Summary Disposition Explained
We have just been notified of a Request for Summary Disposition. What does this mean?
Chandler, AZ
We lost a suit against us in Dec of 2011. We did not file an appeal to the court judgment as we felt it would not do us any good. Does this new request just mean the plaintiff can now start collection proceedings? Such as wage garnishment, bank levy, etc? Also, if the judgment w/legal fees was over $11k can we be forced into an involuntary bankruptcy? What is an order of Turnover? If an order for wage garnishment is approved will we be given instr on how to respond? Will we be given instr on how to respond to a Req for Debtors Exam? Should we request a Debtors Exam if we owe more in our home than its worth or have no other property and our bank acct only has Soc Sec pmts? Our only other income is my husbands wages.
Thank you!
As far as what any specific court document means, I would have to see the document. If you have had a judgment entered against you, the creditor may do any number of things to collect, most of which you have mentioned in your question. If they attempt a wage garnishment, you will get notice of it, but your employer will likely start holding back a portion of your wages before you have a chance to respond to the garnishment. If they attempt a bank account garnishment, you will get notice of the garnishment, but the bank will likely freeze your funds before you get the notice. Social Security income is “exempt”, so if they collect it, you have the right to get it back. It would be to your benefit to make it clear which of your income is from social security so they do not mistakenly take it. If you cannot afford to have your wages garnished (they could take up to 25% of your disposable income), then I advise speaking with a debtor/bankruptcy attorney as soon as possible. Depending on your financial situation, a good attorney should be able to work out a settlement of the judgment to cut down the debt amount and to obtain payments you can afford. If you file bankruptcy, this judgment would likely be wiped out in the bankruptcy, unless the judgment was for fraud or certain types of injury. I hope this helps.