Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Texas
My husband recieved a letter from an attorney offering services due to his finding through the harris county court records,of a law suit filed against him by portfolio recovery associates llc.The letter stated that if this company obtains judgement against him they could garnish banck accounts and a sherif could sell any non exempt property to satisfy judgement. Can this be done?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Same answer, "Yes," with a "but." The hassle of selling a debtor's non exempt property, along with the fact that most debtors will hide their property, are two of the reasons why it's highly unlikely that your non exempt property would be sold. The debt collector could garnish bank accounts, but there's a very particular procedural process that must be followed, under the law, in order for that to occur. Unfortunately, the lower courts, the Atty. General's office and the creditors tend to ignore the law (sounds crazy, but its true), and freeze funds in accounts without going through the precise legal process that they are supposed to follow. They do this to play a game of "wait and see" - that is, they will not follow procedures, garnish the accounts anyway, then "wait and see" if you are smart enough and tenacious enough to try to win against them in appellate court. And, of course, to that end, they also try to draw things out as much as possible in the hope that you will eventually throw up your hands in disgust and frustration and abandon your appeal. Either way, they win! Best approach? Get all the money out of your accounts until you can work out a repayment agreement of some sort with the creditor.