Leslie beats a warrant in debt

How Leslie Beat a Warrant In Debt

Leslie, not her real name, came to see me two months ago about filing for bankruptcy.

It was clear, after we looked at her forms and talked it over, bankruptcy would work for her.  It would take a couple months, though, to gather up everything we needed for her bankruptcy to go right through.

But, she had a warrant in debt scheduled for the following week.   If she just ignored it, she was likely to get garnished.   (We didn’t want that.)  So, I told her to go to court, and follow the instructions at my warrant in debt blog.

Leslie went to the courthouse (in the picture) on the “return date” and asked the judge for a trial.  In Virginia, the trial is usually set six or eight weeks later–depending on the county and the judge.

Leslie’s warrant in debt hearing was in the Prince William County Courthouse.

She knew to ask for a bill of particulars, and the creditor asked for her grounds of defense.  The bill of particulars under Virginia law is how the creditor plans show the amount of the debt and why there is a debt.

Leslie was in luck–because her creditor was Asset Acceptance, a debt buyer.  Debt buyers often cannot prove what the debt is about or what the amount of the debt really is.   Asset Acceptance proof must have been really weak in Leslie’s case, because they filed nothing at all as their bill of particulars.

So, for her grounds of defense, Leslie wrote to the court and to Asset Acceptance, that they never filed their bill of particulars.  Also, for good measure, she also listed statute of limitations in her grounds of defense.

(The statute of limitations sets a deadline to sue you after you’ve stopped paying debt.  Wait too long, and the creditor is out of luck.)

We expected that would mean Leslie would win at the trial, but she won sooner.

Asset Acceptance wrote to the judge and said they were dropping the warrant in debt case.  Under Virginia law, that’s called a non suit.

Is Leslie home free?  Not quite.  In Virginia law–not like most states–after a non suit, the creditor could come back and try again.  But, we’ll have the bankruptcy filed before that.   (This debt with Asset Acceptance was only a small part of her problem.)

Because of her good work, she now has plenty of time to get ready to file for bankruptcy, without having to worry about getting garnished.