Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Virginia

Re: Garnishment after 15 years

There are actually two parts to your question.

And actually it might be very important whether the Garnishment Summons says "General District Court" or "Circuit Court" on it.

First, if a creditor is filing for a garnishment, it means that there is already a judgment against you. No one can garnish your bank account or wages without first going to court and getting an actual decision (judgment) that you owe the money (except the tax people).

You might not know about it, but the court already decided that you owe the money. If this is a suprise to you, you need to go to the court, and ask to see the file and look up what it is all about. Sometimes the lawsuit was filed at the wrong address and you might be able to file a "motion to vacate" to have the judgment set aside... maybe. But the result of that will be that there will then be a trial in which you will already be considered "served" and involved because you were in the court. So this only helps if you don't actually owe the money. This is just a waste of time if the court is going to decide at the end of the process that you DO owe the money.

Not everyone reports judgments to the credit bureaus. So it is possible that there is truly a judgment. You need to go to the court which is listed in the garnishment and ask the clerk's office to look at the file.

So, can a creditor collect on an existing judgment 15 years later? Well, that's interesting. If the judgment was in General District Court the judgment is good for 10 years unless it is renewed. They would have to renew it to get another 10 years. OR they might have "docketed" the judgment in the deed book and essentially recorded it in the Circuit Court. This requires some investigation.

On the date shown on the garnishment, you will show up and raise these objections.

Actually you should use the yellow forms that are supposed to come with it to file your objection in writing as soon as you are sure of the situation. This will trigger an automatic hearing within 7 days which will look into these questions such as the validity of the judgment. (But this is NOT a motion to vacate. You have to do that separately.)

If the judgment was in Circuit Court (so that the garnishment says Circuit Court on it), then the judgment is good for 20 years, and yes they can clearly garnish 15 years later.

Now, could they file a new lawsuit 15 years later? Well, yes and no. In Virginia, they are allowed to file a lawsuit even though the statute of limitations is passed. You must OBJECT (assert the statute of limitations) in order for it to apply. However, once you object on the basis of the statute of limitations, the new lawsuit would immediately be dismissed. For a written contract, the statute of limitations is 5 years... NOT from the date it was signed, but from the date it was breached (the date when something was supposed to be done, as an obligation under the contract, but was not done).