Q: 2006 Judgment Still an Issue--New Developments
01/2003 A credit card debt was acquired by Sarasota CCM and they obtained a judgment in in Illinois.
01/2009 I moved to Florida and three years later they registered the judgment in Florida.
09/2000 They garnished a checking account.
No communication from them between 2006-2020.
After taking the funds from the checking acct the case status was updated to Closed on the Clerks Probate site.
05/2022 they attempt to get a Writ of Execution but court rejects it b/c they listed Sarasota CCM as a foreign authorized corporation
10/2022 they get a Writ of Execution after listing Sarasota CCM as a Rhode Island corporation
No communication since this was granted.
05/2023 Affidavit of Payment and Interest filed. Interest accruing at 9% per annum from 11/01/2005 and has been domesticated in the State of Florida.
Zero communication from anyone.
Case status still shows closed on the Clerks page.
What are my options, what is the best path forward?
A: Three options (other than paying in full): 1. Attempt to settle up, such as by offering X cents on the dollar and/or paying in monthly installments over X number of years; 2. File for bankruptcy if eligible (consult a bankruptcy attorney); 3. Determine if you are judgment-proof and can just let them do what they do - but the risk there is that, even if you're judgment-proof now, you may not be at some point in the future when the judgment debt with interest has risen to a much higher level. Though a judgment is valid for only 20 years, the creditor may have the option of filing a new lawsuit near the end of the 20th year to keep the judgment debt alive. By the way, the Clerk's "closed" designation does not prevent post-judgment collection proceedings.
Terrence H Thorgaard , Adam Ira Skolnik and Timothy Denison agree with this answer
1 user found this answer helpful
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