Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Missouri

Re: Taken to Court for a past dept.

If the debt is based on a written contract the statute of limitations is 10 years, and so you probably will be successfully sued unless you have a valid defense. If you do not believe you owe the debt, then you should make an appointment with an attorney to obtain assistance in litigating the debt and proving your defenses to the debt. If you owe the money, and have simply had no luck being able to pay the debt, then contact the attorney and see if you can work out a schedule of payments to pay off the debt. Many times you can enter a "consent judgment" and that consent judgment will allow you to make payments over time.

There is probably no way to avoid the fact that the collection lawsuit will show up on the credit report for another seven years, although you can negotiate with the creditor and ask them to remove the report once you have paid the debt in full. Sometimes they will do this.

Good luck