Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Texas

Re: Ex-boyfriend is authorized user on credit card, how do I get my money back?

Since he lives in Texas and the amount is over $5,000.00, suit would be filed in Texas, in either a County or District Court. You will need to retain an attorney who specializes in obtaining judgments and collecting debts. Unless your boyfriend has some assets available (non-homestead real estate, property, coin collections, etc.) your chances of collecting the debt is slim. He may file bankruptcy to discharge the debt. To contact an attorney, I recommend that you call the Bar association for the county your boyfriend lives in, ask for the name of an attorney and call them for more information.

Re: Ex-boyfriend is authorized user on credit card, how do I get my money back?

Clearly, Texas has proper jurisdiction over your boyfriend. The question is whether Illinois courts also have such jurisdiction.

If your boyfriend formerly lived in Illinois and used the credit card while here, i.e., incurred the debt at issue while in Illinois, it is quite possible that Illinois would properly have jurisdiction over this dispute.

In that event, you could sue your boyfriend here in Illinois, and he probably would not fly back to Illinois to defend it. Rather, he would probably simply default, giving you a judgment against him w/out any defense put forth by him.

Next, you would need to try to enforce the judgment against your former boyfriend, i.e., ceasing his bank account and other assets -- if he has any. If any assets are located in Texas, you would have to register the judgment in Texas before enforcing it against him there.

-- Kenneth J. Ashman; www.AshmanLawOffices.com; [email protected]

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