Court date in April and no DV by Midland

[Anonymous]

About a month ago I posted about a Small Claims Court notification received via certified mail. The noticed stated that my partner was being sued by Midland for an unpaid debt. Because this debt is so old (7 or 8 years but still within the 10 year SOL in RI) it was recommended that I DV since she doesn't know who the original creditor was or if the amount was correct.

It has now been 32 days since getting the green card back and I am not holding my breath waiting for a response from Midland. She is going to send the answer saying to the court and the attorney that she disagrees with the debt which is due by April 10th and is looking at an April 26th court date.

My questions is what should she do now? Should she contact the attorney that Midland has not responded to the DV. Or so she just wait and show up at court with a copy of her letter and her green card. She very well may owe this debt since she did have some payment issues in 2000 and 2001 but everything has fallen over her credit report so she can't be sure.

My next question may be a little more difficult to answer. If she shows up at court on her date and it is determined that she does owe the debt can she avoid a judgment by paying right away? She has worked hard to get her credit scores over 700 and we are getting ready to buy a house and a judgment would kill her score. She would gladly bring a bank check for the amount owed to the courthouse so that she could pay right away if required.

I thank you all in advance for any information you can give. This is all new and intimidating and we want to make sure that she knows all her rights.

[Anonymous]

Because you want to buy a house so soon I would get an attorney...........she must answer the court papers and at times the court date may change. Make sure that you get an attorney that will not offer to settle before he gets descovery!!!!!    The info. in the DV is what he will ask for in descovery.

If you do not get an attorney....she must appear in court......make copies of the DV letter  CERT paper and GG.............take all the originals to court (keep the copies at home)   They might help her.

Never admit to any debt!!!!  make them prove it.  There is always a chance that they will not show up in court.

[Anonymous]

Since the debt is only $1500 we would prefer to not hire a lawyer since I can't imagine a lawyer would cost any less. She is sending her answer to the clerk tomorrow and will show up for every court date to prevent a default judgment. I guess we just don't really know what is going to happen. It really seems like paying the debt would be the easiest thing to do (since she probably owes it from something) but we don't want to just cave and let them win if they don't follow the rules.

Anybody have any experiences with going to court?

Message Edited by smg53 on 03-19-2008 02:42 PM