Judgement Question

[kmksga]

I have a judgement in California against me (credit card was $2000 now $6000 with interest) that is from around 1994 that I didn't know about (isn't showing on any of my credit reports) until they sent me a 10 year court renewal of it the other day.  We paid this and are now going thru the motions to fix it / prove it but I am worried that while we are doing this they might garish or put a lien on something.

My question is if the judgement is in my name alone, can they go after a joint bank account or a car that is paid off but owned jointly or anything held jointly.

Appreciate any help. 

[Anonymous]

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kmksga wrote:

I have a judgement in California against me (credit card was $2000 now $6000 with interest) that is from around 1994 that I didn't know about (isn't showing on any of my credit reports) until they sent me a 10 year court renewal of it the other day.  We paid this and are now going thru the motions to fix it / prove it but I am worried that while we are doing this they might garish or put a lien on something.

My question is if the judgement is in my name alone, can they go after a joint bank account or a car that is paid off but owned jointly or anything held jointly.

Appreciate any help. 

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As to the question about going after a joint account or joint property.....that would(I think) depend on state statutes and if it is a community property state or not.

I am confused though, if this is paid, why would they garnish anything or put a lien on anything? Was it paid before or after the renewal was filed? Do you have proof of payment?

They have to get a court order to garnish wages/freeze bank accounts.

[kmksga]

We paid it along time ago fortunately we still have the receipt & copy of the check but it is a third party that did the judgement on the creditors behalf.  Talking to them is like talking to my 6 year old.  I don't know when the original judgement was done I never saw any of it and it never showed up on any of the credit reports.  I did pay it right away.  It started off as a dispute with the store over damaged furniture that was delivered.  I didn't want to pay for it, I wanted it returned they were slow in working it out at the worst it should have been a 30 day late.  

Isn't a judgement a court order ???  Or is it just something that says you owe them ??? 

[Anonymous]

Yes a judgment is ordered by the courts.

Go to the courthouse and get copies of when the original judgment was filed.

Do you have a court date scheduled for the renewal?

[kmksga]

According to the copy of the judgement they mailed me it was already renewed for 10 years.

[Anonymous]

Contact your local courts and find out for sure what has/hasn't been done.

You may need to file a motion to vacate, ask if you can do that while you are getting copies of everything.

[kmksga]

In looking at the renewal judgement I just realized they did it in December 2008 and mailed it to me April 2009 and there is no court date on it.  Is that normal ??

[Anonymous]

I am not sure of the process of renewing judgments.

You can check your state statutes to see what you find-- see "state resources" link below.

And for sure contact the courts.