Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Virginia

Re: Proof of Debt Owed to Win Court Case

The document may or may not be enough, depending on what it says, but with your testimony it ought to be. You should see a lawyer who can review that document and the other paperwork and advise you as to the best course of action.

Re: Proof of Debt Owed to Win Court Case

You were wise to get him to sign a note. First, keep in mind that the essence of "evidence" is sworn testimony under oath. No document, picture, or other "evidence" can be admitted unless there's a live witness available to testify as to its authenticity and relevance. So your sworn testimony is really important, and you can tell the court what happened and why. It is valuable that you've got something in writing signed by him to back up your testimony.

As to the note. There's two levels of inquiry with respect to promissory notes: first, is it really an enforceable "note"; and second, is it "negotiable". The second point only counts if you want to sell it to someone else or collect it through a bank, so that's apparently not important in your case. As to the first, the note has to say that it's payable to a specific person or to "bearer" or to "cash" (which is legally the same as "bearer"), on or before a particular day, that it's for a specific amount of money, or for a definite amount that can be calculated on the day of trial, signed by the person promising to pay (the "maker"). In order to be negotiable, you can't have any conditions or qualifications in the note - it has to be payable with no "ifs, ands, or buts", but again, that's not important as between you and the exboyfriend, as long as you can show that any conditions expressed in the note have been satisfied.

One thing to watch out for: if the note calls for payments over time, then you can't sue for payments that are not yet due unless the note says that upon a condition of default, all the payments are immediately due and payable (an "acceleration clause").

If the amount is less than $15,000.00, you can go to the General District Court for the county where the defendant lives or owns property or in the county where the note was signed, and file suit by filling out a Warrant in Debt form and paying the fee (presently $30.00 including $12.00 to the Sheriff for service of process). There are complications, and you should (as in any suit) be sure you've got the exboyfriend's name right and be prepared to supply his current address.

If you copied the note out of a forms book or used a software product to generate it, it may have terms and conditions that are not enforceable in Virginia, or which may give you an easier time of filing suit (e.g., a confession of judgment clause, an acceleration clause). It would be wise to have an attorney look it over, at least, and most attorneys who do collections would take the case for 25%-35% of the total judgment amount collected.