Court Summons

definately file for the change of venue, they have to sue you where you live, not what suits them best. Make sure you follow through with this, if they don't show up you will win by default and if they have to travel it is doubtful they will take the time unless it is a significant amount of money.

so your first step should be filing the change of venue.

If the creditor or the collection agency has filed the lawsuit in Utah and you have received a response from the court at Utah, you have to file an answer to the summon with the clerk's office in that court from where the summon has been sent. If you do not file an answer tot he summon within 21 days from the date of receipt of the summon, the creditor or the collection agency who has filed a lawsuit against you can bring a default judgment against you to recover the outstanding debt.

As far as I know, in the state of Utah you need to file an answer to the summon within 20 days from the date you receive the summon. Since you have received a certified mail from the court, the date 26th Nov will be considered as the date you received the summon and 20 days will start from 26th Nov itself. This means that you need to file the response within 16th Dec 08 which is not too far away. If you cannot file a response to the summon by visiting the court at Utah, you can authorize an attorney to file the response on your behalf, otherwise the creditor can bring a default judgment against you to recover the debt. In the meanwhile, you can send a debt validation letter to the creditor to be sure whether you actually owe the debt or not.

The poster needs to file a change of venue surely he/she can do this from their state. Did you recieve the summons in the state you live now? If so the courthouse that the summons was filed in should show on there somewhere. Call them so they know that you are aware of the summons and see exactly what you have to do to filea change of venue. If not go to your own local courthouse wiht the summons and see what they can do to help you. Surely there is something you can do on your own with out the expensense of an atty adding up. Hopefully Goodnatured will come back and follow up on this. She may know a little more but in the mean time you can not wait around because you are running out of time. Call either courthouse.

Hi Nashes, There is a page where you can get sample letters but I am unsure of exactly which liink you will need. You can try doing a credit magic search. Look to the right side of your screen on this page and you will see a box tilted credit magic search. Type in what you need there ands see if it comes up. If you can not find anything check back here and I am positive someone can lead you in the direction of the sample letter you are looking for. Are you sure you do not just have to go down to the courthouse and fill out the forms they have there? Did they say where and how you were to do this?

It really annoys me when people at the courthoues can not take time out of their busy day to help people out. Probaly the best thing you could have done was went down to the courthouse in person. That way she could not have easily blown you off or you could have asked for someone more helpful. You can use those other sample letters and just get rid of the letterhead and put your courthouse name and address in there instead. I was hoping Good natured would stop by and give you a good explanation. I wonder if it is possible for the courthouse to let you have a copy of their stationary. Aslo are you sure you do not have to go to the courthouse itself to file this and that is where they suppply the letterhead?

Even if you file a motion to change venue, it must be filed at the court from where you received the summon i.e, at Utah. In the court on the hearing date or the court date you need to mention that it would be difficult for you to travel every time at Utah for the case hearing. If the court changes the venue for your convenience, it has to be certified by the Supreme Court.

So there is not anyway he can file for the change of venue in his or her current state? This is kind of a long travel. If this is how is has to be Nashes, then you should try to get to that court hearing so that they do not win by default. If you don't they will win. Still try the courthouse and see what they say but if you have to go I would ask the judge for the change of venue. You may not even need it because usually these hearings are wrapped up in just one hearing. Let us know what the courthouse tells youi.

No there is no way out and you need to first file an answer to the court summon before you file a motion to change venue, else the creditor can bring a default judgment against you. Now as Anthony said if you are not able to visit the court to file a response to the summon, you can authorize a lawyer to defend your case. If you think that you actually owe the debt, and the case will not be in your favor, you can wait for the default judgment by which the creditor can garnish your wages. However, the creditor cannot garnish more than 25% of your income every month and this process of wage garnishment will continue till the debt has been repaid in full.

I would want to present my case to the court if I were you. You have not told us much about this debt for a really complete answer on whether to defend your self or wait for the default verdict. I would not advise waiting to see if a default verdict pops up and they start attaching your wages unexpectly down the line. How old is this debt? Do you know id you are protected by the statutes of limitaions on credit card debt. If you feel that you are then I would definatley make the trip. I imagine if they are suing the debt is probaly a half decent amount and if I was protected by the SOL then this trip would pay for itself.

Did anybody receive the summon on your behalf? If it is so, you should visit the clerk's office in the court from where you have received the summon and file an answer to it in order to avoid default judgment.

I was served suit papers in Pa by the county sheriff by citibank that said I owed them a large sum of money by a Phila. Law firm. I took my papers to the court house and proved that this debt was paid by citibanks own ins. company several years ago. I was diagnosed with cancer in 2003 and the debt was paid in 2005. The court dismissed the judgement. They keep sending this to different collection agencys, but have not provided proof that I owe the debt. How can I stop all this nonsense. I already proved I don't owe them anything, can I legally sue them for bad collection practices? Thanks Ruthie One day at a time.

Ruthie,

You need to send them copies of the debt being paid, better yet, here in Pennsylvania we have a very good attorney generals office, if this keeps happening then you must do what you have to do, hand it over to the attorney general and let them handle it. They will follow up and follow through. I have had some great luck with them.

That is one reason it should not be allowed for a collection agency to sell to other collection agencies. The debt gets sold so many times they cannot keep up with what is going on with it. And they waste tax payers dollars taking people to court for no reason. I would like to see a few of them get sued for this maybe they would learn to keep up with the debt instead of us having to always having to send in proof that it was paid. If they did their job then they should have known this.But yes contact your attorney generals office and let them know whats going on. And I would also tell them how many times it has been sold.

I see your point, however all is not fair when it comes to war and debt collection, they will always try no matter what to suck another dime out o the debt. Actually the company that they sold it to should be pretty upset about them selling them a paid debt also, they should be contacting them and asking for their money back too.

I have proved this several times, and I am now in the process of getting papers to pa atty generals office now, Thankyou so much. Ruthie

They have been awesome in the past for me, seems like the collection agencies show a little more respect after they have spoken to them, I have had some be down right mean until they have spoken to them, they change their tune real quick.