Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Louisiana

Re: Consent Judgement

While I cannot accurately answer all of your questions because I do not know enough details about your situation, I will try to state some general principles that MAY apply to you.

A consent judgment is normally filed by the plaintiff and defendant who have agreed to the terms of the judgment and want to make it "official" and a binding judgment without the need for a trial or other adversary court proceedings. As to "what happens after a consent judgment is filed"--that really depends on what the Consent Judgment itself says and what the defendant and plaintiff have agreed to do. In many collection cases, the defendant/debtor will agree to make payments towards the debt rather than go to court or dispute the claim and the plaintiff/creditor's attorney requires a Consent Judgment as security (a "guarantee") for that promise of payments. If the defendant/debtor does not live up to his/her promise to make the payments, the plaintiff/creditor already then has a judgment (the Consent Judgment) and can proceed to garnish income and/or seize property and/or record the judgment as a lien in the parish mortgage records.

As to garnishment, the law in Louisiana states that one is allowed to take home a minimum income that is exempt from garnishmemnt of thirty (30) times the federal minimum hourly wage in effect. I believe the current federal minimum wage is $5.15 per hour. Thirty times $5.15 is $154.50. That should be the minimum, non-garnishable wage.

As to your husband's income, is the Consent Judgment against him as well? Is his name on the lawsuit or named in the Consent Judgment?

As to what assets can be seized, does the creditor/plaintiff have a mortgage or security interest in any property you have? If so, it is possible that such property may be seized. Even if there is no mortgage or security interest, it is possible that the creditor will attempt to seize property/assets to satisfy the judgment.

Do yourself a favor, find a lawyer who primarily or regularly handles collection cases and pay him/her a consultation fee to listen to your whole story, let him/her look at all the papers involved and let him/her tell you what your rights and options are. Ask the lawyer anything and everything you want to know about your case. I'm not suggesting that you try and "get out" of this debt or fight the creditor; I am suggetsing that you find out legally what you have to do and what you do not have to do so that you can sleep a little easier at night... The small fee for a paid legal consultation may help with this situation.

Good luck.