Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania

I wouyld advise you talk to an attorney immediately you have too many issues involved.

You ask a lot of questions. You should have talked to a lawyer a long time ago. And you should NEVER have had a joint bank account with your husband if he had outstanding debts or judgments.

you state your husband was never served with papers. impossible. i do not know what kind of debt this was for, but if there was a judgment entered then your husband was in fact served by some method. perhaps papers were sent to an old address or the ex-wfie. perhaps he received them and never told you. i don't know but the way to find out is to go to the court where the judgment was entered and make a copy of the file. trhere are time limits for challenging a judgment and if your husband truly was not served as you claim then perhaps the judgment can be vacated. but you would have to make a copy of the court file, including any return/affidavit of service, and see when and how service was made.

also impossible that the debt is only "his" as you now claim. or that the debt was from 10 years ago. most debts in PA are governed by statute of limitations. limitations periods can vary. i don't know what this is for. if its for some debt on a contrac, the limitations period is 4 years; under a catchall its 6 at most. however, the statute of limitations is only a defense to be raised in an answer to a complaint. if no answer is filed, then the defense is waived. this goes back to service of the complaint. if the judgment can be set aside, then perhaps your husband could file an answer asserting the defense. again, a lawyer would have to review the file.

when two people are obligated on a debt, say a husband his former wife, then the creditor has the option of suing the husband, the wife or both. how do you know that only your husband was sued here? perhaps the ex-wife was sued as well. just because both are sued does not mean that only your husband is liable for the debt. the ex wife may be at risk of bank levy or execution if she was sued and a judgment was entered against her. however, she may have filed bankruptcy and discharged the debt. if so, then the creditor can only look to your husband for payment. or it may be that the ex wife has no assets and has mad herself judgment proof. same result - the creditor does not care where it gets the money. - both your husband and wife, if both were sued, are liable for the debt.

you are foolish for having a joint bank account with your husband. you will have to request a hearing in front of the court. be prepared to establish that a portion of the money in the account was indeed your money. perhaps you will get it back. i hope you have done the sensible thing and taken your husband's name off of the account or stopped the direct deposit to that account and have the money go into a bank account solely in your name.

your last comments suggest that you knew about this all along. a judgment was entered a long time ago. judgments in pa last for 20 years on personal property like bank accounts. i have not seen the file and do not know how much you owe or what this is for, but if its less than $10,000 and if you cannot have the judgment set aside and have no legitimate defenses then it probably would be more cost effective to settle this debt for something less than 100%.

i still think its worthwhile to make a complete copy of the court file and have it reviewed by a PA attorney to see what the best strategy would be in dealing with this. my focus is on settling debts outside of bankruptcy/litigation. since you are leaning towards fighting this you will be better off with local counsel.