Q: Can Collection lawyers proceed with debt collection if they did not prove a debt never responded to verification letter?

A: Yes they do it all the time, whether it is legal or not doesn't matter as they get a default judgment and the judges just blindly sign whatever the collector puts in front of them, it is like a conveyor belt of submitted garbage and trash from these collections companies that turn into cash. They break the rules all the time and the judges just sign the documents unless you are there represented and respond and push back. These collections are just increasing by the day as it is big money for these debt buyers, hardly anyone defends themselves (like you not showing up and likely giving them an easy default judgment that quickly turns into a garnishment). You have to be on top of things and responsive and timely and demand within the timeframes, otherwise you get exactly what you get here and like I said, not a judge would think twice about signing these defaults, no matter how faulty service of process was or document are inadequate if you are not there to fight. If you qualify you can claim exempt as head of household if you make less than $750 per week, otherwise you need to get a lawyer and see if you can reopen things or request a rehearing and so forth. The collections machine from third parties is just speeding up weekly and this is just the way it is nowadays if you do not fight them every inch of the way.

A: There's no verification necessary after the judgment is entered in most cases. Somebody accepted service on your behalf in 2003, and that's all that's really important. Whoever that person was apparently didn't notify you, but that's not the creditor's issue. The fact is that a judgment is valid for 20 years, and you don't get advance notice of a garnishment. The creditor does not need to prove the case 17 years after judgment is entered.

However, now that your account has been garnished, the clerk and or the plaintiff's attorney is required to furnish you a notice of your rights and a form to elect any of several statutory exemptions which you may have to the garnishment, and to ask for a hearing on the exemption. The plaintiff's attorney will send you a copy of the motion for the writ of garnishment and the writ. After the bank answers the writ, plaintiff's attorney will send you a copy of the bank's answer and will inform you that you have 20 days to move to dissolve the writ (that's the form I mentioned a couple of lines up).

The creditor is entitled to garnishment; you must prove that you have the exemption (i.e., evidence, not mere testimony). The plaintiff does not have to prove jack. If the Court finds in your favor, the writ will be dissolved and any money retained by the bank will be returned to your account. That hearing is not the place to try to litigate the judgment from 2003.