Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Virginia

Re: Warrant in Debt

Yes, they can still garnish your wages but only after obtaining a valid judgment against you for the amount that you owe.

You can and should immediately request in writing that they send you proof of their client's claim that in fact you owe the money

that the client claims you owe.

Re: Warrant in Debt

I infer from your question that you are wondering

if you made the last payment more than 3 years

ago, so that the statute of limitations might

prevent a successful lawsuit. Be very careful

not to make any new promise to pay in writing.

Also, if you make any payment at all, you can

waive the statute of limitations if it was more

than 3 years from your last payment AND IF this

is a verbal contract, not a written contract.

In general, the only way you will be certain to get documentation is to wait for them to sue you.

They must then prove their case. In that case

they will need to lay down all the documentation. You should ask for a bill of

particulars and they should give you all the

documentation well in advance of the trial (and

object to any new documents at trial that they

did not give you in the bill of particulars).

Practically, if you write a letter saying that

you believe that the debt is barred by the

statute of limitations, they will probably

provide you with the documentation showing why

they believe it is not.

However, if they win a court judgment,

they can take any steps that the law allows.

They do NOT have to wait for your proposed

payment plan. THey CAN file a lawsuit even if

you propose a payment plan.

However, as a practical matter, they cannot get

any more money than you have. That is why

intelligent law firms and creditors usually

accept a payment plan... not because they have

to, but because they are smart enough to

understand that they cannot get any more money

than the money that you have. So if you can

afford to pay $200 per month voluntarily, they

will probably get only $200 per month if they

garnish your wages (and maybe less than that)

after going through all the trouble of getting a

court judgment and filing garnishment papers,

etc. The dumber law firms or creditors have not

yet figured this out.

HOWEVER, you should understand that it is not the

law firm's money. It is the creditor's money.

The law firm must follow the creditor's

decisions and instructions.

AND you should understand that when the creditor

says no to a payment plan it is because they

DON'T BELIEVE YOU when you say you can only pay

$200 per month. And remember that I know nothing

about you or your finances! I know that this is

what the creditor is thinking.

So if you can show them documentation to prove

that you CANNOT pay more than $200 per month

(or whatever it is), they might change their mind. But it is awfully easy for someone to make

such claims NOT under oath, and they naturally

disbelieve what debtors say. If you really want

to push the issue, you could create an affidavit,

sworn under oath, that you cannot pay more than

$200 per month, with financial details, to show

that they are wasting their time by going to

litigation.

However be careful not to promise to pay, which

could waive any statute of limitations defense

you might have.