Walk It Through: A Letter Says You Are Being Sued
Five stages, and the one that decides the rest.
An envelope from a law firm. It names a card you stopped paying years ago.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
Which ground under the rule fits a particular judgment, how accrual is worked out on a particular account, and the transition the shortened limitations periods carried are not computed here. Support orders, federal tax levies and student loan collection run under their own rules rather than this chapter, and the exemption figures are adjusted every three years.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Judgment proofA description of a person whose income and property all sit inside the exemptions, so a judgment against them reaches nothing. It is a fact about what is collectible, not a status anybody is granted.
- AccrualThe moment a claim became suable, which is the date every limitations period counts from. Six years on a written contract means six years from accrual, not six years from the agreement.
- Pretrial motionA request to the court decided before trial, a motion to suppress evidence among them. The rule puts all of them within thirty-five days after arraignment or seven days before trial, whichever is earlier.