney to validate the debt? 

[Anonymous]

Not sure how it works in AZ but in WA all court debts are considered LFOs (legal financial obligations) which are collectible forever. The judgement can and will be renewed every 10 years until either collected or until the debtor passes. It being an LFO the court can garnish at any time with out further notice. Again how it works in WA state.

I know this because of an issue I am having with an old traffic ticket that I had been paying on for a while and they decided to garnish my wage. I contacted an attorney and that is what the attorney told me.

[guiness56]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Not sure how it works in AZ but in WA all court debts are considered LFOs (legal financial obligations) which are collectible forever. The judgement can and will be renewed every 10 years until either collected or until the debtor passes. It being an LFO the court can garnish at any time with out further notice. Again how it works in WA state.

I know this because of an issue I am having with an old traffic ticket that I had been paying on for a while and they decided to garnish my wage. I contacted an attorney and that is what the attorney told me.

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Are you saying that a court debt automatically turns into a judgment?  I live in WA and never heard of this.

OP, was a judgment issued?  AZ has a 5 year SOL on judgments but they can be renewed.

[Anonymous]

To save my score I will just pay.  But  in case it's been sent to collection maybe I should write them and ask for a pay for delet? what do you all think? or call them to ask if it's filed with the CRA?

[happy0510]

It doesn't sound like this turned into a judgment correct?

I also don't believe judgments are automatically renewed.  The plantiff's attorney would need to file something.

[Anonymous]

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@guiness56 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Not sure how it works in AZ but in WA all court debts are considered LFOs (legal financial obligations) which are collectible forever. The judgement can and will be renewed every 10 years until either collected or until the debtor passes. It being an LFO the court can garnish at any time with out further notice. Again how it works in WA state.

I know this because of an issue I am having with an old traffic ticket that I had been paying on for a while and they decided to garnish my wage. I contacted an attorney and that is what the attorney told me.

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Are you saying that a court debt automatically turns into a judgment?  I live in WA and never heard of this.

OP, was a judgment issued?  AZ has a 5 year SOL on judgments but they can be renewed.

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Fines and court costs are generally not reduced to judgment since the state has administrative remedies that can be used to collect -- such as liens.

Also, these types of debt are not treated the same as ordinary consumer debt and generally are not subject to a SOL or even the FDCPA.  One needs to be very careful with these since technically they can use non-payment of fines as justification to reopen the original court case and re-adjust sentencing appropriately.