topic Re: Can I file my own Motion to Vacate a judgment? in Rebuilding Your Credit

Can I file my own Motion to Vacate a judgment?

diabla — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:43:30 GMT

The lawyer charges $350, but I won't have to show up or do anything. I'm pretty savvy with such things - I did my own disability and got it through quick and easy without any help. I'm usually doing my own paperwork for everything, so I wonder if I shoudl tackle this myself and save the money? It's a judgment that was slipped through during my BK in 2006 so it should have never been allowed to go through. It was then discharged, so now its just a matter of asking, apparently.

Or is this something where I'd have better luck paying the lawyer? Seems like an open/shut case, IMO.

Re: Can I file my own Motion to Vacate a judgment?

Booner72 — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 23:15:24 GMT

I got my judgment vacated on my own. Go for it.

Re: Can I file my own Motion to Vacate a judgment?

diabla — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 23:17:30 GMT

Cool, thanks! I didn't know if it was going to be a complicated experience and I was better leaving it up to lawyers. But I'm going to go for it!

Re: Can I file my own Motion to Vacate a judgment?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 23:21:43 GMT

I would leave it up to the lawyers if you really want it off. Many states have a 1-3 year statute for motion to vacate based on errors, which appears to be your reason. In my experience, the courts are far more lenient when the plaintiffs attorney is filing the motion

Re: Can I file my own Motion to Vacate a judgment?

yo-upacreek — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 01:54:16 GMT

Hi Booner72.

I have 1 paid judgment I'd like to get vacated, how do you go about filing a motion to vacate without an attorney? Please PM me.

Re: Can I file my own Motion to Vacate a judgment?

rkb84 — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 02:06:56 GMT

I would like to know how to do this also. I have documents sent from the collection firm used by Cap one, titled 'release of judgment lean'. All official court documents showing it satisfied. Is this good enough to send with a letter to the CRA's to have it removed from my report? It just shows as satisfied now I want it gone.

Re: Can I file my own Motion to Vacate a judgment?

Shogun — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 02:08:45 GMT

@rkb84 wrote:
I would like to know how to do this also. I have documents sent from the collection firm used by Cap one, titled 'release of judgment lean'. All official court documents showing it satisfied. Is this good enough to send with a letter to the CRA's to have it removed from my report? It just shows as satisfied now I want it gone.

No, that will not be grounds for deletion of the judgement. In order to get it removed, you must have it vacated through the court in which it was filed.

Re: Can I file my own Motion to Vacate a judgment?

rkb84 — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 02:15:38 GMT

Thanks, was hoping that wasn't the case. Any threads here with the specifics on the process? I would prefer not to have to pay an attorney but will. Weird thing is, I did dispute with all 3 a while back claiming it was satisfied and TransUnion actually deleted.

Re: Can I file my own Motion to Vacate a judgment?

rckstrscott — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 07:27:35 GMT

@rkb84 wrote:
Thanks, was hoping that wasn't the case. Any threads here with the specifics on the process? I would prefer not to have to pay an attorney but will. Weird thing is, I did dispute with all 3 a while back claiming it was satisfied and TransUnion actually deleted.

You will never find a specific thread, cause all states and even some counties have different processes for doing so.

You need to go to the courthouse where the case was drawn and speak to someone from the clerks office, they will gladly point you in the right direction... or, you can always consult a legal aid or attorney.

-scott

Re: Can I file my own Motion to Vacate a judgment?

Booner72 — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 01:49:00 GMT

@yo-upacreek wrote:
Hi Booner72.
I have 1 paid judgment I'd like to get vacated, how do you go about filing a motion to vacate without an attorney? Please PM me.

Sorry, can't do that, but I can tell you to look up my post "I GOT MY JUDGMENT VACATED!!" and it will tell you all the gory details.

Re: Can I file my own Motion to Vacate a judgment?

diabla — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 01:51:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I would leave it up to the lawyers if you really want it off. Many states have a 1-3 year statute for motion to vacate based on errors, which appears to be your reason. In my experience, the courts are far more lenient when the plaintiffs attorney is filing the motion

I'd better see if I can find out about any statutes. My BK lawyer didn't mention it, and I wonder if I paid him $350 and then he couldn't get it vacated - I doubt that I'd get a refund, because apparently the court charges $150 for the filing. The other $200 is probably his fee for his time.

Re: Can I file my own Motion to Vacate a judgment?

Anonymous — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 04:03:46 GMT

I was an attorney before disability stopped me from practicing law.

One word of advice -- if this attorney will do that for $350, pay him and do a happy dance. I'd have charged much more. The jurisdiction you're in might have a local judge like our's who HATED pro se litigants, would humiliate them, then tell them he'd render judgment then but he'd give them got me to go get an attorney. The clerks office cannot give you good legal advice, but they can let you know how the local judge feels about it. If you want to proceed on your own, PM me and I'll give you some pointers (not legal advice!).

Re: Can I file my own Motion to Vacate a judgment?

diabla — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 15:12:21 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I was an attorney before disability stopped me from practicing law.

One word of advice -- if this attorney will do that for $350, pay him and do a happy dance. I'd have charged much more. The jurisdiction you're in might have a local judge like our's who HATED pro se litigants, would humiliate them, then tell them he'd render judgment then but he'd give them got me to go get an attorney. The clerks office cannot give you good legal advice, but they can let you know how the local judge feels about it. If you want to proceed on your own, PM me and I'll give you some pointers (not legal advice!).

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I'll call the clerk's office tomorrow and see what I can find out about this judge, and also google him! Your experience sounds horrible, sounds like a judge that needed to be recalled! I'm going to take my shot with the $20 though. If it were a bigger judgment that wasn't in BK and wasn't about to drop off my reports next year anyway, I might find it worth the $350. But for this, I look at the $20 as a lottery ticket - if I lose, its just $20! Oh, I'll PM you for the pointers though, thanks!

Re: Can I file my own Motion to Vacate a judgment?

diabla — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 15:18:35 GMT

So far so good, I went about 7 pages deep into the google results and haven't found any nasty blogs or posts about this judge. I actually found a few posts where other attorneys were praising him for being fair and analytical. He appears to handle DUI cases mostly, don't know why he's doing motions? Maybe they all have to rotate doing a bunch of these every morning?

Re: Can I file my own Motion to Vacate a judgment?

Anonymous — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 20:39:17 GMT

All judges have a motions calendar, and most hear a variety of cases, though in larger jurisdictions they might have smaller, more particular types of cases to hear. People can and do win pre se cases everyday, so I wish you the best of luck. If you have included that creditor in your bankruptcy, you should win. If not, then it depends. If you'd like me to talk to you about any of the particulars, I'd be happy to. Good luck!

Re: Can I file my own Motion to Vacate a judgment?

diabla — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 15:01:14 GMT

Just got back from court, it went quickly and smoothly! Well worth the $20! LOL The plaintiff's lawyer did show up but probably just to get out of the office, lol. We met in the hallway and he basically said fine, whatever, and we signed off on it before the judge even called my name. Then we went up and agreed again and I was out the door in less than 25 minutes. That certainly made it easier by having him there to agree.

Now I'm going to fax the copies to the CRA and see how quickly I can get it removed. What a relief.

Re: Can I file my own Motion to Vacate a judgment?

diabla — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:17:47 GMT

Faxed the court docs to the CRAs yesterday, this morning my EQ reads, "You have no judgments on file". Woohoo! I faxed them other things too, so I hope they delete those just as quickly.

Re: Can I file my own Motion to Vacate a judgment?

Shogun — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 16:47:21 GMT

Congrats!!!! Way to go!!!!!