Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Georgia
How do I file a motion to dismiss a judgement against me for a bill collector? What forms are necessary to file this motion?
3 Answers from Attorneys
The "forms" are the documents that would include all relevant facts and the authority for requesting a dismissal, based on the specific facts of your case. Obviously, no one here has that information and it would not be appropriate to do your motion for you.
There is no such thing as dismissing a judgment, as a judgment is a final ruling, so there is obviously no form that does that.
You do not file a motion to dismiss a judgment that has already been entered. You file a motion to dismiss a lawsuit before judgment. Why are you trying to dismiss the lawsuit? You can only dismiss for certain grounds .
This is not something you should handle pro se (on your own). There are no forms for something like this. You will have to draft your own and if you insist on proceeding without a lawyer, you may risk having a judgment entered against you.
If money is tight, there are lawyers who provide limited legal services. Some will draft an answer or motion to dismiss for you for a small fee.
If this is a debt by a bill collector, unless you have valid grounds to dismiss the suit (like statute of limitations or something like that) then the motion is going nowhere. The creditor will get a judgment against you whether you fight or not and all you will have accomplished is spending money on a useless act and increasing the legal fees for the creditor (which they made try and have you held responsible for.
While litigation has its place for certain things, I am not a litigator and do not believe in litigation where there are no defenses to the debt. No matter what you do, the creditor will ultimately get a judgment, whether by default if you do nothing, or by motion for judgment on the pleadings (if you answer and admit the debt and don't have a defense) or by summary judgment. Depending on your circumstances, it thus may be more productive to use the funds to settle the debt rather than attempt to litigate if this is your debt and thereare no valid defenses.
At least have the complaint reviewed by an attorney. I give free email consults; there is a $50 charge for phone consults and I resolve debts in a non-litigation non-bankruptcy context for a reasonable fee. Please contact me at [email protected] if interested.
If this is for a large debt or if you have other debts, you might also want to consider bankruptcy as an alternative to litigation. If so, then you should contact either of the fine gentlemen who have responded to your question or the local counsel of your choosing.