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Question
My wife and I ive in Michigan. An attorney has contacted my wife about hospital bill she incurred before we were married. These bills are between 3 & 7 years old. My wife is unemployed and her unemployment is almost gone. We have been married for 2 yrs. Can this lawyer come after my assets or pay check for these bills? What would be the best way to handle this situation?
Michigan is not a community property state so they can't come after your paycheck unless you and your wife have joint checking or savings accounts. If her name is on any checking or savings accounts they can freeze those and if your name is on those accounts you lose your money too. If her name is on any vehicles that are free and clear they can grab those as well. Those bills that are more than 6 years old may be beyond the statute of limitations and if so then you need to prove that they are more than 6 years old so that if she gets sued you can use a statute of limitations defense. Your first line of defense is debt validation. She needs to send a demand for validation within 30 days after their initial contact with her. She needs to send it via certified mail return receipt requested. Do not use any of the debt validation letters you find on line. Those are not good at all. A debt validation letter needs to be short, sweet and simple. Ask them no questions whatever. Just be sure to state that she disputes the debt and demands validation. Anything more than that is simply foolishness and will get her nowhere. She needs to learn the basics of informal bankruptcy. Informal bankruptcy is being used by more and more people every day. It does exactly the same things that formal bankruptcy does but goes about it in an entirely different way. The debt validation letter is the start of the process. Formal bankruptcy requires lawyers and lots of other expense. It may or may not work so is not as reliable as the informal methods which do not require any lawyer to complete. Formal bankruptcy is sometimes a faster way to dissolve one's debts and sometimes it too can drag on for several years, often as much as 5 or 6 years and even though you pay dearly it still may not absolve you of all your debts. I'd start learning about the informal method now so that when they sue her she will be well prepared and confident about what she is doing. A good place to start might be www.informalbankruptcy.com and follow the links to expand your knowledge about the process. Another advantage of informal bankruptcy is that unlike the formal variety there is no public record left to haunt her for the rest of her days on earth as is the case with formal bankruptcy.
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| Comment | Thanyou we will be sending out the validation letter Monday. | ||
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Answers by Expert:
Creditwrench
Expertise
Debt Collections law, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), federal law, how to properly answer court summons for collection cases, how to prepare federal cases against debt collectors, how to deal with debt collection phone calls.
Experience
I've been an active consumer advocate for more than 40 years and have helped hundreds of people win cases against debt collectors as well as helping them defeat demands for summary judgment lodged against them by banks, debt collectors and defeat mortgage foreclosures and keep their homes.
Education/Credentials
Paralegal courses for the most part.
I have been teaching people how to deal with judgments, mortgage foreclosures and other such problems both on and off the internet for many, many years. I am a Richard Cornforth information provider ever since 2000 and worked with many other organizations and causes since 1980. I was Oklahoma State Chairman for the nationwide drive to defeat the Constitutional Convention which was proposed by various factions within our federal government such as the Council of State Governments and the National Organization of State Governors who were working hard to organize a Constitutional Convention to be held in 1995 for the purpose of rewriting our American Constitution to be more acceptable to the United Nations. I worked with Senator Charles Duke of Colorado and Senator Don Rogers of California and many others across the nation to keep them from getting the number of delegate states required to lawfully hold a Con-Con and we were successful. I have worked with many other legislative issues in Oklahoma and have always been very successful.
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