Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Georgia

You've been sued. That means you should NOT talk to their lawyer. You need to see your own lawyer. It would be extremely foolish and dangerous to sign anything prepared by someone who is paid to take advantage of you.

It is very possible that you have some better options and you are in danger of making some horrible decisions.

Note that if you have gone 30 days without an answer you will lose automatically.

Stop talking to them and get a lawyer.

If you want to handle this yourself, you should conduct discovery. This includes interrogatories and document requests. In the document request, you would ask for relevant documents.

You may not want to simply go the lawyer's office to sign the document. If you want to settle, you should hire an attorney to attempt a settlement or demand that the proposed document be sent to you for a detailed review and/or attorney review.

Also, comply with the deadlines in the subpoena you received. You must file a response within the deadline. If the deadline has passed, you should attempt to obtain additional time to file a response.

You do not go to court and see the original documents. I doubt the case will make it that far. Suit is commenced by filing a complaint. If you have a valid defense, you file an answer with the court and serve it on counsel for the creditor. Both you and the creditor's attorney then get to engage in discovery - you get to ask them questions, ask them to produce documents and ask them to admit or deny certain facts and they do the same thing to you.

The only valid defenses are: (1) mistaken identity or identity theft; (2) the amount owed is really wrong; (3) you have already paid off the debt; or (4) statute of limitations (4 years from when the account first became delinquent in Georgia unless the account was opened in another state and in that case the other state's law might apply if it gives more time).

If you do not have one of these defenses and this is your debt, you will save everyone time and money if something can be worked out as they are going to get a judgment against regardless of what you do or don't do. Georgia allows for wage garnishment, levy on bank accounts or on real or personal property.

How much is owed? Do you have money to pay? The more you can offer now the more likely it is that they will accept 50% to 80% of the debt as settlemetn in full. If you cannot pay, then often the creditor will want a payment of about 1% to 2% of the debt in exchange for their promise not to execute on the judgment by garnishinng your pay or using one of the other methods I described.

Feel free to contact me if this is your debt and you want to work something out. I can review the documents and make sure that they are ok to sign before you send in payment. As I do not live in Georgia, I do not go to court there, so if you want to litigate, then I suggest that you contact another attorney.

Rachel Hunter

Attorney at Law

[email protected]

(678)-687-9693

Admitted in GA, PA & NC