Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in North Carolina

Re: Colletion of Money Judgement.

It depends on the date the judgment was entered - not the date the lawsuit was filed.

A creditor can issue writ of execution (which is what happened to you) once a year for 10 years on a judgment. After 10 years, they just have to file the judgment again and they get another 10 years, and so on, until the judgment is paid or settled to the creditor's satisfaction.

Before this, your creditor had to serve you with a "Notice of Right To Designate Exempt Property". Hopefully, you filed your response within 20 days to protect your property. Most people in your situation do not own much property, and everything they own is "exempt" - but you need to file your Motion To Designate Exempt Property in order to protect it.

They cannot garnish your wages. If you designated your exempt property on time, they can't take away any of your exempt property. If you did not designate your exemptions, the Sheriff may decide it is not worth the effort to take some of your property and sell it in order to get money to pay off the judgment, especially if you don't own much, and what you own is old.

You need to talk to the Sheriff's deputy and explain your situation. If they leave you alone, you will still owe the judgment, and it will accrue interest. If you ever want to have credit again, or buy a house someday, you need to take steps to make payments on the judgment whenever you can.