Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Florida
I had a judgment ordered against me in 2004. It recently lapsed. I did not owe the money to begin with, however, I didn't make it to the court hearing on time due to a family emergency. A default judgment was issued against me, even though I did show up, however, I arrived two minutes after the proceedings had begun, which angered the judge. I wasn't given time to state my case due to the fact that I was late (which I was told "used up all my time"). At the time, I didn't realize that I could have asked the judgment to be set aside, so I just accepted it, and ignored it. I just noticed on sunbiz.org that it had lapsed back in August. What should I do now? Can I have it removed from my credit report? Are there any actions I can take to rectify this situation.
2 Answers from Attorneys
"Lapsed?" A 2004 judgment against you is still valid.
Unfortunately, the judgment is valid for 20 years. The other side can still try to collect on the judgment during that entire period. In order to establish the priority of this judgment against other possible judgments, the other side filed something called a judgment lien with the Secretary of State. Those are good for 5 years. What you are seeing online is that the judgment lien lapsed because 5 years is up. However, the other side can still file another judgment lien and still enforce the judgment.
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