A Summons and What You Should do About It

It’s possible that most of us have already been summoned because of unpaid debts or creditors.

The question now is: What are you going to do next? First thing’s first, this article does not give

legal advice, and only aims to provide you with the basic information on handling this particular

litigation. It would be wise to hire an attorney for legal assistance once you receive summons.

What is a summons?

According to the Free Dictionary, a summons “is the document that officially starts a lawsuit.” It

is a legal letter for you to appear in court for the case filed against you by debt collectors,

collection agency, or creditors due to your inability to pay for your outstanding debts. It contains

all the information that is vital to your case such as the case number, your court date, all the

parties involved in the case, and may include a “Particulars of Claim” which is a detailed

document which explains the case. Other than that, a summons also entails the things you have

to accomplish such as what you need to file at court.

What do you do when you get your first summons?

Don’t ignore the summons. Unlike a nightmare, you cannot simply wake up and

pretend it didn’t happen. A summon requires your full attention. Ignoring a summons will

give the other side—your creditors, all the opportunity to take legal action against you

considering that you did not file a response or counterclaim. Once you get a judgement,

you can expect seizure of assets and wage garnishments.

o What is a judgment?

This is a court decision or an order stating that you owe the company a certain

sum of money. It may or may not appear on your credit report. When you have a

judgement, collector may restrict your account and take your money from your

account and garnish your wages. For instance, when you choose to ignore a

summons after receiving it, and you pass the 20-30-day mark since you got the

summons, you will get a default judgment.

o What does a wage garnishment mean?

When you get a judgment on your account, debt collectors are now allowed to

take legal action against you in order to collect money (through wage

garnishments), or worse, repossess any of your assets until they get what is

owed to them.

Know your due date. If you received the summons personally or if a friend or family has

received the summons where you take residence, you have 20 days to file an answer. If,

however, the summons is left and posted at your door, you have 30 days to make your

move. This is the timeframe where you would have to take all the necessary measures

to make sure that debt collectors will not be able to get a judgement against you.

File an answer.

o What is an answer? This is a written document that states whether you admit,

deny, or if you have a lack of knowledge of each allegation or statement made

against you. There are chances that some statements are not true, and if you do

your research before filing your answer, you can check whether their complaints

can be disregarded by the court.

The debt collector or collection agency cannot legally prove that they

have the right to collect the debt from you.

Your debt is time-barred, or the statute of limitations has passed.

There is a lack of evidence that you have violated the law.

Hence, it is important to review the complaints made against you before you file

your answer.

o To whom do you send the answer? You will have to send two copies via snail

mail of your answer to: 1) the lawyer that represents the collector or debt agency,

and 2) the courts.

o What happens when you don’t file an answer? You will get a judgement.

o What happens after you’ve filed an answer? The next step would be do your own

research about your case as each one is different from the other.

Should you get a lawyer?

Considering that you got a summons because you’re in debt, it would not be wise to get a

lawyer and let him handle everything. Think about it—if you have money to pay for a lawyer,

then why can’t you just afford to pay your debt? Hence, you can opt for legal assistance or

represent yourself. What you can opt for is to get legal assistance and represent yourself,

because either way, the real must in this situation is that you should study your case on your

own… or better yet, avoid this roadblock now.

Do not wait for your creditors to sue you. Settle your debts now. Call Financial Rescue LLC for

your first FREE consultation! Thanks to our debt settlement program, we will help you settle

your debt for the lower amount you owe. Don’t let your debt steal your joy of living in more ways

than one. Call 1-877-97-DEBTS now!