Florida Collections Legal Questions

Collecting is Small Claims is a challenge.  If you want to go after the judgment debtor's bank account, then you must GARNISH the account, not levy.  The Sheriff is not involved.  A levy with the Sheriff can only go after "goods and chattels, lands and tenaments, equities of redemption in real and personal property and stock in corporations."So, go back to the Clerk and ask for the forms needed to garnish a bank account.  However, if the judgment debtor is a "head of family," meaning that he or she provides more than 50% of the support for a child or other dependent, or for a married couple, is the primary decision maker for the family, then Fla. Stat. §222.11 grants an exemption from garnishment.There is a little known trick in the Small Claims Rules called a "Hearing in Aid of Execution."  See Rule 7.221.  It can NOT be used by attorneys.  The Judge is supposed to require the judgment debtor fill out the "Fact Information Sheet," and then require the judgment debtor to appear before the Judge to answer questions about the debtor's assets.  This may help you find out how to get paid.  That may be your best option.... Read More

A wage garnishment can only happen by court action in Florida, except for the IRS.  Except for very rare exceptions, a Florida Court will not allow a garnishment of wages unless a judgment has already been entered against the employee. The procedure is that after a judgment has been entered, the judgment creditor applies for a "continuing writ of garnisment."  The court must enter an order directing the Clerk to issue a "Continuing Writ of Garnisment."  That writ is then served upon your employer by a process server.  At that point, your employer is obligated with withhold 25% of your take home pay that exceeds 30 times the Federal Minimum Wage per week.  Your employer then files an Answer to Writ of Garnisment, stating that you work there and that they are withholding the required funds.  (Your employer should HOLD those funds until a court order is issued, but some employers improperly send the money to the judgment creditor.) Then (HERE'S THE IMPORTANT PART) the judgment creditor is required to send you a "Notice of Garnishment" which includes forms you can use to claim the "head of family" exemption under Fla. Stat. 222.11.  If you are a head of family, then you need to submit the forms as instructed.  The Judgment Creditor must respond with a denial affidavit, or the garnishment should be dismissed.  Otherwise, the court will set a hearing to determine whether the exemption applies.HERE'S THE OTHER IMPORTANT PART.  If a debt collector has been threatening to garnish your wages before a judgment has been entered against you. you should immediately talk to an attorney about whether the debt collector has violated either the Federal Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA, 15 U.S.C. §1692) or the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act (FCCPA, Fla. Stat. §559.72), or both.  Debt collectors are not allowed to lie to you or mislead you.  You may be able to sue the debt collector and get any actual damages you have suffered, plus up to $1,000 in statutory damages even if you have suffered no actual damages, plus your attorney's fees and costs are paid by the debt collector.  Usually the attorney who handles collection harassment cases will represent you at no cost to you.... Read More

A family member thats a Google lawyer doesnt count. That is simply false and any actual lawyer would know better. If you have such a subpoena you have lost a court case and owe someone money and they are going to uyse this to go find things to seize. You would do well to retain an actual lawyer.... Read More

No way to tell with "napkin" contracts between freinds that arent freinds any more. If the account is not in your name, you may have no obligation to ATT, but only to her. If you cant work it out, may make sense to hire a lawyer to address it directly so that it doesnt explode into something costing even more to fix later.... Read More

Unfortunately, there simply isnt free help to provide people lawyers to fix bad credit or purchasing decisions because they dont like the results. If your being sued, you simply need to find a way to retain a lawyer to address this or work out what you can with the creditor as best you can.... Read More

Its painfully obvious that you have little undertanding of business transactions and are retracting into "victim status" to justify the lack of understanding. You will need to hire a CPA or attorneyt to review your records and determine what has happened factually andthen go from there. In the mean time, you would be wise to pay the money owed before it affects your credit rating, close down the account and enter no new such transactions until you are better versed in the details and circumstances of such transactions.... Read More

If these are costs assessed in the case where you are the victim, youre point is well taken, and you may want to contact victims assistance and the state attorney to address this. If, however, these are costs for OTHER cases where your son has acted criminally, the fact that you are a victim in one will usually not affect another.... Read More

Other than Small Claims Court, there is no legal way to FORCE the vendor to return your deposit.  You could try to "encourage" him to pay by contacting the Better Business Bureau -- but that only works if he plans to stay in business.  If you think he never intended to do the work and has stolen your money, you could contact the police.However, if you use the Small Claims Court process, there is a rarely used procedure that might help you get paid -- but it can only be used by NON-ATTORNEYS.  After you get a judgment, you could ask the Court to hold a Hearing in Aid of Execution under Rule 7.221.  The Defendant is required to appear before the Judge, where the Judge can require the debtor, under oath, to disclose financial information to determine how your judgment can get paid.  You may need to pay for a process server to serve an order requiring the debtor to appear -- but if he fails to appear, the Judge can hold him in contempt and have him arrested -- but only until he appears.  He can't be put in jail for not paying the judgment.Also, if you get a Small Claims Judgment, make sure you get a "certified copy" from the clerk and ask the Clerk to get it recorded into the Public Records.  That process creates a judgment lien on any non-homestead real property the judgment debtor may own in the County.  If he owns property in another county, you can get another certified copy (or use the same copy when it comes back after being recorded), and take it to the Clerk of the Court in the county where he owns non-homestead property to get your judgment lien.... Read More

Yes, most of the time, the Plaintiff's attorney will be willing to work out some kind of deal but the client decides how flexible the deal can be.  Sometimes asserting a legitimate defense will encourage the Plaintiff to be more flexible on a settlement -- if you have a legitimate defense.If your car has been repossessed and sold, you may be able to challenge the way in which it was sold or the costs incurred.  You may want to talk to an attorney who is familiar with car repossession cases before beginning negotiations, even if you do the negotiations yourself.... Read More

There are some exceptions, but the general answer is No.  You did not explain what kind of debt.  If this was Tax debt and Husband and Wife signed a joint tax return, they are jointly responsible for taxes owed.  Sometimes a spouse might be responsible for some medical expenses.  But in general, (a) wages cannot be garnished until AFTER a judgment has been entered, and (b) if the judgment is only in the name of Husband, the Wife's wages cannot be garnished, and (c) if the Husband is the "head of family" as defined by Fla. Stat. 222.11 and case law, then the Husband's wages can't be garnished, either.The definition of "head of family" can be the person who earns the most, or the person who makes the majority of the decisions in the family, or the person who pays more than 50% of the support for a child or other dependent.  However, to assert the Head of Family Exemption, you must make the claim if wages are garnished.... Read More

You didn't give many details.  I assume that you rented something from Rent-a-Center, didn't pay or didn't give it back, and now Rent-A-Center is trying to contact you.The details really matter.  If they are trying to collect a debt, then disclosing the debt to your parents may be a violation of the Florida Consumer Collections Practices Act.  You should contact an attorney who handles Collection harassment cases.However, if they are trying to recover property, they have a lot more options since they are not "collecting a debt."... Read More

This will revolve around whether the bill is a covered charge or out of network. If it was covered and they just failed to submit it, this should be addressed by your insurance carrier and the collection effort may be an illicit "balance billing" case. You may want to contact a lawyer such as our office that handles FCCPA/FDCPA collections cases if that is the case. Otherwise, it is not required that any entity provide you mailed bills for services prior to sending the bills to a collection agency or a billing/collections department for collections.... Read More

You can sue him in Small Claims Court for $500. There's a filing fee for Small Claims Court, plus $50 or so to get him served. You will have to show up in court for a pre-trial.  If he doesn't show up, then you can get a default judgment against him that MIGHT allow you to garnish his wages or levy upon his personal property -- but  it will cost you around $250 to garnish his wages, if you can figure out how to do it.  If he does not have a job, there's not much you can do.  If he has a lot of valuable stuff which exceeds certain state exemptions, you could levy on his personal property -- but that can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 with no promise that you will get it back from the sale of the stuff.  If he owns real estate other than his home, you can get a certified copy of the judgment and record it in the public records to create a judgment lien on the property, and then wait to see if he tries to sell the land in the next 10 years.He might show up at the pre-trial, and then you can try to get him to agree to a payment stipulation, where he will pay back the $500 plus the court costs over time.  If he fails to make the agreed payments, you get a judgment and then have the same problems mentioned above to try to collect.  If he refuses to sign a payment stipulation and denies that he owes the debt, the court will set a trial and you will have to prove that he owes you.  If the judge decides that he DOES owe the money, the judge will sign a judgment you have the same problems mentioned above to try to collect.  If the judge decides that you have failed to prove that he owes you the money, then you lose and get nothing.Truthfully, for $500, I'd suggest that you just consider it a mistake and go on.  It is probably not worth filing a Small Claims case over.  Send him a simple note about once a month asking him if he plans to pay you back, and then give up once you are convinced that he'll never pay it back.... Read More