Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Pennsylvania

No no no. You are confusing these things.

First, the statute of limitations, while it is 4 years in PA, only relates to the time a creditor has to file suit. It begins to run from the time the cause of action accrued to the time suit is filed. If your husband was sued within the 4 year period the suit was timely.

Judgment was not necessarily entered because your husband failed to show up at the hearing. Judgment may have been entered even if he did show up. You do not indicate what the judgment was for, but if your husband had no defenses to the lawsuit and did not raise them in any timely filed answer, then judgment was going to be entered anyway.

Judgments NEVER go away. They remain in the court records forever unless discharged in bankruptcy or resolved. Judgments are not "expunged" either. Expungement relates to criminal convictions. Judgments can be reported on a credit report for 7 years after the date of entry. But that does not mean that the judgment goes away or that it cannot be enforced or that the money is not owed.

Although judgments do not go away, they can be enforced against real property for a period of 5 years after the date the judgment is entered. However, the judgment can be revived for additional 5 year terms. Judgments can be enforced against personal property for a period of 20 years.

There is no homestead exemption in PA and there is no exemption for cars. Whether the judgment can be enforced against these assets or not depends on their value, how they are titled and if they are owned free and clear.

I am surprised that the creditor has not tried to seize your husband's bank account. If your husband has one, I would suggest that he not maintain more than $300 in the account for as long as the judgment is outstanding. I would also suggest that he not have a joint account with you or anyone else as those funds will be at risk of seizure.

As I said, your husband needs to think about resolving the judgment so that he does not have to worry about this forever. If he is interested in discussing his options about resolving this judgment in a non-bankruptcy, non-litigation context, please have him contact me at [email protected].